Coin show report - Chattanooga, TN

[1970 silver art]

Today I went to the Tennessee State Numismatic Society (TSNS) Spring coin show. It is one of the largest regional coin shows in the southeast and it typically has between 175-200 tables each year. The show started at 10:00 AM and I got there about 9:50 AM. When I got there, the front parking lot was almost full and I had to park near the back. When I was able to find a parking space and parked, I checked the Kitco website on my smartphone and I saw that spot gold at the time was $1427.60/oz and spot silver was $35.17/oz. Once I got inside and after I showed my photo ID (Driver's license), it looked really busy to me. At times, it was hard to get around to certain dealer tables. Since I was familiar with the setup of this coin show, I had an idea of what dealer tables to go to first and that made things a little bit easier for me.

As always, my 1st goal for this show was to find any silver art bars that are on my silver art bar wish list or that I simply liked a lot. My 2nd goal was to look for any 1-oz silver art rounds that had themes of different professional sports players from the NBA, NFL, Major League Baseball and other professional sports. My 3rd goal was to look for any hobo nickels that were not too expensive.

As I was attempting to achieve the 3 goals that I set for myself, I observed some prices on some select gold and silver bullion. Here are some prices that I have seen and heard from various dealers:


SAE's: $38 to $40


1-oz Gold Eagle: $1505.00. Prices at other dealer tables that had 1-oz GAE's will vary from that price point


1/10 oz Gold Eagle: $165 to $170. $159 was the lowest price that I saw.


1-oz .999 generic silver: $36 to $38.


Silver art bars: Prices varied. Some silver art bars were as low as $37 and the highest price that I remember hearing was $75 for a rare Coca-Cola silver bar. While I was successful in finding a few that I liked and were on my silver art bar wish list, there were slim pickings in terms of silver art bars. Most of them were common minted silver art bars and they were Holiday, Mother Day, Father's day, Hamilton Mint, and Madison Mint. I passed on those because I was not interested in them.


100-oz silver bars: $3600 (Engelhard). I saw more Engelhard bars of this size than any other brand.


Engelhard Prospectors: $37.25


10-oz Engelhard silver bars: $370.00


I also saw that there were some dealers that had the complete set of the America The Beautiful 5-oz silver coins on display. These were slabbed with the PCGS First Strike label. The prices that I saw ranged from $1800 to $2100 for the whole set. They also had the usual assortment of Numismatic gold and silver as well as some 90% silver. I am not sure what 90% was selling for because I did not pay close attention to the prices.

This is the first day of the show. The show is also tomorrow and Sunday. I have not decided whether or not I will go back tomorrow. I will think about it later today. I was at the show for 3 hours and, overall, I had a good time and found some interesting silver art bars and silver art rounds. I did not look for any hobo nickels today since I was concentrating on the silver art bars and art rounds but if I decide to go back tomorrow, then I might try to see if I can find any that I like.

[TLM]

Good report, Thanks.
I noticed you don't call silver the "DOG" anymore! :D

[1970 silver art]

Good report, Thanks.
I noticed you don't call silver the "DOG" anymore! :D


:ROFL:

Thanks for reminding me. :D Even though silver is at $35, it is still a DOG but I do not care because it still love it. ;D Before I forget, I need to get on my knees to bow down to the great white metal master. :)

[ximmy]

good report.. thanks... decent prices too... Today, on the bay, 10 oz bars are 390-400... 100 oz engelhards, 3700-3750.

[osoab]

Why did you have to show ID to get into the show?

I have never been to one, and I would probably walk away if they told me it was required.

Prices did sound good.

Thanks for the report Art.

[1970 silver art]

Why did you have to show ID to get into the show?

I have never been to one, and I would probably walk away if they told me it was required.

Prices did sound good.

Thanks for the report Art.


