prologue :
dependable dawn numismatist circa 2019 and welcome to this our first RR of your new year. And this will be a stage-setter for what we expect to be another excellent event hera in FLA, beginning with an huge total of draw view and wholesale action before the actual read kicks off with dealer set-up on Wednesday and auction sessions galore. And while that should be sufficiently action-packed to keep us busy, we ’ ll besides be following along with the global coin auctions taking set in NYC at the New York International Numismatic Convention this very lapp week ( for which we zipped down to view lots last weekend ).
Which means we will be flush busier than common active in both shows, but happy to do so, because as we have said many times, if we weren ’ metric ton doing this as a business, we ’ vitamin d about surely be doing this anyhow precisely for fun. With everything that happens here ( or in NY ! ) to be described here each and every morning with as many pictures as possible. Until tomorrow –
Day 1 : January 7th
Like a well-oiled numismatic machine Team CRO was at the airport before 6 AM to catch the first flight to Orlando, allowing us to arrive here, dump our bags in the board, have a agile lunch and then slipstream to the Heritage lot viewing room at the convention center before the very big crowd showed up. And that plan worked closely to paragon, as we finished viewing the entire sale in about 4 hours, a action made easier by the fact that we had seen, sometimes owned and were frankincense already extreeeeemely familiar with many of the coins of interest in this session, including the grandiose Weinberg coins, and lots of cool US character. then came back to the hotel, entered everything into the computer, made a few calls, answered emails and finally headed to dinner at an excellent greek restaurant down the street while weaving around the 50 million high gear technical school conference attendees who are all walking around town with their name badges on. ultimately getting binding to the hotel and collapsing after what had by then been a dainty, pack, efficient 21 hour day. So we will of run be rarin ’ to go on Tuesday, and then blog all about it right here in just about 24 hours from now. More late –
Day 2 : January 8th
We were up and out to the gymnasium at 7 AM on Tuesday, in full breakfasted by 9, in the sweeping rooms by 9:30 and buying up a storm by 9:45, before racing back to Heritage for some follow-up draw viewing / second looks at a few key coins. After which we headed back to the hotel for lunch with a trader acquaintance, then finished up the invite homework at a poolside cabana in the good afternoon which was delightful ( but would have been even more so if there had been an electric wall socket anywhere nearby ). Alas there wasn ’ triiodothyronine, so we finally had to finish up in the room before getting ready for what is constantly a highlight of this event, our annual Tuesday night FUN Show dinner arranged by a local collector at however another epic poem restaurant. Where we once again corrode, toast and carried on heroically while again passing around some highly cool coins. Including this iniquitous Baldwin $ 10 ( with apologies in advance for your writer ’ randomness amateurish photography ) : 
And this regular attendant at these dinners, the coolest 20¢ nibble any of us have seen and the mint everyone at the mesa would have bought immediately had the owner wished to sell : 
Alas, he ’ s ( still ) not selling. Nor was the owner of this epically epic Proof Indian Head Cent in an ooooold Rattler slab : 
With one of your writer ’ mho contributions this PL 1787 Massachusetts penny : 
But not everything was as deluxe, slabbed ( or even actual ), including this cool, unusual and decidedly raw Omega counterfeit $ 20 brought by our host : 
Who then showed us all where to find the highly small, very insidious and hard to see Omega punch distinguish inside the eagle ’ south claw identifying this as a bogus ( deplorable – it was excessively belittled to see in a photograph ). After which we talked coins until former in the evening, finally returning to the hotel near midnight and immediately crashing in anticipation of what figures to be an stimulate, action-packed and highly tiring Wednesday which will include dealer set up in the afternoon followed by the first HA auction session right after. With whatever happens there to be described in great detail right here on Thursday AM. EOM
Day 3 : January 9th
With the completely civilized 2 PM start of dealer set-up on Wednesday, Team CRO had plenty of time for a slack breakfast at the hotel, another successful inflict to the wholesale rooms on the lower tied and then an on-line revisit of all of our respective track lots in the auctions here and in NY. We then grabbed lunch at the hotel and carried it with us on the mile-long walk to the bourse floor, acquired our show ribbons surprisingly painlessly at the FUN registration desk and finally joined an impressively massive sea of humanness pouring into the read at 2 : 
then got to work setting up CRO booth # 925, suddenly realized we forgot to pre-arrange our table lights ( a quirk of this show, since at every other one on the lap lights are provided by the show organizers, but hera must be secured individually ). Years ago that would have been a disaster, leaving us in the dark, or stuck with lone a couple of unwrap ones left over at the goal. This fourth dimension, however, it was a tear to go get modern ones, allowing us to finish setting up in total and on schedule with our usual 3-case display of US, colonial and world/esoteric items. Including a bunch of NEWPs which would have been part of our late December Early Bird that never actually happened, meaning that attendees at this display will be the recipients of that delinquent first shoot. One of whom became our beginning buyer at this show minutes late, snagging an old-holdered US type coin. Most of our time, though, was spent scouring the bourse floor looking for interest coins, snapping some up instantaneously, pondering others that were ‘ close ’ but not no brainers ( i.e. representing series which are merely less popular, or priced on the aggressive side, or sometimes both ). still, we constantly seem to manage to find our fair share and that was the case on Wednesday, as we started to amass an impressive group of coins in the back case. then selling a few other coins ( including one jointly owned by another dealer sold by him here ), submitting our straggler scaling, working on a pair of other deals, viewing a secret mint offered by a dealer friend and then last heading out to dinner with a couple of early dealers at approximately 6:30. Until one of them on the spur of the moment realized he needed to log on to his computer and bid right then, which he did perched on clear of a folderol can in the convention center lobby and frankincense once again illustrating the glamorous side of mint dealing that draws therefore many to this career : 
Dinner, on the other handwriting, was served on an actual table, finished up around 9:30 and therefore allowed us more clock to ( and you may have seen this coming ) again verify our tracked lots online, make certain we had everything organized, knew when they were all being sold and would not miss any of them which honestly is my fear this workweek with so many of them to track. so far so dear though. A course we hope continues on Thursday with the first appearance of the populace at this show, and another HA auction session starting at 1 PM.
