Well this weekend I took my 11 year old son to his first coin show. I don't know who had more fun - him - or me watching him have fun. I could barely look at anything myself for more than a minute without the tug on the arm or the yell " Dad - Dad - come look at this !! " This scenario repeated itself throughout the entire day.

    Luckily for me - one of the dealers there ( an aquaintance from another Coin Forum ) had agreed to make my son a deal. He offered the boy a rather well used Whitman album - Jefferson nickels '38 - '64 with 5 coins already in it for 25 cents. This was a blessing for it provided me with several brief periods to do my own searching while my son went through every bowl - can & book of nickels that he could find trying to fill up that album as fast as he could !!

    Needless to say - by the time I finally managed to persuade to him that it was time to leave he had the album half full. And of course when we got home - he had to search through Dad's rather large coin jar - about 60 lbs worth - for even more nickels !! And of course Dad was gladly there to help out. But by 9 o'clock - Dad was searched out and my eyes looked like two red orbs. But all in all it was one of the most pleasurable days I have spent in a long time ;-}

    Of course I had my own moments at the show as well. I spent what time I could searching through several hundred Mint & Proof sets for those I need to complete my collection. Alas - there were only a tiny handfull of sets from the late '50s - I could find only 1 from '55 - and absolutely none from earlier years

    I did manage however to find a few that were nicer sets than those already in my collection. One of which was a Cameo 1967 SMS set. That was a stroke of luck !! I found this dealer who had just arrived from Idaho where he purchased a large lot of M & P sets from an individual as a bulk sale. Before I asked to look through the sets I asked him the prices for them - which he quoted. They were quite reasonable - even below Trends bid. I then began looking through the sets.

    While I was doing so - he stated that he himself had not yet had time to look through the sets. My first reaction to this was - yeah right - and I told him so. He smiled and said - " no - I really haven't had the time - I just bought them the day before." Just then I slid open the '67 SMS set and the Cameo frost leaped out at my eyes !! He saw it too of course - and reached for the set in my hands saying " let me see that ". I jerked back and said with a smile on my face & in my voice " keep your grubby little fingers off that - that puppy's sold - $14 !! "

    There were several others standing nearby who had been watching this scenario play out, including a couple of other dealers I know & other customers. They all started laughing and told the dealer " you quoted a price - too late to change it now ". He somewhat reluctantly started laughing as well.

    All in all - it was great day. But I'll never forget - as long as I live - those calls of " Dad - Dad - come look at this !! "