The following was written by Chris.

We attended the annual FUN show in Orlando earlier this month. For the first time in some years, it was not held the first week of January. It was nice to be able to enjoy the New Year’s holiday with friends and family without having to pack up coins and fly out right away for a coin show. As with last year, it was Tom, Frank, Brian, and I in attendance.

Three of us stayed at the usual condo community which is near the convention center, and a good exercise walking distance to the concourse where the show was. Tom got the Hilton this time, also a very doable walk to the show. The weather was…cold. We checked the forecast before coming down, but it was still a bit of a surprise once we got in. It wasn’t much warmer than Boston!

I flew down early afternoon on Monday, as I had a buying appointment with a wholesale dealer in their hotel room. The rest of the guys flew down later that night. My jetBlue flight was on time. I usually dump on jetBlue for their on-time performance, but I have miraculously had five on-time trips in a row (ten flights!). If you hear a sound, that’s me banging on wood. Unfortunately, Brian, Tom, and Frank were not so lucky with their flight.

The FUN show organizers tried something a little different this year. They hosted a dealer day on Tuesday in one of the convention center rooms. There were no assigned tables, no guaranteed electricity, no show cases, and only two wrist bands for entry were allowed per company. I think perhaps the show was trying to improve safety for the dealers, so that they could do business in a single room with security present, rather than riding around in Ubers doing hotel business. I found this to be impractical, as the trading room didn’t open until 11 am (also, I like proper lights when viewing coins…I don’t know how people can look at coins in the dark). In order to get early shot on coins, I was Ubering to hotels before 8 am, and it stayed that way pretty much the whole day for me. Tom did some buying business in the trading room, while Frank was busy in the convention center hallway buying from his usual guys. Brian was working the whole day selling coins, mostly meeting dealers either in their hotel rooms or their own private rooms at the convention center.

The show itself started Wednesday at 2 pm. Dealers were so anxious to get in that there was an unsafe backlog of people trying to get in the doors as others were pouring down the escalators. Convention staff and even a Sheriff’s deputy were yelling at folks up top to stop piling onto the escalator. It got dicey there for a bit.

As with last year, there was a huge public presence on Thursday. It was pretty incredible. It definitely slowed down on Friday, but I would say overall it was a very well-attended show, both by dealers and the public. If you are located in the Orlando area (or even if not and you have to get on a plane), and you’ve never been to a coin show, perhaps consider next year’s FUN show. It’s easily the second largest show of the year, and is not that far behind the summer ANA show. You will likely be amazed by how big FUN is, and how many coins there are to see.

How was our FUN experience? Overall, a good show. Sales were a little disappointing but still decent. Dealers were certainly willing to look, and the dealers we spoke to said they had a very good show. We did have possibly the best buying show we’ve ever had. When all was said and done, I think we came home with/shipped eight double row boxes of newps. And we saw no softness whatsoever in the market.

Foodwise, there’s nothing too exciting to boast about. Brian and I got Grubhub every night but one at the condo. We did venture one night with a coin dealer friend to a great burger joint within walking distance called Beth’s Burger Bar. If you’re ever in the area, I recommend checking it out (www.bethsburgerbar.com). Beth was even there the night we went in. Frank was able to escape the condo a couple of night to enjoy some nice dinners.

Lastly, I was fortunate enough to be able to reconnect again with some buddies from Florida State, as I stayed until Sunday to have some fun. It’s always a treat when they are able to come down from Tallahassee. My flight home was…on time!

I’m looking forward to the summer FUN show in July. Maybe I’ll see you there!

Delivery one night from a pretty darn good joint called NYPD Pizza (www.nypdpizzeria.com).

Yes, this clown is playing with his coins in the bathroom.

The following was posted by Chris.

Many of you have no doubt seen examples of NGC, PCGS, ANACS, etc. holders out there with custom inserts. We thought we'd take the opportunity to share some that we have.

We did this promotional insert when our state quarter came out.

We did this one to commemorate Tom's 50 years in the coin business.

Tom had a custom insert created for his son Russell when he graduated high school. He had both Silver and Gold Eagles holdered. Keep in mind gold was less than $500/oz back then. Had he graduated today, not sure how many (if any) Gold Eagles would have been used!

This one I picked up many years ago. I was attending a coin show in Baltimore and was fortunate enough to be invited on a bus ride down to the Smithsonian to view part of the National Numismatic Collection. NGC had these holders done as a commemoration of an exhibit opening.

And lastly, this piece I received from a good friend, who happened to be my very first friend in the coin business, going all the way back to 1996! It commemorated his wedding. 

Do you have any custom holders in your collection. If so, we'd love to see them! Please email them to chris@northeastcoin.com and I'll get them posted.

Our apologies for the lack of blog posts lately! We've let personal and business travel get in the way. The following was written by Frank.

