Road Report

August 18th: Day 1

Aaaah yes, it is good to be back in the saddle again.

Almost literally this time, as we find ourselves unexpectedly (at least if you had asked me anytime in the last 39 years) attending a coin show here in Oklahoma City, a fine place I last visited waaaaay back in 1986.

And while I cannot remember exactly how I got into town from the airport back then, there is is at least a 50-50 chance that it was in the exact same vehicle that picked us up on this day, an ancient minivan that sounded exactly like a Cessna 172 Skyhawk, with seats that slid along the floor as the driver gunned it, weaved in and out of traffic with reckless abandon, nearly caused two accidents and somehow made it to our hotel without careening off the road.

After which we serenely made our way through the fancy lobby, chatted up the incredibly polite staff, dropped our stuff in the room, and headed straight to the convention center.

Where we walked into the building and, unlike other venues where I’ve had to figure out where to go, found the ANA registration counter directly in front of my face.

Then whisked into the show for Dealer Set Up, made our way to our deluxe Table #1120, and discovered two guys actively using our table to conduct their own business. A situation your author would describe as “not a cool situation“, so I told them to beat it. To which one of them responded “Do you mind if we finish up here first?“. Yes, I mind, rather a lot really, since of course we paid for that table, and we were going to be setting up right then so we could conduct our own business.

Which we then did. Interestingly, those two guys moved to another not yet occupied table and continued their business together for at least another 90 minutes, So, yes, I am glad we evicted them, since it allowed us to buy and sell like crazy starting right then and continuing for the next, oh, 6 hours, as we managed to find about 20 cool NEWPs on the floor, including many superb US coins we’ve owned before and which will look fantastic back on our list.

We also sold a bunch of stuff, including many of the coins on our most recent EB that were not ordered initially, but which I figured would not be around too much longer. So I was happy to be right about that.

And then suddenly it was 5:30, so we packed up, dropped our bags back at the hotel and zipped over to the Brickyard Brewery for a cocktail party hosted by Stack’s-Bowers where we ate and drank well, and hobnobbed with various industry big shots, dealer friends, and collector customers.

After which we headed back to the hotel for a late dinner which ran even later since the service was not quite as fast as that minivan from the airport.

And then finally returning to our room and summarily collapsing after what had been by then an exhausting, entertaining and super productive 20 hour day.

So of course we’ll look forward to doing it all again tomorrow, and then blogging all about everything that happens right here in this space in just about 24 hours from now.

August 19th: Day 2

Hey everyone, let’s look at some highlights from Tuesday!

The shower in our hotel room is the finest one I have ever encountered anywhere in the world, exceeding even the epic “power-blaster” in my room in the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong in 1993, so much so that I was taking measurements and photographing the fixtures and door hinges so I could have an exact replica built in our home.

Attendance here on Tuesday was surprisingly (to me, anyway) robust, with many of the ANA regulars from all over the country roaming the bourse floor, a pretty full complement of the dealer community, and way more of the world dealers in attendance than I expected. While it was not easy to get here, since most people had to take 2 flights and/or drive a long distance, numismatists generally find a way even if they then gripe about it afterward.

Once you are here, however, the convenience of this show set up cannot be overstated, with the hotel coffee shop located right at the end of the hallway one uses to go to the convention center, and the bourse floor entrance a very short walk away.

The excellent buying we experienced on Monday at set-up was absolutely dwarfed by the windfall here on Tuesday, as several different long time collectors came to the table with CRO-style early US type coins, many which has been acquired directly from us over the last 15 years. I would describe that as kind of a coin dealer’s dream.

We sold a lot of coins to many different collectors and dealers, some simple and straightforward, others involving 1, 2 or many trades, kinda just like always at an ANA.

We also met a lot of local people at the table who were not necessarily serious collectors, but came out for the spectacle of a major coin show in their neighborhood. On a related note, many of the people we have encountered in Ubers, restaurants and elsewhere in town have been genuinely excited to have us coin people here in their city. That pretty much never happens anywhere else, making us feel like pseudo-celebrities and/or rock stars.