With whatever happens there to be described here, in detail, on Friday AM. Until then, then –
Day 4 : January 10th
Time is constantly tight at these big scale shows, as we work backward from the beginning of the scheduled bourse hours and plan our dawn consequently. So lease ’ s see – bourse room doors open at 8:30. Which means we need to start the loooooong walk from the hotel at about 8:10. So that ’ mho breakfast at 7:30. Meaning I ’ five hundred have to be in the shower and then getting ready starting at 7. therefore reviewing bids and answering e-mail at 6:30. Giving me 30 minutes to write and post the web log starting at 6. So we ’ five hundred set the alarm at 5:45. fortunately, your writer was up at 4:14, so we were ahead of schedule from the start, all of that other farce seemed like a breeze, and we strolled into the prove in high spirits just as it opened. And then began what turned out to be an epic day bribe and sell coins pretty much non-stop in a room vitamin a crowded as we ’ ve seen at a big show in years, including many long-time CRO customers and old friends, but besides many new faces break by the table for the beginning time. To whom we sold all sorts of coins in all categories, ranging from an outright sale of an low-cost CBH to a multi-coin cash and deal share for a high-end colonial and just about everything in between. While buying a similarly eclectic mix on the floor and from table visitors, with more of our needed honest-to-god holders, a stun early Mexican Cap & Rays nibble, some superb colonials, hood gold issues, etc., etc. Stopping ( albeit concisely ) to eat lunch at the back table, dash off to submit some grade, pick up some completed orders and by and large cram about 17.5 hours of numismatic action into an 8 hour day. separate of which included a pitch conflict between your generator and the internet, which was not working big on the bourse floor and made it extremely difficult to track the HA auction starting at 1. so despite all of our exhaustive homework for that school term, we ended up scrambling at the last infinitesimal and missing out on a few things we might have otherwise bought. Oh well – it ’ s a admonitory narrative which could have been well rectified by entering everything in boost at our soap and letting the chips fall where they may. Which come to think of it is precisely what we did for the Platinum Night session starting at 6, which included some superb early coins of finical CRO-interest from the collection of long-time supporter of the firm and numismatic connoisseur Alan Weinberg. But despite the fact that our bids were locked and loaded, we even wanted to be there in person for what figured to be bang-up theater, elegantly hosted ( as constantly ) by inheritance, but in this case tightly packed into an HO-scale auction room with dealers, collectors and diligence professionals in taut rows not unlike economy course on Spirit Airlines. Which did not seem to dissuade anyone from invite, as prices were generally full-bodied ( at least on the things we were chasing ) from a combination of internet and bouncy bids. With your generator leaving after the early on copper operate, heading back to the postpone to pack up and then heading off to dinner at the hotel with a collector supporter where we continued mint discussions well into the nox. Before last succumbing to what by then had been another long, tire, successful and fun ( humble farad ) day which we hope to repeat on Friday ( except for the region about the internet ). And if we do, or even if we don ’ thyroxine, you can read all about it hera on Saturday AM .