Honestly I do not know but that's a good question Osoab. I have been to this show several years so they already know who I am and a bunch of dealers know who I am since I bought from them in the past. I did not object to showing my id but I do not think that they did this in the past years. My wild guess is that it must have been some local law change that I am not familiar with.

[madfranks]

Freaking hell, I remember passing on 10oz bars because $180 was too expensive! Damn, this silver train is moving too fast!

[Trinity]

SA 1970 please let me know if you notice a younger crowd or are these shows still populated by older persons. Plus were the dealers eager to buy, and if a lot of sellers were there looking to unload at these prices. Thanks

[1970 silver art]

SA 1970 please let me know if you notice a younger crowd or are these shows still populated by older persons. Plus were the dealers eager to buy, and if a lot of sellers were there looking to unload at these prices. Thanks


During the 2 days that I attended the show, I did see some young people (under 30 yrs old) there but I think they were more interested in the coin collecting (Numismatics) than they were in buying bullion but that is just a guess on my part since I did not pay close attention to what they were looking at buying. I will be honest by saying that I was not paying very close attention but from what I was paying attention to, there were more older persons there than younger people when I looked around at various dealer tables. I really did not see a lot of young people (under 30), that were interested in buying gold or silver and I also think that the current spot levels for gold and silver might have something to do with that.

I did see a young couple with their child that appeared to be interested in buying some 1-oz silver rounds. There was also another young lady that was interested in selling some silver art bars to a dealer that I was familiar with. It did not appear that the dealer was interested in buying them but I happened to past his table and since he knows that I collect silver art bars, he called me over and asked me if I was interested in buying some of them from this lady. Out of the 4 or 5 art bars that she had, I saw one that I liked and I offered $39. She counter-offered and wanted $40. I agreed to $40 and she was happy and I was happy to buy something I liked. Not cheap but not an outrageous premium IMO for that particular silver art bar. That $40 that I paid her was probably better than what that particular dealer could give her because the dealer probably would have offered spot minus $1 or $2 for each of those silver art bars that she had.

Some dealers might have been eager to buy. For example, there was a Florida dealer there that was interested in buying silver art bars in order to resell them at a higher price later on at the show or on ebay. I know this dealer and I have bought from him in the past in person and on ebay. If there were any other dealers that were eager to buy, then it was probably stuff that historically had a high profit margin and they they can resell at the show or on ebay. This is just a guess on my part. I am sure that there were some dealers that were not to eager to buy, especially silver because of the current spot silver price and even if they bought for $1 or $2 under spot, they might still vulnerable if silver drops big from these current levels and drops below what they bought it at.

[RJB]

I gotta make that show one of these days. I'll have to buy you a glass of orange juice if I run int you. :)

[1970 silver art]

I gotta make that show one of these days. I'll have to buy you a glass of orange juice if I run int you. :)


It is a very good show to go to IMO and I have been going to this Spring show since 2008. They also have a Fall coin show (usually between late Oct. - early November) and it is set up the same way and is in the same location like Spring show. I do not know the exact dates for this year's TSNS Fall Coin show yet but I think that the TSNS website might have that information.

EDIT: I just went to the TSNS website and the TSNS Fall coin show is from November 4, 2011 to November 6, 2011.

Here is the link where I found the information:

http://www.tsns.org/Tennessee%20Club%20Shows.html

[Trinity]

Thanks for the info 1970 sa. At the twice month coin show I go to there are always a few dealers activley buying. Usualy there are a line of people at their tables waiting to sell their metal. Nothing like that at the show you were at?

[1970 silver art]

Thanks for the info 1970 sa. At the twice month coin show I go to there are always a few dealers activley buying. Usualy there are a line of people at their tables waiting to sell their metal. Nothing like that at the show you were at?


I did not see a long line of people selling their metal but I did see a few wanting to unload what they had. It was scattered throughout the show because their were a lot of dealers there. There were some dealers that were eager to buy but it was certain items such as that Florida dealer that was looking for silver art bars to resell.