We had a fantastic dinner at the Mahogany Grill a few blocks from the hotel, with an enthusiastic waiter acting as the OKC PR department and telling us that the tallest building the United States was going to be built right here in town. Who knew? I did not.

All adding up to an excellent, entertaining and interesting Tuesday here in Oklahoma, and making us feel like it might continue exactly like this through the week. We hope.

August 20th: Day 3

With an enthusiasm unknown to mankind, Team CRO burst out of our room at 6 AM on Wednesday, hit the crowded hotel gym, went back, got organized, headed to the lobby by 7:45, discovered a previously non-existent breakfast burrito stand right there, grabbed one, eschewed the coffee shop with the mile long queue and got to the convention center right at 8. Wow, that was a long sentence.

Then dropped my bags at our table #1120 and headed straight to HA lot viewing on the 2^nd floor, parked myself in front of a helpful lot viewing assistant and powered through several entire sessions of US and world coins. Which went as efficiently as all get out until the very end, when things sorta ground to a halt caused by intense competition for the last four boxes, and a different viewing assistant who struggled to keep up. So that seemed like an excellent time to leave and try again for these last few boxes on Thursday.

Allowing me to arrive back at our table just as MaryAnn was calling me while facing toward a customer, resulting in one of those comedy routines where one person thinks they are talking to someone on the phone, and the other person is actually standing 2 feet away responding into the back of their head. Even so, it worked well enough for us to communicate, and to make a sale of a silver dollar.

Just then a guy appeared at our table that I knew in graduate school in 1989, and last saw maybe 10+ years ago, so of course I blurted out “Hey, you look as old as I do!“. Which I regretted saying even as the words were shooting out of my mouth. I am extremely sorry about that, but in fairness I did include myself in the comment.

After which our day continued more or less as Tuesday had gone, with a variety of cool coins walking up to the table and us buying them immediately, your author zipping around the room when possible peering into other cases for cool coins and finding some, all interspersed with a periodic sale and/or trade deal.

The result of which was an expansion of the massive NEWPs pile in our back case, which by the end of the day was getting pretty close to the “I think we have enough new coins” level. Still, it did not prevent us from buying a wicked gold coin at about 4 PM, and another in the far reaches of the room closer to 5.

Soon after that it was time to pack up, so we did, then headed over to the hotel bar where your author had a Brown Derby, a drink I last heard ordered in an old black and white movie. Pretty good though.

As was dinner at the Mickey Mantle Steakhouse, which is a perfect place to go if you like baseball and enjoy screaming, since it was super loud in there and the waitress had to yell “DO YOU WANT SOUP WITH THAT?” directly into my face. For future reference, I did not order soup, and frankly never do when the temperature is above 87 degrees outside.

Arriving back to the hotel real late, answering some email and texts, and then going to bed so we could repeat many of these same activities on Thursday, though my morning will mostly be focused on Stack’s-Bowers lot viewing.

To find out what else happens, check back here in just about 24 hours from now.

August 21st: Day 4

We had another jam-packed morning of blog writing, spreadsheet analyzing and gym visiting on Thursday before we headed over to the show at about 8:30. Giving us just enough time to eat a quick breakfast, work out some logistics, finalize a deal from Wednesday, and then race up to the third floor to finish the viewing I could not complete at Heritage yesterday, before moving on to Stack’s-Bowers lot viewing in an adjacent room.

Where they accommodated me very nicely, as always, with a set up in the back and a viewing assistant who allowed me to go through dozens of boxes as efficiently as possible. And that was important, since there were many, many cool coins here in the colonial, US and world categories. Which I was able to narrow down to a manageable number of those of highest interest in about 2 hours, help my old college buddy look at a few lots for his own collection, and then head back down to the bourse floor.