     My numismatic journey started in elementary school. I remember distinctively when I was 7 or 8, my father came home from work with a 1961 Washington silver quarter that he had found in his pocket change. He pulled it out of his pocket and showed it to me, explaining the significance of the coin; the coin was made of 90% silver, giving it a value of a few dollars. I was fascinated; it never occurred to me that a coin could be worth more than its face value. My dad gave me the coin, which remains the pinnacle of my personal collection to this day.

     My dad must’ve seen how interested I was in the one coin he gave me, so he pulled out his coin collection from his teenage years. My dad explained to me that most of the coins in his collection were found in circulation. Like many families, we have a large container of loose change that accumulates over time. I went through the entirety of it, finding a few Lincoln wheat cents, including one from 1912, a coin nearly 100 years old at the time. Searching through change seemed to be the most cost effective way for me to add coins to my collection at such a young age.

     I soon began begging my parents to take me to local banks to buy rolls of coins to go through. My order regularly consisted of $50 of pennies and $100 of nickels every other week; I always seemed to find at least one Buffalo nickel, or a silver war nickel in every $100 of nickels that I went through. Along with searching through rolls of coins, I started metal detecting. I received a Whites Coinmaster Pro on my birthday in elementary school and began digging up our property. My very first silver coin found metal detecting was an 1875-S Seated Liberty Dime found on our property. My mom and dad would also take me to a local coin shop on my birthday and give me $50 to spend on new coins for my collection. At some point, I received a Red Book, which I studied intensely, memorizing the key dates of different series.

     My mom and dad also took me to many local coin shows. My favorite show of the year was located in Westford, MA right before Christmas. This show was super special because there was a dealer (Northeast Numismatics) who ran a great promotion, all children received a free handful of coins. I went to this show with my brother and friend, who also got a free handful of coins. When we all got home, we began researching and trading the coins with each other.

     The 1961 Washington quarter that my dad gifted to me impacted my life on so many levels. It introduced me to the great hobby of numismatics and surely changed my career trajectory, which has led to many great relationships.

The following was written by Chris.

The annual ANA World’s Fair of Money was held last week in Rosemont, Illinois. In attendance from Northeast was Frank, Brian, Russell (Tom’s son who sometimes works shows with us), and me. Tom was unable to make the trip, the first ANA he missed after 52 straight years! See his blog post from earlier this month to learn why.

We flew to O’Hare Sunday evening. Our flight was delayed by two hours, though I think weather had something to do with it. For once it was not JetBlue’s fault! Business for us started Monday morning at Dealer Day. I got an early shot looking at coins at a few of my regular wholesalers. Sadly, I didn’t get to look as early as I would have liked, since apparently some dealers flew in Saturday to do business on Sunday. These shows just keep getting longer and longer!

We were all very busy at the show. One long-time coin friend of mine was just across the aisle from me, and I didn’t realize this until three days in to the show! She said I had my head down pretty much the entire time, and she was right. If I wasn’t looking through boxes to buy coins, I was pricing out coins that other dealers had pulled from our inventory.

Brian tried a somewhat different approach to sales at this show, and it seemed to pay off. We had a pretty strong selling show, which is great. Buying was just so-so. Frank and I each bought around two and a half double row boxes of coins. For large shows like this, I usually buy closer to four boxes. We still managed to come home with some cool coins.

Most of our meals were at Gibson’s restaurant, which is a very nice steak place. It’s right across the street from the convention center, so we did takeout from there. We often skip lunch at shows, so it was a nice treat to be able to eat every day!

Brian flew home a day early for family obligations. I stayed until around noon on Saturday, and Frank and Russell wrapped up the show and flew home Saturday night. My flight home was ON TIME. Of course, I was flying Delta for the return trip, so that’s why the plane left when it was supposed to.

For fun on Friday night, Russell, Frank, and I went bowling. We had a great time. I got my @ss handed to me every single game by both Russell and Frank. I’ll get em back next year!

The following was written by Tom.

We have been busy in the office in recent days getting ready for this important annual convention.  Preparing inventory, making arrangements to meet with clients looking to buy or sell, contacting dealers to view inventory early in the show as well as making arrangements for social engagements in the evenings.   Never to be missed it has been 52 straight years that i personally have attended.  Fresh out of business college in 1972 I still recall the New Orleans show, Boston the following year, & in the subsequent years to  Los Angeles, Seattle, New York City & elsewhere around the country.

This year Northeast will be well represented with Chris Clements, Brian Alty, Frank Sawin, & Russell Caldwell in attendance.  I however will be taking a break. I am preparing to have open heart surgery soon & air travel has been advised against by my doctors. Yes, the show camaraderie will be missed but Chris, Brian, Frank & Russell will be there to serve you.  If you are at the show hope you stop by table 604 /606 to visit.   You can also contact me anytime at tom@northeastcoin.com