Coins We Love: Welcome to Oklahoma City!
Getting to OKC wasn’t for the faint of heart. But, we overcame the 3.5-hour layover in Atlanta and finally find our way here to be welcomed by….an empty airport. Interestingly, that seems to be the theme for the city. It’s just empty. The city is quite pleasant and the locals that I’ve run into are very friendly, but it’s quiet. However, the host hotel and the convention center are certainly one of the top 5 we’ve been to on the coin circuit. They are new-ish, convenient, and super easy to navigate. After a few days, we can certainly give it 2 thumbs up as a location…now we just have to hope folks actually show up on the bourse. We’re still wondering how that’s going to turn out, as it was a challenge for everyone to get here (unless you drove from Dallas, Tulsa, or teleported from the Enterprise).
On our arrival late Saturday night, we hit the beds and got some rest. Unfortunately, I woke up too early on Sunday, and when my 8 am appointment was canceled, I took a walk to the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial. That was a sobering, touching hike into town, and I certainly felt all the feels. It’s hard to believe that was 30 years ago! There were a handful of people out before the heat melted the streets in the afternoon, but it was just generally “quiet”. Then the coin floodgates opened. We scheduled appointments from 11 am to essentially 11 pm and were slinging coins back and forth for hours before we came up for a breath. In the end, we felt the strength of the coin market, and we realized that even if the show doesn’t get the attendance we hope for, the market will carry this show successfully in dealer to dealer transactions. It was quite the booming day of activity that seemed to have carried on through the ANA Dealer Day on Monday. Overall, the coins that we’ve seen here have been far above average, and some really cool offerings have been presented. Honestly, we’ve been very excited with our purchases overall and this bodes incredibly well for the last few months of the year.
On Tuesday, we finished the setup before the show was going to launch in full force. The official ribbon cutting featured the Acting Director of the Mint, Kristie McNally, and I (JB) somehow landed on the US Mint social media account during the opening. The show was incredibly busy (buying and selling), and the highlight overall was a complete Barber coinage set, all graded by PCGS MS63 (with a few 64s). These pieces, once they make the journey to CAC stickering, will be offered in an upcoming RCR Sale. The evening was highlighted by a DLRC outing to the local landmark, Cattleman’s Steakhouse, where we hosted a dinner for the PNG NexGen program for young guns who are potentially interested in being future coin dealers. While most folks are already back in school, we had a crowd of about 60 young folks and mentors who showed up. It was a fantastic evening, and I was able to host a panel with 2 great leaders in the hobby, Seth Chandler and Kenny Duncan Jr, discussing the future of media creation in the hobby.
Wednesday was perhaps one of the busiest coin show days we’ve had in many years. We not only bought a record amount, but we also sold a ton of coins at the table! It’s hard to recap all of the customers I was able to chat with, but I’ll keep it short and say that it was a pleasure and a crazy busy day. The evening consisted of the US Rare Gold Coin Club dinner. This group of advanced collectors and dealers is one of my favorite outings for the ANA show due to the camaraderie of collectors and because of the fantastic speakers that appear. This year’s speaker was my old friend and fellow Virginian, John Kraljevich, who is my favorite auction cataloger of all time. His writings and musings have long been important reading, and his discussion on adding value by discovering provenances was fantastic!
Thursday has featured a morning of trading, and at the time of this writing, the Coin of the Year (COTY) Awards. This is a prestigious event for the ANA and the first time that I’ve been able to attend.
Tomorrow begins the ANA Board Meetings and events, while the team holds down the table. Our new setup with the beautiful light box sign (Thanks, Andy!) has made it a lot easier to find our booth, and we’re excited to finish the week out strong.
Overview so far: the facilities and hotel are fantastic. I’d love to come back for a spring show here. A one-time World’s Fair is fine here, and the show is a definite winner for dealers. But, in an effort to serve the entire country and make it internationally inviting, I still hope the ANA can get on the path to an easier place to reach. The smaller planes and lack of flights made the journey for some of the folks take over 24 hours to get here! I’m no stranger to small airports or areas, but that’s a bit much! But the show has been far better than we ever expected, and I’m thrilled that it has been a success for the ANA so far!
We hope you enjoy the highlighted coins below and are able to find something that catches your eye! If you need anything from us, we have a great team back at the office that would be happy to assist you!
Numismatically Yours,
John Brush
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