Let me first say that Nashville is a great city with lots of history and a ton of fun things to do and see! And the Music City Center is a beautiful venue for a coin show. I knew when I signed up to participate in the IMEX coin show that there would be some “growing pains” but, as has been mentioned in various threads on this forum, this show had a few more bumps than usual. Even so, I think with some tweaks and twists, this show has the potential for being a very good show.
I’ve read several of the show reports already posted here and agree with most of the comments about the issues faced by both collectors and dealers which can be, and I believe will be, addressed for the next show. Gary and Steve are professionals and they really want this show to be a success, so I am confident they will figure out what works and what doesn’t and address the concerns that have been expressed by both dealers and collectors. So let me take a few minutes to discuss some of the “new show” issues first and then I’ll get into the fun and usual photo part of my show report!
SIGNAGE/MARKETING: There were not enough signs directing dealers to the dealer trading room and the security room, and even the Music City Center personnel weren’t aware of these locations and had to make several phone calls before they figured it out. It didn’t help that the security room location changed at the last minute (however, it was changed from one of the hotels to the convention center which was more convenient). Obviously, even using discrete signage for security purposes, this can easily be fixed by giving the dealers more clear location instructions/map, security phone number, and making sure the convention personnel have information on where the room is. Also, many dealers mentioned that they didn’t see a lot of marketing, especially around the city (billboards, local ads, etc.) Even preshow marketing, social media, magazine ads, etc. was either scarce or not consistent early enough which is so important, especially for shows.
REGISTRATION: These days, requiring ID’s from the public entering the show is common place at most large shows for security purposes, so this is a “necessary evil” that will NOT be going away. I understand they also had some mechanical issues with printing badges which slowed the process. All this can be cured and streamlined with a little more preshow preparation/training, earlier registrataion times, and sufficient personnel.
ENTRY FEE: Some large shows charge a fee, some do not. The main “pro” in charging an entry fee is (1) the ability to collect ID’s on who is attending a show that is housing hundreds of millions of dollars in numismatics, and (2) it tends to keep out non-serious collectors and street people just wandering in for something to do. The “con” is that collectors prefer to spend their money on coins and not on door fees – understandable – and they don’t want to wait in a registration line just to get into a show. However, personally, a $10 door fee would not deter me from entering a trade show if it was something I was seriously interested in. I think a compromise would make most folks happy: make the fee good for the entire show, and do not charge for YNs.
LOCATION: Having a show in the downtown area of any large city has its drawbacks and positive features. Yes it may be more difficult/expensive to find parking and may also be an inconvenient block or two away from the convention center. That is an issue to be considered by both dealers and collectors, and planning ahead, locating the closest/least expensive parking lot, and mapping out the most direct route can ease this somewhat. The positive is that city convention centers are near restaurants, hotels, attractions, easier transportation, and often the airport. For these reasons, deciding whether to attend/participate in downtown conventions usually ends up being a personal preference.
DEALER TABLE NUMBERS LISTED ON WEBSITE: I understand the dealer tables were still being set and changed even just before the show began. This caused the posting of the website dealer list to be delayed which frustrated both dealers and collectors trying to make plans for which dealers they wanted to visit. However, I think the website listing can be posted much earlier and updated as the tables change – an seemingly easy fix.
DEALER TRADING ROOM (Thursday 8:00am-4:00pm, extra fee for table): For the dealers, the pre-show trading room is a very positive and a popular aspect of any coin show, and this one was no different. However, the dealers I spoke with would have preferred that the trading room be in the main bourse floor (like Dealer Day at the ANA shows) rather than a separate room, and that a half day would have been sufficient with the second half of the day open to the public. Dealers I spoke with would have preferred the show open to the public at least part of the day on Thursday. This was an expensive show and we would have liked to have more time for public/retail like the typical Thursday-Saturday (or at least half of Thursday). As mentioned above, signage and more specific directions/maps if the trading room is separate from the bourse floor would have also been very helpful.
