Downtown Coin Club Show In Carson City, NV Review

Today was the first day of the Second Annual Downtown Coin Club Show in Carson City, NV. The event was hosted by the Downtown Coin shop at the Carson Nugget right in the middle of downtown. Am I using the word downtown too much here?

The Carson Nugget is a casino with conference rooms on the second floor. I took my two boys, aged 5 and 2.5, and they could barely stand walking through the smoke filled casino to get to the show. Thankfully none of the smoke made it's way to the second story. Maybe there is positive pressure from the HVAC?

There was a table outside the front desk of the show for kids to sort through what must have been 5000+ Lincolns and fill Whitman folders with. This was free to all kids. 60% of the Lincolns were 50's wheats. There were probably 200+ Zinclins. If you were willing to sift then you would find everything from the 30s and 40s. Each kid got a free magnifying glass the folder was free too.

We must have spent close to 50 minutes filling up two folders. They didn't seem to care much for the date as long as the penny was shiny or had some coloration to it. We had to take a break before the folders were full when their thumbs got tired.

After a run to McDonalds we returned so Papa (me) could have a turn getting some coins. We walked through the hall and oogled at who had what. The kids weren't too interested in strait coins. They loved looking at toned coins for the rainbow colors and the errors because they looked so weird. Gold is shiny and always fun to look at. There was one dealer who had a very interesting display case of jewelry and stones which enthralled the kids. Lots of colors snd shapes to see and behold! Some vendors tried to get technical with the kids and explain the whole business of dies and the like but that was a bit overwhelming. It was a good chance for them to practise manners and say thank you. One vendor was very nice and let my kids hold a worn Morgan so that they can a feel for the weight. A smile lit up in their faces when they thought it was a gift! It was still fun for them even though they had to hand it back.

After all that (and a bit more) my 5 year old insisted on returning to the table to finish filling up his folder. Fine by me! He spent another 15-20 mins before it was full of what we wanted. A volunteer offered my 2.5 year old a chocolate coin in the mean time. He felt like he made out like a bandit. His bounty tasted better!

In the end, a good time was had by all even though we had to walk through a smokey casino to get to the show. My 2.5 year old crashed and was out like a light. Both of the boys were pretty thrilled to show off their coins to Mom and Mom was happy for the nearly 5 hour reprieve from two high energy kids!

What made it a bash for the kids were the magnifying glasses. If they weren't there then their experience would have been dampened. The magnifying glasses added a new depth of experience for them.

-- Boris