And then the real excitement would begin, as we had, surprisingly, our busiest selling day of the show. Including coins in all categories, to collectors and dealers, in a wide array of price points, both at the table and around the room via sales agents and business partners, all kind of happening at once in an extremely delicious numismatic soup.

I’m not quite sure how to explain it, but somehow this event located well off the beaten track in a place that drew considerable skepticism from the dealer community has turned into a buying and selling bonanza with volumes easily rivaling anything we’ve done recently in any venue. And, based on my conversations with other dealers, we are not the only ones. Frankly, I’m more than a little stunned. Shocked even.

With out last deal of the day the sale of a cool medal before we headed out to dinner with our good dealer friends at the Cheever’s Cafe in a cool part of town on the old Route 66 which I would highly recommend to anyone.

Before getting back late and then poring through my Stack’s-Bowers catalogs and entering all of my lots into their website before finally collapsing at about 11:30.

But do not worry, we will be rested and ready to do as much business as possible again on Friday before we have to pack up and head home so that we can then immediately turn around and go to a family wedding.

Aaah yes, the coin business, it sure is relaxing.

August 22nd: The Exciting Conclusion

Here comfortably seated on my couch back home, let’s summarize the OKC show through a series of random observations is what I wish I could be writing right now.

Unfortunately, our flight on Friday got delayed, meaning we would miss our connection in St Louis, so the only viable option to get home was to spend another night here in OKC and fly out on Saturday. So this RR is unexpectedly being penned back at the show hotel.

Which is the first random observation on our list – holding a show in a place that is hard to get to and requires multiple flights for most attendees was the reason many of our dealer and collector friends were skeptical about this venue to begin with.

Despite that, the show itself was rockin’ from start to finish, with great attendance, excellent sales, epic buying and non-stop action right up until we had to leave. And this is pretty much what every other dealer I spoke to said as well. Conclusion: We’d come back here with bells on if they schedule another one in OKC, but does it also indicate that other less-traveled venues might yield similarly exciting results?

I did finally get a minute to check out the exhibits late Friday and thought the multiple cases of 3-D cathedral medals was a ‘can’t miss’ display.

As is sometimes the case after a show, I feel like we might need to rethink our show display since we generally bring the coins which are on the website, and save the new stuff for our upcoming Early Birds. Might be better to sprinkle in more of the latter for the show attendees.

Literally no eccentric, off-beat, scary, or belligerent people came to our table at this show, making it quite unusual for any numismatic event in our experience. I was also going to say that no one partially disrobed in front of us in an attempt to tuck in their shirt, but MaryAnn informed me that that was not accurate.

Multiple people at this show came to look at our Massachusetts silver coins, saying they had never seen one before. Others said the same thing about colonial coins in general.

Countless times at this show another dealer brought a coin to us or birddogged one on the floor and asked us to split it with them, and in many cases (waaaaay more than unusual at a typical show) we did. We also returned the favor, buying a few things at the table we knew were more in the wheelhouse of one of our dealer friends.

Not only were there lots of late teens / early twenties dealers running around the bourse floor, there were now some really, really young ones. And we did business with many of them.

I regret that we never made it to the Lazy Donkey for dinner this week.

A customer here at the show informed us that he was undefeated in his tennis league this year while wearing his blue CRO hat, which suggests to me that buying coins from us and receiving a free hat can benefit you numismatically, and also in other ways you cannot easily imagine or foresee.

We submitted about a dozen coins for grading here and had just one decent result, so we’re actually kinda glad we never had the time to write out the remaining submission forms and give them the rest.

How many Caesar Salads can one person eat at a coin show? I feel like I must be getting close to some kind of a record here since I had one every day, and another fantastic spicy one at that Cheever’s Café.

The coolest coin we bought here was the very last one, after we were already packed up, forcing MaryAnn to dig out our checkbook. It was well worth the effort though.

And now we can start to plan our next Early Bird which will go out on Tuesday, September 2^nd, and will be utterly epic. So you will definitely want to keep an eye out for that.

EOM