DEALER BOURSE SET UP DAY (Thursday 5:00-8:00pm): There were a lot of issues with dealer set up which can be fixed with better managing (maybe having a bourse manager specifically in charge of set up), more decorator time and clearer instructions to the decorators. Not having sufficient time to properly set up the bourse floor led to a host of other problems throughout the short set up time: show cases and even tables were not placed in several booths, not enough lamps and clamps, NO chairs were distributed, the carpet was still being laid as the dealers were trying to set up, and the curtains were not only unattractive and a nuisance but a definite security issue. Many dealers had their tables changed at the last minute with no notice – this was probably the most serious of the issues for the dealers. These problems made set up very stressful and awkward for many folks. However, I personally spoke to Gary Adkins (one of the show partners) about a couple issues I was having and he was listening and making notes from each of the dealers who had issues and was trying to correct them as quickly as he could. Considering how many problems there were, he was very kind and patient and was doing his best to make each of the dealers happy. I only spoke to Steve Ellswoth briefly about the lack of chairs as he walked by my table and he looked like he was running around trying to get issues resolved, and just said we’d have them by morning. However, many of the dealers discovered there was a huge stack of chairs in the back of the room so we just went and retrieved the chairs ourselves. By morning, luckily most of the issues had been addressed and fixed but many dealers felt they lost valuable time to buy and sell coins during set up time just trying to obtain the items they needed to set up.
BOURSE TABLE LAYOUT: I agree that it is much more convenient and easier to navigate straight aisles with straight cross-aisles rather than maze-like aisles (the newer bourse floor at Long Beach show has maze-like cross aisles). I believe the reason depends on the shape of the bourse floor, collumns that may be in the way, how many corner tables are needed, and trying to “squeeze” in as many tables as possible with sufficient/fire code/handicap compliant aisle space. However, I don’t know the reasoning behind why this particular show isn’t more t-like/square in its layout but hopefully the show owners will keep this concern in mind when laying out their next show.
SUNDAY DEALER DAY (extra fee for table): I left on Saturday and don’t know many dealers who had planned to participate in this so I have no information whether it was a success and worth the expense to the participants and/or show promoters.
Hopefully Gary and Steve will see this (and the other show reports) and take note of the issues to help make this new show a GREAT show next time.
So now onto the fun part of my show report!
I’d never been to Nashville before so when I signed up to do this show I asked my hubby Lou if he’d like to go to Nashville with the caveat that he’d need to help me a little at the coin show. FYI Lou has never been to a coin show in all the years I’ve been doing shows so when he said he’d like to go, I almost fell off my chair!
While I made all the plans, hotel, flight, etc., Lou did a little research on the fun things to do in Nashville. We planned to get to Nashville a day early so we would have more time to see the city sites and visit some of their honky tonks! And since my birthday fell right in the middle of our trip, my kids gave me an early birthday present so I could feel like I fit in with the Nashville look!
So we packed our bags and headed to the airport together. It was super nice having my own personal “body guard” and baggage handler for a change as well!
We also decided to fly first class – again, another first for Lou!
We left sunny OC, flew through Dallas, and landed in Nashville late Tuesday night
We stayed at the Westin which was right across the street from the Music Center. When we arrived at our room, I was amused to see that the tv actually personally greeted me!
When the hotel noticed it was my birthday during our stay, they gave us free breakfasts and drink tickets to use throughout the week. So we had a nice leisurely breakfast on Wednesday morning, then took my coin bags to security and registered for the show. After we looked at a map of the city, we started out on our trek to see the sites of Nashville.
The weather in Nashville was amazingly warm in the mid-70’s – just like Southern California! We walked over to the infamous Broadway Street where all the main honkytonks are, and was surprised at how crowded the street was for a Wednesday at 11am. We went into the first one we saw (Rippy’s Honky Tonk) for some Nashville music and Bloody Mary’s.
Then we just walked around, looked into some boot stores and shops, took some photos, and just acted like the tourists we were!
There were bars and bands playing everywhere on both sides of the street, on every floor of 3-story bars. It was fun, noisy and amazing – a true party atmosphere! There are no cover charges and I understand most of the bands don’t get paid except for tips, so since I love music and the bands we heard were really good, I made sure to tip them generously.
We then stopped at Honky Tonk Central and went up to the second floor that looked out over the street so we could “people watch.”
There were several folks on the street who carried various handmade signs asking for help/donations, and this one was one of the more creative, yet honest, signs we saw!
We met this couple who told us that there was a live webcam across the street that faced directly toward us. So I logged into their website and sure enough, we were right there live on that website – here are a couple screen shots I captured of us looking toward the camera!
The last honky tonk we went to that day was The Lucky Bastard Saloon. The music was good, I especially enjoyed the rock and roll songs they played. It was very spacious and “warehouse” like and they also had a neat old motorcycle and a lot of signs posted all around.
The last place we visited that day was the Marathon Motor Works complex. Lou being a “motorhead” especially enjoyed seeing the Marathon museum. There are only a handful of complete cars remaining, and word has it that Jay Leno tried to buy one but Marathon wouldn’t let go of any of them.
