Feb. 22 (Bloomberg) — Gold, little changed in London, headed for its biggest weekly advance in 19 months as lower U.S. interest rates may revive investor demand for the metal as an alternative to the dollar. Platinum dropped from a record.

The dollar traded near a three-week low against the euro on speculation U.S. economic growth will slow, forcing the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates. Gold has climbed 45 percent since the Fed in August announced a policy shift to contain the subprime mortgage collapse.

“It’s been six months this week since the Fed started cutting interest rates and gold has gone nuts,” said Adrian Ash, head of research of London-based BullionVault, a gold dealer that holds about six tons of gold for customers in vaults in London, Zurich and New York. “The more the Fed promises cheaper money, the more people will choose an alternative to the dollar.”

Gold for immediate delivery rose 9 cents, or less than 0.1 percent, to $946.19 an ounce as of 10:54 a.m. in London. Prices this week are up 4.8 percent, the biggest weekly advance since July 14, 2006. Read Full Story

An open letter from John Feigenbaum, President

David Lawrence Rare Coins just completed the acquisition of PCI and is currently in the process of transferring the company’s assets from Georgia to Virginia. First, let me say that I am very excited about this venture and you can expect great things to come from this new, old grading company.

A little history…
PCI is one of the oldest grading companies in numismatics. Originally founded around 1988, the company was named Hallmark, and though it was short-lived, coins in Hallmark holders have always been considered quality-graded items. There was a lot of integrity with that company.

The company then sold to new owners and was renamed PCI (short for Photo Certification Institute). The early PCI holders were also well respected and saavy collectors and dealers alike still covet the green-label PCI coins. Eventually, the company changed hands a few more times…and over the years the quality of the grading has suffered.

As President of David Lawrence Rare Coins, I have surrounded myself with a staff with over 75 years of collective numismatic experience. We have always approached our relationships with clients and their coins with utmost professionalism and I know that we can bring this same level of integrity to the grading of your coins.

I’ve personally been dealing in coins since 1979 and, until the true acceptance of third party grading around 1990, all dealers graded their own material. Some dealers were known for being more conservative (and accurate) than others. My father, David, taught me the importance of strict, conservative grading. There was no need to embellish the grades because we didn’t want to disappoint our mail-order clients.

The new PCI will bring the classic standard of grading back to this company! (more…)

(February, 2008, Virginia Beach, VA)-DLRC Auctions is excited and proud to offer the Hoosier Collection for unrestricted Internet bidding. The collection includes 145 certified coins minted from 1794-1830 in collector-oriented grades from Good to Mint State.

According to John Feigenbaum, DLRC Auctions President, “The consignor of the Hoosier Collection was extremely fair and we expect a 100% sell through for this collection. In fact, these coins are so fresh we wouldn’t be surprised to see items realize 25-35% over the estiamtes. A long-time client brought us these beauties from the great state of Indiana and he spent the better part of a decade building this collection.”

The collection is available for bidding exclusively in their two week Internet Auction #225 closing Monday, March 3.

Early rarities highlight this stunning offering, like the rare 1795 type small eagle Ten Dollar, 1795 $10 NGC XF45. Many of these lots were approved by CAC (Collectors Acceptance Corporation). This collection is offered through the company’s Personal Internet Auction program which creates an auction exclusively for a client’s collection.

For questions about this program and consigning or for upcoming auctions, please contact Win Callender or Jason Smith at 800-776-0560 x101 and x103, or email coingroup@davidlawrence.com or visit David Lawrence Rare Coin Auctions

As I left for Long Beach last week, I wondered if this edition would be different from the last few Long Beach shows I have attended. The answer—and some random observations about the market—are included below.

Unlike some of my competitors, I have made the decision not to attend the various and sundry pre-Long Beach auctions. I figure that at this point in my life I do not need to be spending an extra three weeks each year at Long Beach sales that are full of mostly uninteresting (to me) coins. This year’s sales did have a few interesting individual consignments including a nice run of Proof Bust Dimes at Superior and some better gold at Goldberg but, again, I was gearing up for the actual show itself.

On the Winter Show Grading Scale (WSGS) I would give the recent Long Beach convention a “B” which is actually better than I thought it would be. I did not bring many coins to sell and was more interested in buying new inventory. It was a struggle to find coins (surprise, surprise…) but some neat material did surface and I was pleased with what I purchased. Some of the highlights are: (more…)