Attended My First Show Ever, Took The Whole Family

Colorado Springs Colorado, annual show put on by the Colorado Springs coin collecting club. There were 100+ tables. I decided to take the whole family because of the history of coins displays and the treasure chest for kids. I had no idea what to expect walking in the door. I was really hoping to find a good buy on gently used whitman folders and maybe a small lot of Buffalo nickels or indian heads that I could use as a starter lot for me and the 5 year old.

The first thing we were floored by was a full table of absolutely free supplies to "junior nusmatics". Anyway, I think thats the term. We didn't want to be greedy and take too much so my 12 year old snagged a couple State Quarter folders that were like brand new and 2 type set boards. I picked up 3 whitman folders for my 5 year old, all modern day coins such as the ones I had posted about here looking for before. They had tons of other stuff but we left it all alone, again not wanting to be greedy.

The "treasure chest" was really cool. Each kid got a small bag of coins and tokens. The 5 year old is incredibly proud of his plastic made in china tacky looking golden token. I kept the rest that was in the bag and socked it away along with a picture of him holding it. I plan to present it to him in a couple years when he has a better understanding. There is some neat stuff in there that he'd easily lose. The bags contained a neat assortment of foriegn coins, american coins, and tokens. If the idea was hoping to pique a childs interest, they definately did the job with both my 5 and 12 year olds.

Unfortunately the boy was only good walking the floor for about 45 minutes before he had enough and wanted McDonalds. In that time I got a few more Whitman/Harris etc. folders for a song, some partially filled. I gave my 12 year old a 10.00 spending limit and she took the entire time (just like her dad did at 12 at baseball card shows) before picking up a birth year proof set (1998 for 8.75) and some foriegn paper money that was .25 each. She really liked the colored nickels that were well done but I couldn't justify 8.00 for 3 modern painted nickels. The wife had a blast helping my daughter spend her 10.00. She's looking forward to attending the next show with just me and her. We used to attend baseball card shows in the mid 90's and she loved the "pretty cards". After finding out that it's perfectly acceptable to judge coins by their "prettiness" she thinks she can really get into the hobby.


The boy made out like a bandit in freebies. The dealers absolutely fell in love with him and 5 different vendors gave him something for free. He received a free indian head, a free buffallo nickel, a 1999 P Dime in flip, paper money, and a slabbed State Quarter. He is in love with the State Quarter, mostly because of the holograph sticker on it that changes colors.

I didn't spend as much as I intended, mostly because I just didn't have the time to dig through bargain boxes that I had hoped for. The plan was to go back by myself today but we had a family outing planned already I had forgotten about. All in all I have to say it was a huge success. I got in touch with a couple local dealers who are going to set aside modern day coin folders for me for 1.00 each and I think I learned a few things about coin collecting I hadn't known before.