My First Big Coin Show

I’m not sure why, but in 7th grade about a dozen of my classmates were interested in old coins. I was pretty whacked out for coins. I read everything I could find on coins. In many cases, I reread or memorized important coin facts. I was hooked! How many seventh graders do you know that carry around a coin wallet? Depending on the class and teacher I could “play coins” at school, too. Life was good!

Who doesn’t like show and tell? My early coin memories were a lot of show and tell. Other classmates, some still good friends, brought coins, too, and we traded. I would repack my coin wallet with different coins a couple times a week and circle back among my friends. A couple of my teachers encouraged us.  They even let us trade in class after our work was done once we pointed out we were actively studying history and government!

This was 1973, and there were still some 90% silver coins (dated 1964 and before) in circulation, but most of my friends’ coins had been gifts from their folks or grandparents. A couple of these fellas had a dad or other family member that collected, albeit casually. For a kid in 7th grade a Lincoln Wheat Cent was a nice find, but a silver coin for face value was a SCORE!

The coins we traded among ourselves were almost all pennies and nickels. Most of us had a Lincoln Cent collection going. About half of us had finished the Whitman book starting with 1941 pennies, but their early Lincoln album from 1909 to 1940 had a lot of holes. Like most Lincoln Cent collectors, we all needed the 1909-S VDB, 1914-D, and 1922 Plain, but most of us lacked the 1909-S, 1931-S, and all the other early S-mint pieces from the teens, too. Most of our coins had been pulled out of change. There were no coin shops within 60 miles.

I was mowing some yards, but that was my only source of income at 12. Grass doesn’t grow in the winter, and I shoveled as much snow as Mother Nature threw at us, but my coin budget was miniscule. I had visited every flea market, antique shop, junk shop, and jewelry store in town asking about coins.  There were a few circulated silver dollars and a few beat up Walking Liberty Half Dollars and Mercury Dimes, but nothing of real interest.

Looking back 50 years later, I realize this small group of budding numismatists was stymied by lack of information. Like a plant with no water, we were dying on the vine. Without new information, over half of these guys had lost interest within the year. Coin literature in the early ‘70s consisted of The Red Book (A Guide Book of United States Coins), Blue Book (Hand Book of United States Coins), Coin World, and Numismatic News. There were other publications, but even the most well-stocked bookstore in Kansas City rarely had both Coin World and Numismatic News at the same time, let alone any other coin publications.

I wasn’t ordering stuff in the mail yet…

Toward the end of 7th grade, our small group of collectors had dwindled down to about half a dozen guys. Two of these fellas, Bill Shamhart and David Williams, were as crazy for coins as I was. David’s dad, Dale Williams, had a local barber shop. We would advertise in the local Daily Star Journal newspaper that on Saturday afternoon we would be trading coins at Dale’s Barber Shop from 2:00 to 5:00 PM.  Coincidentally Dale’s busy day was always Saturday. He had two other barbers and wouldn’t let us use his backroom until after the lunch rush.

All three of us weren’t there every Saturday, but it was either Bill or me with David or all three of us.  One Saturday afternoon we were discussing the upcoming coin show in Sedalia, Missouri, coming up in May a couple months off. We were selling coins in the ballpark o $2 to $5 with an occasional more-expensive coin bought or sold here and there. We weren’t setting the world on fire, but we were having a lot of fun.

One of the three of us suggested we split a dealer’s table at the Central Missouri Coin Club Show in Sedalia in May 1974. The show was run then – and still is – by a very knowledgeable numismatist named Larry Grinstread, who remains a friend today. We were all members of the Central Missouri Coin Club in Sedalia, about a 30-mile drive. We attended the monthly meetings of the club with help from our folks to drive. Because we belonged to the club, our parents were more comfortable with us doing this show as dealers. We worked out a deal where our parents rotated taking and picking us up for the two-day show.

I think I came up with the idea of joining forces for the show because we “didn’t want to be embarrassed” with our cheap coins. Even then, I realized stuff is stuff, and we had a lot of stuff, but nothing scarce, let alone rare! Bill or David suggested we form a partnership, and I came up with the name “VDB Coin,” for Vic, David, and Bill. We thought we were geniuses! Fortunately, we didn’t run out and have 10,000 business cards printed.

I was using several smaller hand-made wooden showcases with plexiglass tops. I’m not sure what David and Bill had, but none of us had a real showcase we could lock our stuff up in. From the very start we had growing pains. We hadn’t discussed segregation of duties or anything important because we all thought we were the boss. Unfortunately, our partnership died a quick death. Fifteen minutes after arriving at the show, I was out at the dumpster retrieving a large piece of cardboard to delineate where my section of our table started… We built cardboard walls between us, and VDB coins was never mentioned again!

My first show is so fresh in my memory even today because of the level of excitement. Just like the feeling before a big football game in high school, I would be so keyed up at night before a show I couldn’t sleep. The three of us met so many cool people at this show who all loved coins as much as we did. “Wow,” I remember thinking, “this is amazing!” It didn’t matter whether they were 16 or 70, they were all there because they loved coins.

During our little spat, an older gentleman whose table was directly across the aisle from us at the show was noticeably amused. This dealer had a pipe, and he was doing his best to disguise his amusement, but at one point he was laughing so hard he had to leave the room. Bud Benson from Overland Park, Kansas would prove to be one of the best mentors the three of us could have ever met. Bud was 65 and had just retired from Kansas City Power and Light. Bud and his wife Betty didn’t have kids, but Bud knew how to communicate with us – he talked coins.

We went to dinner that night at a local buffet restaurant. If you can imagine the appetites of three 13-year-old boys at a buffet, you can relate to the laughs received from Bud after our second and third trips to refill our plates. Fifty years separated us, but we became fast friends that night.

Over the next few years, our high school years, Bud would chaperone Bill and me to coin shows all over the Midwest states. If we were going West, our parents would take us to Kansas City to meet Bud for the drive. Bud was very experienced and knowledgeable. He didn’t need to financially, but we always shared a room. Even at 65, Bud would stay up half the night playing coins, but he knew Bill and I were on a budget. Unless you’re a collector, too, it’s hard to describe how much fun we had.

Although David discontinued coins after junior high school, Bill Shamhart and I were able to pursue rare coins as a career. Bill, who is a grader and serves as a grading instructor, like me started as a collector with a handful of very inexpensive coins. We also shared a fascination for coins with others like Bud Benson who mentored us so we could in turn mentor others.

Bud was a fixture at many Midwest shows into the late 20^th century. He and Betty traveled to shows together often and Bud was attending a St. Louis show when he fell ill and passed shortly after.

Bud taught us grading, but he also reinforced values that can so easily be lost trading coins. Bud would call you on it if you were trying to pull a fast one. In the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, Bud worked for Joe Flynn, Jr., Rare Coins from Kansas City at his American Numismatic Association bourse tables or part time in his shop. Bud introduced us to other dealers.

Bud gravitated to banknotes later in his career and always had some of the nicest notes on the bourse floor. Bud’s lessons are still fresh, although the memories have faded with the 20-plus years since his passing. Bud was picky. He didn’t have patience for junk, although he was always a gentleman. Thank you, Bud!