Stumbled upon a Coin Show today!

[mudpuppy]

I was out hunting at dawn, saw a sign about a Coin Show today, so I went on over...This is the first time I have ever been to one, can you believe that? Talk about silver and gold!

I could immediately tell I was in way over my head, the 'most ignorant in the room' which is a worrisome albeit common situation I often find myself in ...All these old guys were true Pro's regarding numismatics, and I didnt have my reading glasses, so that was probably good...but talk about tables upon tables of slabbed Barbers, Walkers, Seateds, Franklin Halfs, Mercs, Buffs, Silver dollars, gold coins to be damned, Tokens, I would estimate an easy ton of silver alone in this one little Show..(20 tables, est 100lbs of silver per table)..

I may clean up a bit and go back....maybe take some stuff to sell or trade like those Peddler Badges, maybe some of my gold?...?

Anyway, if you need a 'fix', find a little local coin show, but be careful if you dont know what you are doing, leave you wallet in the car!...these old guys can smell fresh new blood, even though I was dressed like a bum in my detecting clothes, and wanted to sort of slide through there invisible, those Old guys were drooling all over themselves when I stepped up to see their wares!...I felt like a Little Leaguer at a NAMBLA convention!... (maybe it was because I was slobbering all over their coin cases?) it was cool...I will have to hunt heavy tomorrow to make up for today..
Mud

 

[OregonMike]

We just had the American Numismatic Association's National Money Show in Portland earlier this month. 500 tables, and multiple millions of dollars worth of coins on display...quite a show, and probably overwhelming to the uninitiated.
For a little less intense atmosphere, there are local shows within driving distance every month or two for most people. The dealers aren't all as "hungry" as the ones you portray. Most are really nice people. I mean think about it. My local dealer in Eugene just spent over $300,000 on one coin! He doesn't "need" the money he'll get by selling you a silver coin or two. He could sell his inventory and retire very nicely, but he stays in business because he loves it. Same thing with the 80-something year old guy who has a small shop over on the Oregon coast. He tells me he is going to keep his little store open until he physically can't go on. They're in the business because they like the buy-and-sell, they have friends they see at the shows, and so on. Coin shows are really fun and I highly recommend visiting one soon!

 

[CZconnoisseur]

I remember taking my coin collection in to a local coin show when I was 8 yrs old and some old codger offered me $55 for it. I had a nice Wheat and Indian penny collection, maybe about $200 worth over the course of 3 years of collecting and trips to the local coin shop spending an allowance. Ended up selling the collection at a huge loss, but I learned a lesson early on about many of these types of people. I felt pressured to sell it for some reason - just can't remember why at the time...

Thirty years later (now) I can go to coin shows and practically steal AU and better Indian and Wheat cents that they haven't checked values on for the last 10 years!!! Many of these have tripled or done better at online auctions and some of these people don't update their inventory too often - it makes both of us happy since to them, some guy is coming along often and buying lots of coins - I'm surely not the only one but sometimes it sure seems so. Almost no one knows Indian cent varieties, and I've picked out plenty of them all while the owner has no clue about varieties - it pays to know your favorite coins

Just recently found an almost complete set of Indian cents, which the seller forgot to mention that many of them were uncirculated . Snagged that up as quick as I could and made over $1300 in profit over the original purchase price.

Needless to say I've got my money back over the years, but things that happen when you are just getting started in a hobby reverberate for life - turned me into a copper pirate HAHA!

 

[mudpuppy]

Well I went back and took some of my stuff, (including my reading glasses) strange tokens and coins and gold and whatnot...I had a great time just relaxing and talking...I even paid dues and joined the local Coin Collector Group! One old guy has been a detectorist since 84...in this town he has found 2 gold coins, 1000's of silvers etc!. No wonder I cant find any!....He just lost his Wife of 45yrs...got himself an AtPro just a few weeks ago...so me and him are going to get together so I can show him a little about the Pro..I'll go to a meeting and see what I might learn...dont want to get roped into anything, but what the hell...

I enjoyed the company of these interesting old men...one guy offered me money for those peddlers badges and an old token I had, but I didnt sell...another guy offered me really low ball on my gold, but I didnt sell any of that either.....hopefully showing them I wasnt too stupid....I will have plenty of chances to change their opinion in the future!...Never the less, I had a good time.. It was a good idea to take some of the finds just to have something to show the dealers and ask if they knew any info about it..it sort of broke the ice and started a conversation.."I'm a detectorist, what can you tell me about this find?" Its good to know the daily spot price of metals too, and be able to talk about it a little...every one of them does, and they appreciate somebody that follows the market and knows the movements of metal prices and can logically state the possible future direction of it...
Mud

 

[doc holiday]

Very interesting Mud--keep us posted.

 

[Overvoltage]

Mud, did you find out anything about your peddler tokens?

 

[sturrat]

How much did they offer you for the peddler pins? I think I may know where you found them

 

[mudpuppy]

Nobody knew anything more about those pins than I did...one guy offered me $35 for the pair plus a token I found...then he said he really wanted the token and offered me $10 for that alone....
Mud

 

[Pastor bob]

Little Leaguer at a NAMBLA convention. Priceless!

 

[ironsight]

How much did they offer you for the peddler pins?....

Proving once more people will collect (and pay for) just about anything!.

To sorta prove the point, over the years i found a lot of early 1900s brass lipstick cases, some even with the red stuff still in them.
Tossed em all in my scrap brass box when someone mentioned 'hey those things are collectible you know'!! Yeah right!!
For kicks i searched fleabay and sure enough, yep people do collect those things!!

'One man's junk is another man's collectible' as the saying goes.
Yep we should all be thankful for collectors willing to pay for some of the at first glance 'junk' we dig up.