First Coin Show

That's great Vince! Glad you had fun. I have been to many shows over the years, most major, and find most dealers, (9/10), to be rather quiet when inspecting their "wares". You can almost always ask these dealers any and all questions that you may have. They will be willing to almost always help you along with an answer that will best serve you. There are many dealers out there willing to help you out. My experience has been that if they are with another dealer or person, and are not willing to answer a question after you have been standing at their table for a while, move on and come back later. If a dealer is rude (I have only had this happen once after asking him a question, and he got sarcastic!) never go back to him. You don't need that. There are so many dealers that are not. The more shows you attend, the more comfortable and knowledgeable you become :-)
BTW, here is Tom Reynolds site if you like Large Cents. I like them too!
http://www.earlycoppers.com/

He's got some pretty amazing stuff. I saw his table at Long Beach. He really doesn't believe in TPG's so most of his coins are raw. I recall one 1794 he had that he called MS66BN. It was absolutely amazing! Another he had was a 1799 that must have been 63 or 64. My eyes were popping out of my head!

Glad you finally made it to a coin show. I go to from 2 to4 coin shows a Month around here. Have been for a long, long time.
I've been sort of preaching for years that everyone should go to coin shows. No way can you beat what is there on any web site. ebay is nothing once you go to a coin show. The larger ones may be impressive for quantity but so are the prices usually. The smaller the show, again, usually the lower the prices. At most coin shows, no admittance fees, no parking fees, no postage, no handling, no lost in the mail or insurance fees like on web sites. Mostly you get to actually see what your buying and what you see is what you get.
Usually the dealers are true experts and usually very helpfull.

Ome more thing is there is a really great opertunaty to learn at a coin show. Many of those dealers are really experts and love to show it by explaining things to customers if you want them to. If and when you go to a ooin show, always allow time to get into some coversations with the dealers and the more they know you, the better the deals too.

I've been looking forward to the National Money Show in Ft Worth for several months...and my schedule is unfolding in such a way that could prevent me from going. Or I might be there in the couple hours before they wrap it up. I don't want to be at dealers' tables when they are wanting to pack there stuff and hit the road.

In general my hobby for coins has begun with visiting of a monetary exhibition in Belarus!