Coin Show Today... Questions And Comments.

Very cool. I've never been to a show, but I can see how all the coins could be pretty overwhelming.

I have only attended a few small local shows, and average going to one a year, so my experience in collecting is similar to yours from an acquisition point of view. Here's my 2 cents worth.

I have not had to show an I.D. or register at any of the three venues I have frequented.

1. Average age is probably mid-50's.

2. The popularity of Morgans is astounding is the U.S.

3. I have seen a good variety of raw and certified Capped Bust Halves. Lower denominations tend to more raw, problem coins.

4. Dealers are willing to dicker these days and want to make sales. Sticker prices are always negotiable and no reasonable offers are immediately dismissed or met with rude rebuttals.

5. Same. When you get used to "Windows shopping" and then go live it's tough to feel comfortable, especially on bigger purchases, when you don't have good price information at hand.

As someone noted, bringing in a prepared want list with series/grades/prices could be a big help.

I go to about 2 to 4 coin shows a Month around where I live. They range from about 30 to several hundred dealers. None of the smaller ones require name tags or ID's of any kind. The only one I am supposed to sign in at is one of the larger ones and it is not a requirement, only a suggestion. None of the ones I go to have admittance fees or parking fees. One of the larger ones does but I seldom go to that one.
Average age of dealers appears to be in the 50's and same with collectors. At one there is a guy near the door that has free coffee and donuts and a large tip jar. The jar is always full of bills. I asked him once if this is what he does and he told me he owns a coffee houses and does this on show days for fun and a bit of profit.
I never buy coins on line since I have so many coin shows and I've never seen on line a price that I can't beat at a coin show.
Types of coins at the shows are usually all the same. Mostly Silver Dollars in slabs and usually a lot of slabs.
Most dealers are friendly and love to chat. Getting to know them helps reduce the prices too.

I went to a coin show in late Febuary, and it was rather small (30 ish dealers)...

heres what I found:

1. Didnt have to sign in

2. Mostly dealers in their 40's, this actually kind of surprised me.

3. LOTS of Morgan dollars, and junk slabs!

4. Not a ton of early stuff, but it's there if you look for it. However, most of the stuff is rather expensive

5. People like to give free stuff and discounts to YNs. I walked out of that coin show with a few new folders, a US mint pen, some Coin Week magazines, and a smoking deal on an UNC 1909 VDB Wheat cent.

6. "Junk" bins offer the best deals. There was a 3 for $5 junk bin for Buffalo nickels and Indian Head cents. I ended up finding two 1863 F-12 ish fatty IHCs and a solid XF-AU 1937 S Buffalo nickel for $5 for the lot. Granted I had to look through the pile for a little bit, it was still a lot of fun.

Just my input!

I did this show friday, and today.. I really like this show.. along with the club show in charlotte.. most shows dont require a tag.. this show, baltimore and fun show are the main ones I attend that do.. some dealers are good and some are aggrevating.. the show did not have a good crowd like it normally does though.. most dealers I have dealt with a lot in the past said it was real slow.. morgans are for sure the hot spot to most tables.. I usually just search out bullion.. I'm glad you had a good expierence

As I'm involved with the Raleigh CC show, I thought I'd add our perspective.

First off, "Thank you!" for attending our show. I hope you got a chance to visit our "Kid's Zone" with your son. We had more than 130 young collectors visit "the Zone" during the weekend and all of them left with free coins (unless they left without us knowing!).

We had 170 dealer tables at the show, so there was certainly plenty to explore on the bourse. I'm sorry you didn't come across more Capped Bust coinage. It's hard to say why there might have been limited selections on the floor. Due to space and travel limitations, dealers do have to make decisions regarding what they bring to a show. For series that are less popular at any given time, they may decide to limit what they bring so that they can bring more of the coins that collectors frequently ask about. Also, they may have brought more CB coins but had them stored on their backup table vs. in their display cases. Always remember to ask dealers at a show if they have what you're looking for - you might be surprised by the amount of inventory that they keep "in reserve" vs. put out in their cases.

Regarding the registration process, we started checking IDs a few years ago as an added security measure to help protect our dealers and guests alike. Knowing who is attending our show has actually helped us on several occasions when we needed to respond to a security issue. We registered over 1,500 guests this year and less than a handful did not want to register and/or show ID - these guests were not allowed entry. We feel they represent a potential risk to our show's security and believe we are acting in the best interest of all those who attend.

Hope you come to the Raleigh Coin Club Expo again next year!

I didn't mind showing ID. Actually thought it was a pretty good idea. You can never be too safe these days. I am sure there was several million dollars worth of inventory under that roof!

Commems...thanks for all that you did. It was a good overall first experience at a show this large for me. We did visit the kids zone and he participated in all of the games. I am there were several volunteers in that area over the weekend but the gentleman working in the kids zone around noon on Saturday was very nice and good with the kids.

I do indeed plan on coming back next year!