Show Report: PAN Spring Coin Show, May 2025
Sometimes the best coin show adventures begin with a simple question: "Have you heard good things about this show?"
The PAN Spring Coin show bills itself as "the largest coin show in the Northeastern United States" and while that's quite a claim, we'd been hearing whispers from multiple sources that PAN was indeed something special – a hidden gem that drew serious dealers and collectors from across the country despite being tucked away in a Pittsburgh suburb.
For Rarity7, this represented a bit of an experiment. We typically stick to the familiar circuit of shows on our own coast or the major national events that justify a transcontinental schlep. But sometimes you have to venture into uncharted numismatic territory...
Tuesday, May 27, 2025 - PA-bound
The adventure began, as they always do, with an early morning flight from SFO. This time, however, our destination wasn't the show itself but Philadelphia, where I'd spend the night plotting with Owen and Sara before making the drive to Monroeville.
One of the underappreciated aspects of having a distributed team across the country is that coin shows become opportunities for in-person strategizing and team building. When your daily interactions are a near endless stream of texts & FaceTimes, there's something great about sitting around a table, sharing a meal, and talking through business plans with actual humans in actual space.
The flight was mercifully uneventful (no extended TSA conversations about the contents of my carry-on this time), though I did catch a knowing nod from the screener who clearly recognized the silhouette of double-row boxes ;)
Wednesday, May 28, 2025 - The Road to Monroeville
Wednesday morning began with nothing less than a proper Pennsylvania diner breakfast...
The drive from Seymour HQ to Monroeville took us through some genuinely beautiful Pennsylvania countryside...
But the real treasure was our quick detour to a local auction house where we needed to pick up some winning lots, look at some upcoming lots, and gawk at the insane array of collectibles-other-than-coins (they exist?!)
These guys specialize in everything from toys to firearms to folk art to "Petroliana" (I did not know that this was a thing)...
4 hours later and we arrived at the Monroeville Convention Center. I was immediately struck by something I hadn't expected: this was a remarkably busy show! The parking lot was packed and the bourse floor was just as packed with very familiar faces from across the country – Jacob from Monster Toned Morgans, Andy from GreatCollections, Jeff & Mary Lynn Garrett, Wes & Sydney from Americana, the inimitable Bill Shamhart and many others.
This wasn't just a regional show that happened to attract some national dealers. This was clearly a destination show that the numismatic world made a point to attend.
We dove in headfirst...
One of the things I love about these major shows is the ecosystem that develops around them. We had productive meetings with John Call from DLRC, pored over boxes from some of our favorite wholesalers, and generally lost ourselves in the wonderful madness of a Dealer Day in full swing.
(So much so that we were among the last people on the floor when the lights got shut off and security guards had to yell at us to leave. When you find yourself in a room full of coin nerds, time becomes remarkably elastic.)
Back to the show hotel - a less-than-glamorous Hampton Inn nearby that became a sort of miniature coin show extension with dealers continuing their deals in the lobby and hallways. There's something wonderfully democratic about everyone staying in the same modest hotel, turning the whole place - fancy or otherwise - into a numismatic fishbowl.
Dinner was literally the closest restaurant to our hotel (I counted 20 steps) – Outback Steakhouse!
Thursday, May 29, 2025 - The Heart of the Show
Thursday morning brought the peculiar energy that only the first public day of a major coin show can generate. The Hampton Inn breakfast area looked like a Coin World Top 100 Most Influential article (hunched over coffee and cheap pastries) and everyone was murmuring in hushed, conspiratorial tones.
By 9 AM we were back on the bourse floor. Some shows reveal their character immediately; others unfold slowly over time. PAN announced itself as something special right out of the gate. The dealer mix was rich and interesting (mostly) and the collector base seemed genuinely knowledgeable and engaged (...mostly).
Right out of the gate we bought something super fun - a raw 1795 Draped Bust dollar (the kind of coin that makes your heart skip a beat when you first see it.)
We also dug up an incredible 1793 Wreath Cent, though ultimately decided to pass on it. Sometimes the coins that get away are as memorable as the ones you take home.
As the day wrapped up, David led us to an exceptional local Indian restaurant - Mintt - that you should all go to when/if you're anywhere near Monroeville, PA.
After dinner we were forced (forced!) by Owen and Sara to visit PA mainstay Rita's for "water ice" (who named this) and soft serve and gat darn that was delicious.
Friday, May 30, 2025 - Coffeeeeeeeee (and Coins)
The Hampton Inn's coffee situation was, to put it charitably, inadequate. At the end of the day yesterday I was (particularly) wrecked, and I woke up feeling actually groggy (note: while I am a bona fide coffee addict, I am very much not a groggy wake-up kind of guy.) I had a cup of Hampton Inn special and it did...nothing? Was I sick? Was the show just particularly exhausting? I had a theory that the answer was no to both, so we picked up actual coffee en route to the bourse floor and after a cup I realized that I'd just been drinking dark water the past two days. The world was suddenly in color again.
And in this color world arrived a morning treat: We'd participated in a little sealed bid auction yesterday and got word that we won the lot we wanted to win! A beautiful 1794 Flowing Hair Half...
Friday's buying was particularly productive. We found an exceptional Draped Bust quarter in an ANACS holder and this superb 1916-D Mercury Dime - the kind of PQ example that collectors search for years to find and certainly the nicest one we've ever owned.
By Friday afternoon, I was beginning to understand the rhythm of PAN. The show ebbed and flowed a bit - some moments better for buying, some better for selling. It was neither the non-stop frenzy of FUN or Summer ANA nor the snoozefest that poorly-organized shows can turn out to be. PAN was a solid show with good showings of both buyers and sellers.
The afternoon brought a welcome burst of selling activity, particularly from our selection of Capped Bust Halves and Draped Bust material.
Friday evening's dining adventure took us to Red Lobster – not exactly haute cuisine, but sometimes it's what you need. And I have to say, it was really good!
And of course, dessert called for a trip to Dairy Queen.
Saturday, May 31, 2025 - The Final Hunt
On Saturday morning this determined reporter walked a whopping 0.2 miles to the nearest Starbucks rather than risk another coffee catastrophe. In the coin business, proper preparation prevents poor performance.
The morning also brought one of those classic coin show lesson-learned moments: a collector who'd been interested in one of our pieces called insisting that he absolutely HAD to buy it immediately, before the show even opened to the public, and that he was leaving within ten minutes (we were en route). We rushed to accommodate him, only to realize when we arrived that the coin he was so urgently now ready to buy (but had pondered overnight) had been sold at the end of the day yesterday to someone else.
Reminder to every collector reading this: If you find a coin at a show and you want to own it, buy it as quickly as possible. Chances are someone else is thinking the exact same thing.
Saturday's real triumph came during our final walk of the show floor, when we discovered this stunning raw 1797 Draped Bust dollar tucked quietly in a dealer's case.
This find perfectly captured what made our PAN adventure so successful – we snagged some lovely high-quality raw stuff that we're super excited to get graded in addition to a great chunk of old friends we said goodbye to.
By mid-afternoon, it was time to pack up and head home. We posed for one final team photo before dismantling our temporary numismatic outpost to prepare for the next one...
