The Tampa/GACC Show: A Quick Recap

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DWN recently attended the inaugural Great American Coin Convention which was held in Tampa last week.

At this point in my career, I am looking to shed coin shows rather than to add them, but I like the show promoter (Larry Shepard), and was curious to see what the co-sponsor (Coin World/Amos Press) could add to the mix. Thus, Irma and I made the very long trip from Portland to Tampa to check out the convention.  

The show proved to be an epic failure from the standpoint of collector attendance. I doubt if there were more than 500 non-dealers in attendance on Wednesday and Thursday, and not more than 10% of these were what I would term “serious.” I sold exactly one coin to a collector for a grand total of $3,500. That amount, needless to say, did not cover my expenses which were significantly higher than at other shows. As a contrast, during the same time period, I sold eight coins off of my website.

What went wrong?

I thought the show itself was free of the bugs which plague start-up coin conventions. But the bar was set unrealistically high by the hype-y emails I received on a regular basis which promised a “new era” of trading. Other than a few interesting coins displayed at dealer’s tables and the presence of the US Mint, there wasn’t much that I would have driven more than an hour or so to see were I a local collector.

While Orlando—the site of the FUN shows—is a proven venue, Tampa appears to be a poor location based on the GACC results as well as the equally bad results a few years ago when, due to a scheduling conflict, the Winter FUN show was moved to Tampa. Suffice to say, we will not be attending any more shows in Tampa or anywhere else in Florida with the exception of Orlando.

A few personal observations:

  • The JW Marriott where we stayed was an exceptional hotel, but at close to $650 per night it was not a great value. The $28 blackened Grouper sandwich I ate there on Thursday was among the tastiest dishes I’ve ever eaten and I’d almost return to Tampa just to eat it again!

  • The ban on bringing food into the convention center was petty at best, especially considering that the one venue for dining at this location served crappy hot dogs and hamburgers which don’t work for me.

  • Charging a daily admission fee of $15 in addition to expensive on-site parking was clearly a bad idea, as it no doubt kept most local collectors from attending. Numismatists are funny about what they will spend money on and what they won’t. The same collector who will drop $15k on a Dahlonega quarter eagle will steadfastly refuse to pay $35 for parking.

  • The weather in Tampa in mid-September is just lovely. It was 90 degrees with excessive humidity, which coupled with the meat locker-esque air conditioning inside the facility made for unappealing conditions.

  • The hall was huge and it made the sparse crowds look even more anemic.

  • I missed the younger dealers and collectors that have become part of the show scene in the post-Covid 2020s.

I still believe that shows are an important part of the collecting experience. I can’t think of a better place for new and advanced collectors alike to learn, make new connections, and to source coins than at shows such as Winter FUN, Summer ANA, and Central States. But creating a new show that will be considered as essential as the Big Three is going to require a lot of expensive trial and error, and may never be viewed as “needed” by collectors and dealers alike.

My suggestions for potential new shows include the following observations:

  • The West Coast could definitely use a show to replace the seemingly dead in the water Long Beach event.

  • Think shorter shows. Most dealers don’t want to commit five days on the road.

  • Specialized shows seem to be doing fine. How about a show that was centered on rare gold coins and/or early type? The highly specialized EAC show, to name one, seems to be thriving.

  • What if successful show brands such as FUN or ANA sponsored additional events—such as the West Coast FUN show?

  • Are we at the point when we could conduct virtual shows?

Come see DWN at a major coin show in 2025. We attend the Winter FUN and Summer ANA shows, as well as one or two Baltimore shows, Long Beach, and CSNS.

Tampa Convention CEnter