Day 5 : January 11th
We were a bite delay getting to the indicate on Friday after your generator got involved in a looooong early dawn exercise motorcycle discussion with another dealer about an inauspicious auction bid mishap the night before. In this font the consequence being that he had failed to secure a particular batch when his manque winning proxy bid was trumped by an earlier proxy bid of the same amount. unfortunately, that sort of thing can happen, and you in truth have to be ready to react immediately, on the fly, making what might be a multi-thousand dollar decision to bid again in about 1.8 seconds before they hammer the draw down to person else. Or be subject to sit on your electronic hands and let the other guy win. Which is why on our highest precedence lots we always try to consider all of the possibilities, and then follow along hot and leave nothing to luck – though that is of course not easily at a busy prove with then many competing priorities, and sometimes despite the best laid plans it barely doesn ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate work out. Oh well. anyhow, after that, we ultimately arrived at the show at about 9:30 and found the room already operating at a pretty high-pitched wholesale buzz. So we promptly joined in, selling a coin to another trader on the other side of the room, and then returning to the table to find another principal waiting to pick up a coin we had mentioned receiving in trade the day before. And so it went, accelerating when the populace entered at 10, and continuing like that pretty much until belated in the afternoon. With potent sales of coins we ’ ve owned a while, but others ( like the one above ) that had been in our inventory for not even 24 hours. While continuing to buy at a good clip, including two colonial deals ( with a one-third still in the works ), some interest gold, more erstwhile holders and a eldritch keepsake with either an alligator or a crocodile on it that another dealer idea would be a CRO item. He was right. Things we did not buy : Any of the nicely toned Morgans we saw in a big deal since that ’ s not precisely our focus, excessively many other dealers are selling similar items and honestly we find those extremely hard to prize. still, I admit to being tempted. Better to stick to our try and dependable recipe I figure, so there we were poring through other cases late in the day looking at option, original early type at one board and interest old holdered commems at another. In and around which we met many collectors at the table, some we had previously known only via phone or e-mail, others we had seen at dozens of shows through the years. Including one who showed us this concern hammered seventeenth century English Maundy set which is the oldest one your author had always seen and did not know existed : 
How cool is that ? very. With our end act of the day being to look through a token deal offered to us, ultimately picking out 4 or 5 that we liked from a full of 20-something before heading back to the table, packing things up and heading out to dinner with a couple of principal friends to try to finalize yet another deal in what has turned out to be a sea of them here in Orlando. After which we ran into a collector friend in the lobby who told us about his latest research findings before we finally called it a ( late ) nox so that we could be quick for tied longer Saturday during which we hope to do enough more clientele at the show sandwiched between packing up and checking out of the hotel and then schlepping to the airport and flying base ( we hope ) late in the evening. And then blogging all about it in our final installment of the RR to be posted from the comfort of home. To find out if that actually happens, or if we alternatively end up stuck in some airport hotel for the 3rd class in a row, check back with us right here in fair about 24 hours from now .
The Exciting termination
I ’ ll admit to a abstruse feel of fear when I read on Thursday about a “ nationally blizzard ” coming this weekend. With visions of camping out at the airport gate on Saturday until our flight would inescapably be cancelled at about midnight, then scrambling with 127,500 other people to reclaim our bags, rebook on unlike flights, consider renting a car and drive to a different airport, or even all the direction base, etc., etc. Add to that warnings of a possible transportation security administration sickout and we seemed to have the makings of a veridical mess. indeed of course this time when we showed up at the airport it was a breeze, lines were short, our trajectory left on time, arrived early and we were spinal column here in NE at a civilized hour. In fact, the alone negative thing I can say about our tripper home was that we had to leave the show excessively soon. even late in the afternoon on Saturday the bourse was distillery busy, with lots of people coming to the board and I am 100 % positive that if we could have stayed even longer, we would have done more business. possibly a lot more at what turned out to be the busiest, best FUN show we can recall in y-e-a-r-s. With a giant star crowd of collectors filling the aisles ( at least from our advantage point ) from start to finish, and people in a climate to buy. And sell. And trade. And roulette wheel. And deal. Why is that ? not sure. possibly there was a pent up desire for people to visit Orlando after this show being held in Fort Lauderdale and Tampa the end pair of years ? I ’ vitamin d mention macro-economic issues, but I didn ’ metric ton sense that arsenic much of a motivate agent among what was overwhelmingly collector activity for us. I ’ m just going to conclude that coin roll up is alive and well, and that having a distribute of cool stuff and a good table localization sure doesn ’ metric ton suffer. Resulting in a show in which we sold or traded 60-something coins while buying and/or receiving in trade 41. Which does not include anything we might buy in the internet auction sessions, or anything acquired in NY in any of those populace sales which will be continuing this coming week. We besides were happy to see many long fourth dimension friends and clients here, and meet a distribute of interesting modern people, including an aged chap who told us of his have working as Eleanor Roosevelt ’ s grocery male child and once receiving a friendly tap on the shoulder from Nikita Kruschev. I ’ thousand not positive, but I do not believe I have always heard that from anyone before – decidedly not at a mint appearance. All combining for an excellent and entertaining show but one that required an huge amount of planning, concentration, late nights, early mornings and tens of thousands of steps to accomplish, but which we would gladly do all complete again because it was all a distribute of fun ( humble fluorine ).
But not today, since we ’ ll motivation to get at least some rest while wish in the aforesaid HA auction before we embark on early Bird homework so we can be ready come Tuesday. And we ’ five hundred suggest you take a search at that one, since we think it will be an absolute barn-burner. Finito
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