FUN Show

I had the pleasure of attending the FUN show in Orlando, FLA this past week. It was a very fun and interesting show. Very well attended. I shared corner table 1135 with Colonial and early Americana expert John Kraljevich.

My wife and I travelled to Austin TX and New Orleans LA to visit family over the holidays. Over the New Year's weekend, I travelled back to Boston to swap out a lot of clothes and pack up my coins and paper money and headed to Orlando. She would join me a day later early in the week. We stayed with old friends in Windemere, FLA in quite luxurious accommodations, which was fun as well as killed the hotel bill :-) !

I went to lot viewing early in the week before most people arrived as there was a major Confederate and Southern state collection in the sale - William Kelly's. There were hundreds of lots to view including 32 Montgomery notes, etc....! I will post a separate blog on the analysis of this sale in the near future.

The show set up was Wednesday afternoon and we immediately met with John and split the table. My wife went to work setting up our large cent inventory while I placed the paper money... note - the paper money is a lot easier and quicker to set up, but she likes arranging the coins! We did some quick business and met with a few friends including Confederate dealers Randy Shipley and Greg Ton who were the other two major CSA dealers in attendance. Also caught up with several friends in the large cent and colonial community - Tom Reynolds, David Johnson, Chris McCawley, Bob Grellman, Greg Hannigan and others.

While my wife was putting out the large cents on the table, I went and set up my large cent collection in the exhibit area - 150 coins showing all the different colors of large cents - a color set. This also can be a great collection for a paper money collector to pursue. For example, 1864 Confederate money comes in a range of colors from light pink, through orange to deep red! Type 33 and Type 21 also presents interesting opportunities for color collections. Then there is the short set of my favorite six type notes - the Southern Bank Note Co (ABNC renamed in New Orleans) $5, $10, $20 and $50 (T-31,22,19 and 15) and the Keatinge & Ball notes made from the Savannah obsolete plate - The $5 T-32 and $10 T-23 notes. I did not compete for an award, but did get lots of discussion going in both the coin and paper money communities that stopped by my table.

The show opened to the public on Thursday and it was packed quite quickly. We saw a lot of activity on large cents, less so on Confederate paper money as people were saving there money for the Thursday night auction. We were quite busy with relatively few short breaks. The good thing about having your wife or a friend with you behind the table is that you can actually get out a little, though I also was saving my money for the auction (where I spent it all and then some! More on that in the other blog).

Friday was the big day and we sold a significant amount of large cents up to a few hundred dollars per coin which is where our inventory is concentrated ($15-$500). We also sold a high end T-38 CSA $2 note Choice Fine+ (slab VF-20 or 25), a rare NY countermarked T-24 $10 note (I love NY CSA paper money - there are only two to get the T-21 and more common T-24), a few trains and hoers (T-39-41), and several 1864 and 1863 notes too. At the end of the day, we packed up and visited with our friends in Windemere (which we would do every night except Thurs when the auction was held).

Saturday turned out to be a good day as well - selling some southern state notes - especially a TX Republic $2 in high grade and choice white and fully framed for the grade. The show was busy up through the end of the day. On Sunday we returned to Boston after a 2-3 week trip to three destinations.

We had a lot of fun at FUN! :-) ... saw a lot of friends and had a good show as a dealer and collector. This is one of my favorite shows along with Memphis Paper Money Show and Early American Coppers. Hope to see you next year!

Pierre Fricke