Elmer's Fun Show Report

This was my first time attending this show, so my perspective may appear slightly more giddy than long time attendees. Keep in mind my experiences may not mirror others, they are pretty much mine. So here goes, hope y'all like it!

We arrived in Orlando the day before FUN opened, so we missed the funky weather that blew through there. Our car rental was a bit different this time too, we rented a Nissan Leaf this time. This car is all electric, no gas needed at all. The car itself is really neat and pretty much drives like an ordinary gas powered sedan. The interior was very comfortable and looked slightly futuristic. The only issue was finding charging stations, the GPS led us to non-existent locations. Nothing like getting a low battery warning while looking for a unit! Fortunately we were able to find them and took advantage of the free convention center chargers on Saturday. OK, now to the show.

I've been to many coin shows, but none of them matched the immensity of the show! Tables as far as the eyes could see, and most were occupied! We (my wife and I) did get there just after opening on Thursday. She's not really into coins, but she did find things to keep her amused and helped me find some Encased Coins for a friend in Nevada. After while of looking around at interesting tables, she went outside of the bourse and occupied herself with various reading materials. As for me, I started with row 100 (goes up to 1600) and was determined to pass by every table while I was there. Like many other people also mentioned while there, this show can be overwhelming, but in a good way. This was the first show I spent an ENTIRE day at and still I only got to row 1200. On this day, I made quite a few purchases and ran into various forum members like poorguy (Brandon), lkeigwin (Lance), ThePennyLady (Charmy), AuroraBorealis, and Bolivarshagnasty (Mel). I also ran into one of my favorite ebay and online dealers David Kahn. A super nice guy in person who always managed to find super-nice coins from who knows where. I managed to snag a very nice 1865 PCGS XF-40 CAC seated half from him. This is a date you just never see anywhere, especially without problems. After some more wandering, I found a few nice raw toned Lincoln cents for just a few dollars in the budget section. A bit later I found a very nice raw 1825 large cent from Doug Bird graded VF-20. It looks better than the PCGS VF-20 that I already have. Then onward to more looking, bought a nice PCGS VF-35 1846 seated half from Larry Shapiro's table area and then turned the corner and found a small display of toned coins that turned out to be Brandon's inventory. There was an 1881-O toned Morgan I saw on his site sometime back and now I was looking at it in person. I almost pulled the trigger when I saw it on his site, but seeing it in person confirmed it was a good choice. He made me a good deal and now it's in my collection. Not too much later, it was the end of day 1! Below are the highlights of that day:

1865 PCGS XF-40 CAC:




1881-O PCGS MS-63:




OK, now on to day 2 which for me was a return trip on Saturday after visiting Epcot on Friday. It also gave us a chance to recharge our electric car for awhile. This day consisted of picking up where I left off in row 1200 and make it all the way thru. I'm glad I did that, there were good buys for me at this end of the show. I ran into Gail and Liz from JJ Teaparty (could not squeeze into their table the first day) and picked up some more nice PCGS graded Seated halves, including the elusive 1864 in PCGS VF-35. The last purchase I made the day turned out to be a nice PCGS VF-35 1818/7 Large 8 capped bust half from Treasure of Significance. I never heard of them before, but after seeing their inventory I will add them to my dealer list. After that, I looked over some nice lots for the upcoming Legend-Morphy auction, these guys do a bang-up job IMHO. Below are the highlights of my day 2:

1864 PCGS VF-35:




1818/7 Large 8 PCGS VF-35:




Most of the dealers I talked said they were having a great show too. I did stop by the CCF table, but it was packed, could not squeeze in to take a closer look and blab with some of the people there. Both days I attended seemed fairly busy, steady traffic throughout the day. I'm not sure how it compared with previous shows, but I did hear some gripes about the movement of the show to the West Concourse. It did make more sense to keep it where it was, considering where the main parking was. And that about sums it up. Would I go again? You betcha!