First Major Coin Show- World's Fair Of Money- Updated!

I like to get there right when they open, then go around to all the tables and make notes of the ones I want to return to to take a closer look. Some items go really quick, so if there is something I really wanted that is marked close to what I wanted to pay I will stop and take a look. I did get to a show late once and every time I told them what I was looking for they would tell me they had them but sold early.

Thanks to all for the tips! I'll take pics of whatever I pick up and share them here. I need to check my type set to see what I am missing, but I am always looking for early large cents. I'm a big fan of Walkers, too. My father-in-law said he'll be looking for Trade dollars, and maybe some gold.

I didn't see anyone saying one important fact about going to shows.

Ask, "Did you buy anything today that I could look at?"

One time at an antique show a dealer pulled out a whole box full of various stuff he had recently bought.

"Haven't had time to go through it, interested in anything?"
A man picked out Morgan, paid $50 for it.
After the man walked away the dealer quietly said, "I guess I got the rest of these for free."

Awhile later I caught up with the buyer who explained to me what an important Morgan it was. Sorry, can't remember the date but he said that wasn't what was important. It was then explained to me for the first time what a VAM was.

I've never been to that coin show but I do go to about 2 to 4 coin shows a month. Here is my suggestions which is pretty much the same as already posted.
Make sure you have a preferred list of what you want.
Check prices of what you would like with as many sources as possible. Examples are ebay, PCGS web site, Red Book, Grey Sheet, etc. Make a list with the highest and lowest price per coin.
Only take the amount of money you can REALLY afford to spend. Do not take credit cards or a check book unless you don't leave home without them anyway.
Always walk around the place prior to buying anything. Nothing hurts more than buying a coin for XXXX and then finding it a few tables over for XXX.
Remember this. The larger the coin show, the more out of town dealers will be there. They have to usually stay at a hotel or motel. They eat out for most meals. They had to pay for transportation to get there. All these expenses are tagged on to the coin prices. Then such larger shows have entrance fees and parking fees which is one more expense for you. Example was the MidAmerica Show here with $5 to get in and $11 to park each day.
Someday you'll have to try the many free entrance, free parking coin shows in the Illinois area.

August 8-12

Midwest Airlines Center
400 West Wisconsin Ave.
Milwaukee, WI 53203

ElleKitty,
Thanks for the date and place. I think I can make it.
Randy

Well the show has come and gone, so I thought I would provide a short report. I'll try to post some pictures later as well. Thanks again for all the advice!

The show was a good size with plenty of variety- US coins, currency, foreign, ancient, old, modern, gold, silver, etc. etc. Basically, if you were looking for something specific, someone there probably had it. I was specifically looking for Three Cent Silver variety II and III pieces, and managed to pick up a nice example of an 1860. There weren't many options for Three Cent Silver pieces to begin with, and even fewer in the AU/UNC range. Mine was probably cleaned once upon a time, but it looks very nice and will fit well in my type set.

I also picked up a special ANA-Milwaukee version of the $20 silver Liberty Dollar, and spoke with the creator Bernard von NautHaus for a bit. He is a very nice guy and their table was right by the main entrance... first thing you saw when you entered, and last thing you saw when you left! I really like the idea of the Liberty Dollar and support their efforts.

My wife was with me on one day, and she started expressing interest in ancient Greek coins! Needless to say this excited me somewhat, and we spoke in length to Lorraine Weiss about some good beginner books to buy, values, do's an don'ts of ancient coin collecting, etc. She was extremely helpful and friendly. No one at the show had the books we were looking for (the first two books in the series by Wayne Sayles) so I ordered them. I'm hoping my wife's interest remains by the time the books arrive!

My dad had a birthday recently, and collects cannonballs. He has also expressed interest in coins from shipwrecks, so I managed to find a dealer selling just such a thing- lower grade Spanish pieces of 8 from a shipwreck off the coast of Louisiana. I found a decent one from 1783 with a bold date and pretty good details that I'm sure my dad will enjoy. Maybe he will start collecting coins... he's running out of room in the house for cannonballs!

Before the show, I had received a request for assistance from Australia (https://goccf.com/t/17845) to purchase something in particular. I agreed to help, and was informed that there would be 50 available 2007 Kangaroo at Sunset (http://mintissue.ramint.gov.au/mint...code=802110) $25 gold coins at the show. There were only 1000 minted, and the 950 sold in Australia sold out very quickly. The remaining 50 were reserved for sale at the World's Fair of Money. Not surprisingly, they have been selling over mint price on ebay, so I picked up a handful for my new Australian friend and four for myself. My brother-in-law also picked up several. They are really pretty coins, and I met the package designer from the mint who was working at the booth. I told her to come to the US and design packaging for our products. Needless to say, the 50 coins were sold quickly. If you are interested, check out my post with ebay links: https://goccf.com/t/18338. Oh, we also got some neat hats from the Aussie booth- they are wide-brimmed floppy hats with several corks on strings that hang down. Just shake your head and the corks fling around and shoo away flies! I'm definitely wearing mine the next time we go camping. The hats were a big hit with everyone, and the booth was constantly busy with customers asking for them.

All in all a very fun convention, and I hope it comes to Milwaukee again. All of the dealers I spoke with were nice and friendly and treated me well, which is always a positive. The only problem I had was locating non-coins... that is, the books I mentioned and Intercept Shield products. I was surprised that there weren't more booths with those kinds of product available.

I'll try to take some pics of my purchases tonight or tomorrow and post in this thread. Thanks for reading!

Regards,
~neuron

If your in the area of Illinois you may want to try the Coutryside, Illinois show coming up in September. It is a 3 day show and is usually pretty great. There is always a table with books, pamphlets, coin albums, etc. If you get there early the front table will have numerous coin magazines like Coin World, Numismatic News, etc and all free. Parking is free all day, each day. Show intrances are free. Coffee is really bad.