Numismatic Sighting: James (the Wanderer)
oly
I saw mon vieux professeur, Monsieur James, at the Springpatch coin
show here this day (3/21/10). We had to look each other up and down
to be certain of identities - I suppose that this is only about the
4th or maybe 5th time we've met up in person.
James was looking extremely well, hale and hearty. He had come down
to the flat-lands to look at some colonial coins, especially a New
Jersey copper, horse's head featuring a large "goiter".
The Springpatch coin show had a very solid crowd, not a record
attendance, but not bad. IMHO there was a lot of silver available in
U.S. 90% coin form, and some small bars. IMHO, gold was also
relatively abundant in one-quarter ounce (or older European near-
equivalents) and one ounce formats.
I have always marveled, just boggled at the tendency for coin dealers
to unload and then to take up ALL of the parking places near the door,
all day long. The Springpatch show is a prime example of this bad
habit.
oly
Mr. Jaggers
Speaking only for myself, that doesn't bother me, as I need the exercise,
being somewhat gifted circumferentially. The worst parking situation,
though, occurs at the convention center in Rosemont, where one must park
across the street ($11 last time I was there, probably will jack up to $15
or $20 by the time of Central States in 2011) and then do a 3/4-mile forced
march through endless elevated walkways to get to the show gate.
Yes, I did acquire a want list item, a Maris 37-f, which features a die
blowout below the horse's neck, giving him the appearance of having an
iodine deficiency. Picture here:
http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff9/lugburzman/obv.jpg
And yes, the show was very crowded, making it often very difficult to get
anywhere near the coins. At least the bodies seemed to be actually looking
at coins rather than just standing in the aisles blowharding about the good
old days and bitching about the Current Occupant. The roster of dealers, as
oly reminded me at the show, was pleasantly diverse for a club show, with
people from several adjacent states in attendance.
I thoroughly enjoyed myself and was pleased to renew my acquaintance and
have speaks with oly.
James the Itinerant Coin Junkie
'I've been known to drive even farther to attend a coin show'