From Wikipedia: “Marathon Motor Works was a brass era automobile manufacturer based in Tennessee. Southern Engine and Boiler Works founded in 1889 . . . established the factory in 1907. From 1909 to 1914, the company manufactured the Marathon automobile in Nashville, Tennessee, . . . and developed a gasoline engine and prototype automobile in 1906. Southern Engine decided to engineer and build every part of its automobile in-house. The vehicles had been marketed as Southerns at first, but another firm was using that name. In 1910, Marathon Motor Works was created to produce the Marathon automobile, named out of the enthusiasm for things Greek which had grown out of the 1904 Olympics.1909 saw a two-model lineup, roadster and touring car, powered by 35 HP 4-cylinder engines. Both were open bodies (tops were optional) and sold for about $1,500. By 1912 production reached 200 cars monthly.”
The Antiques Archeology store (owned by American Pickers) is also housed in the Marathon Motor Works complex. They had some amazing and interesting antiques for sale, but they were quite expensive yet fun to see.
Then we headed back to the hotel where we met some friends for dinner. The Westin has the highest rooftop bar/restaurant in the city with a beautiful view of the Nashville.
Thursday was dealer day until 4pm, not to mention it was also my birthday! So I opted out of going to dealer day but I heard that business was brisk and active. Several dealers had purchased tables while many more were trading out of their bags – it was similar to what you would see at a PCGS Members Only Show. Some of the dealers reported that they did much more business during the Dealer Day than they did at the show.
After breakfast, Lou and I took a different route towards Broadway. We were surprised once again to see how busy downtown was so early on a weekday! These are pics we took along the way – the beautiful old buildings were especially neat to see!
We made our way to Printers Alley to listen to some Blues music – when we were dating, we often went to The Belly Up in San Diego to listen to Blues music, so it is always nostalgic for us when we get the chance to go to a Blues bar. The Bourbon Street Blues bar was highly recommended to us and definitely didn’t disappoint!
We went back to the hotel and changed for dealer set up – I decided to wear my birthday hat for the evening!
We were warned that the decorators were still setting up the floor, but we didn’t expect to see that several tables, cases, signs, lamps and chairs were missing from many tables, the unuual green curtains behind the tables, etc. However, many dealers ended up taking care of their own issues by finding chairs, lamps, cases, and tables from unassigned tables with no signs, and chairs stacked up in the back of the room as mentioned above. They were out of clamps for several of the remaining lamps, so someone got creative and handed out boards that you could slide under the cases that had holes drilled in to stick the lamps in!
On top of all the set up issues, we had early dinner reservations for 6:30pm (since a few of our friends had to travel an hour or so back to where they were staying), so we only had 45 minutes to set up and then search for coins – for me it was a whirlwind and a bit stressful, but I made the best of it. All in all, most folks got squared away, set up, and more dealer trading got underway. I was very pleased to find a beautiful group of Pretty Pennies from several of my favorite dealers, including this gorgeous 1914-D in CAC Cert MS64 RB!
After set up, we headed out to dinner (and to celebrate my birthday) with friends/dealers at The Stillery in Midtown. I was so excited that I was finally going to see my very awesome and sorely missed BFF Cindi Snow who used to work the shows for ANACS and who I haven’t seen in several years since she moved to Nashville – YAY!
Lou, James Sego, Steve Cummings and Cindi Snow (not pictured were Dave and Deanne Floyd and their son Carter)
They had a great band playing country and rock and roll music. Cindi had secretly told the band that it was my birthday, so the band and entire restaurant/bar sang happy birthday to me!
For dinner we shared fried pickles, jalapeno-bacon rangoons, mac and cheese with fried chicken pieces, and batter catfish and chips – I could feel my arteries clogging up just looking at those dishes!
After dinner, we walked down the street to an ice cream shop for dessert. Cindi had also secretly told the ice cream servers it was my birthday so they also sang to me!
I am so thankful to all my friends (and family), my hubby and especially Cindi who really made me feel special for my birthday (including all my Facebook friends who posted on my timeline) – I had a blast! Next day it was time to get down to business!
Friday I headed over to the show early so I could do a little more shopping and take photos of the show, while the hubby took off to do more site seeing via the hop on/hop off bus. Here are some photos I took around the bourse.
The US Mint
The CAC table
ANACS
Amanda and Billie, the beautiful Greysheet Gals
PCGS
The public in line at the registration table waiting to get in
Steve Forbes officially opened the show at 10am, though there were still many folks in the registration line so there wasn’t the usual “rush” of people flowing into the show at the same time.
