DESERT MOON NEWSLETTER, ISSUE 27, OCTOBER 19, 2026
Updated: Oct 20
22 Newps and Post GACCS Report
Hi Folks,
Two weeks ago I participated in the Great American Coin and Collectibles Show (GACCS) at Rosemont Convention Center at Rosemont, IL. For me this was a convenient show because first, there is a direct flight, one per day, to and from, my non-hub local airport to O'Hare Airport in Chicago. This makes all of the difference in the world in terms of travel to shows because most venues I need at least one connection. Second, I decided to go simply to buy and interact with people at the show, so I did not have, nor register for a table. This means travelling lighter. I did bring 4 coins to sell and did so, but did not have a pack full of my inventory. The goals were thus to see if GACCS was just as vibrant in terms of collector base attending, and to add to my inventory with cool coins. If GACCS turned out to be a place for selling, I would consider setting up a table on the floor in the future. So here is how it went.
My first day of attendance was participating in the wholesale room activities followed by dealer setup in the GACCS show room on Wednesday. My Early Access badge got me in to the wholesale room. This turned out to be the most vibrant action of the whole show. The room was open and active for the morning and into the afternoon, whereby the larger room for the GACCS show with all dealers started setting up at around 3 pm. So folks with tables in the wholesale room moved to the GACCS show room at the transition time. In the wholesale room I estimate that there were about 50 tables, all with dealers selling and alot of boxes of coins. I sat down at my preferred dealer tables and at each started going through inventory. Alot of others were doing the very same thing, so that there was quite a buzz, and coins going back and forth lickety split. As I was primarily looking for CAC coins in particular series, I was very quick going through the boxes and identifying potential candidates to buy. Once I identified a coin that fit with my Desert Moon inventory, I would access the Greysheet phone app, and sometimes PCGS Coinfacts app, to get pricing and values. Keep in mind that I was not looking at Greysheet wholesale prices, but CAC CPG retail pricing. Not a single dealer was offering a single CAC/CACG coin I looked at, at GS wholesale pricing. This is just reality of the coin market that pretty much GS wholesale prices are meaningless for CAC/CACG coins for the most part. Nonetheless I was able to buy some coins for inventory and had some really nice chats with many of the dealers in the room.
Once the dealer setup began, the whole process started again in the official GACCS show room. One dealer not set up at in the wholesale room but there buying like I was, said 'DM' we have some coins to show you when we set up in the show room, so that was the first table I went to. They pulled out some stunning, eye appealling coins and boom, I puchased them, just like that. I went around to the other tables for more looking for inventory, and was on the floor hawking the few I brought to sell. This lasted until 7 pm when Dealer Day was over. All in all I was able to acquire 12 coins for inventory, so the show was already a success from that point on Day 1.
The next day I was on the floor of the GACCS Show Room where things started up pretty much right where they were left off on the previous Dealer Day. My goal was to visit every table on the floor. I had not really done this since I started setting up at the shows I attended so I wanted to do this to first, see the diversity and types of coins other dealers were selling, and second, learn how other dealers approached obtaining and selling inventory. Two observations here of note. First, some prominent dealers in early US coins were absent, even some who had signed up for a table, had their banners above said tables, were absent. That was not a good sign. Second, when the time came to let the public in, there were quite a few. Not ANA or FUN levels, but still enough to elevate the room to a steady buzz. I saw some advanced collectors I knew and we chatted and/or said hi. But, action at the tables of the dealers I knew, you could see was definitely not what goes on at ANA, FUN, or CSNS. That was pretty clear, and in fact, one of the big dealers in early US coins told me later in the show that they would be re-assessing whether to go to GACCS in future years...........
Over the course of the day, I did at least go by every table on the floor. I saw that other dealers inventory were indeed diverse and mostly, very different from mine. Out of all of the 100s of tables on the floor, only 6-ish were primarily selling CAC/CACG for US coins. And that was independent of value for their inventory. Most of the dealers, be it 20 coins, or 1000s, whould have only a few percent of inventory as CAC/CACG coins to sell. That was an interesting observation in and of itself. I also did alot of interacting with dealers I knew that had tables, and also, like me, those that were there just roaming the floor. This kind of interaction is an excellent way to learn about the different approaches dealers take to acquire inventory and I found out how diverse the approaches are. Me, I see coin, I like coin, I buy coin, but gosh there are much more sophisticated approaches to finding coins and yes I discovered I am pretty much a simpleton in my approach. Folks were showing me coins that I somehow never saw on the floor even though I thought I was being thorough. That was a real learning experience. So on this day, Thursday at the GACCS show, I did not buy a single coin but I sure learned alot and had a great time.
Friday came and I went to the show until 11 am when I then went O'Hare. I gotta say that Friday am seemed devoid of folks on the floor except behind the tables. I took this opportunity to delve into some of the bigger dealers displayed inventory, as everyone had lots of time to assist at their tables given the paucity of people on the bourse. I ended up buying 3 more coins that morning.
In summary, I learned alot about dealer approaches and what everyone else is selling, by going to GACCS and not having a table, which was one of my goals. I picked up 15 cool coins that will be offered on the DM website in the near future. I discovered that 'probably' GACCS is not going to be a show I set up a table at. If I go to another, I will approach it in the same way, going there to buy and interact with people without spending most of the time behind a table to sell our DM wares. This appears to be better suited to the 3 shows I am already committed to where there is larger activity going on for the types of inventory we obtain at Desert Moon. Nevertheless a productive experience for me.
We have 22 Newps to offer, all Quarters and Halves. We will continue to get coins imaged and listed and will post new Newsletters and Cool Coin Showcases for them as we proceed. Stay tuned. As usual, you can click on the images and this will take you to the listing on the Desert Moon Product Page.
Thanks for reading!
Best, DM
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