A few pics from around the bourse on Friday afternoon
One of the stops on Lou’s bus tour was the Music City Center so he popped in briefly and of course I put him to work!
My friend George Huber/VDB Coins stopped by to say hi and chat but didn’t want his face show so he let me take this pic of his shoes!
Abe and me
Tom Sparks is a Short Snorter expert and had an AMAZING display of Short Snorters at the back of the room.
Short Snorters are historic and a very fascinating and fun (and usually not too expensive) part of numismatics! A short snorter is “a banknote which was signed by various persons traveling together or meeting up at different events and records who was met. The tradition was started by bush pilots in Alaska in the 1920’s and subsequently spread through the growth of military and commercial aviation. If you signed a short snorter and that person could not produce it upon request, they owed you a dollar or a drink (a “short snort”).” Short Snorters were usually signed on whatever type of banknote was available at the time, including foreign notes from whatever country they were in at the time. Many were taped together, and rolled up with some rolls consisting of 20, 100, or more notes. There are many Short Snorters signed by famous people such as Bob Hope, John Wayne, and famous WWII generals, etc. I had one signed by John Wayne on an Australian note when he was on tour with the USO in Australia in 1942, and one with Jack Benny’s signature. I eventually sold them to Tom a while back. Check out Tom’s website here – it really is interesting and very fascinating! https://shortsnorter.org/
Tom also had on display a Short Snorter that consisted of I believe he said over 120 notes taped together with many famous dignataries from WWII (borrowed from Jeff Garrett).
I came across a few of unusual and very cool coins
Amanda/Grey Sheet stopped by and we shared some of my Rombauer Zinfandel.
The attendance on Friday was on the low side for this size of a show, and many dealer reported very low to less than average sales. As I mentioned earlier, several dealers said they did more business on Thursday during Dealer Day. On Friday, I had very low sales; however, I had already anticipated this show being more 80% vacation and 20% business, so although I was hopeful, I was not that upset by the low volume of sales – but I partially made up for it by purchasing some great coins.
Lou was off to dinner with an cousin he hadn’t seen in many years, so I had drinks right across the street from the Music Center with Billie and Amanda, and Rick and Kenny Snow while we waited for our dinner reservation. Again, we really enjoyed some great music that was playing at that bar!
It had been difficult getting dinner reservations for parties of 6 or more in Nashville on a Friday night before 8pm, but I managed to find a very good restaurant that could accommodate us at 7:30pm. There were six of us and we ended up getting reservations at the Southern Steak and Oyster restaurant in downtown. We were sitting at the bar waiting for the rest of our group. This was the lady that was sitting next to us – she was a hoot!
There was a guy behind the bar who’s only job it seemed was shucking clams and wow, did he know how to do it very quickly!
Along with Rick and Kenny, I had dinner withRyan Delane of Interfanatic (he created and maintains my website) and his beautiful wife Edenia.
Lou was going to join us but he and his cousin ended up going to a honky tonk where his cousin’s friend was playing. The food at Southern Steak and Oyster was really good, as was the atmosphere They had photographs of famous people hanging up all over the restaurant.
Saturday morning we packed up and headed to the show. We originally had a 5pm flight but unfortunately the airline moved our flight home to leaving Nashville at 1:30pm. I was very frustrated because we basically had to go to the show, pack up around 10:30, and leave for the airport by 11:30am, so that meant I didn’t have much time to sell coins in that short time. However, based on sales on Friday, I really didn’t expect that I would have done much more business on Saturday.
So off to the airport we went. TSA wanted to see in one of my bags, so off to private screening we went. Luckily all they did was open each of the coin boxes, took a cursory view of their contents, closed them up and released my bag to me. Then we grabbed a quick drink and bit to eat, and waited for our flight. Whenever I leave a large show, I usually run into a coin dealer or two, or some of the crew from PCGS going back to Orange County, or Heritage going back to Dallas since that is my usualy connection on American Airlines. This time I ran into Dave Hall of Alhambra Coin, so we waited for our flight together. Interestingly, he was seated directly behind me on the plane and made sure I knew he was there with a kick or two of my seat!
Lou really enjoys looking out the window of the plane so he always got the window seat!
Our son picked us up at the airport and we arrived home safe and sound. Our kitties were super glad to see us (wink, wink), as you can see by Penny’s excited expression!
We really had a great time in Nashville, and I look forward to giving the show another try next year.
Next up: Sacramento Coin Show this weekend, then the Las Vegas Palace Station in December (sorry, won’t be attending the Baltimore show).