Hidden GEM at the show: there is a full time massage therapist in the lobby. With all the stress on the bourse, taking a break for 10 minutes and getting a massage was so relaxing and helpful.

LEGEND SPENDS $2,000,000.00

We did not realize how much we spent until we got home and added it up. This figure includes The Stacks and Bowers Sales, and the spending damage we did on the bourse floor. Keep in mind, this is real money. Legend would not put up its own money or endanger our customers monies if we felt the market was weak or had issues.

At the Stacks sale there was an interesting group of fresh proof coins. Legend by far did the most buying. We proudly purchased (and saved them from the coin doctors) the $10 1913 PCSG PR66 CAC ($80,500.00)+$20 1913 PCGS PR65 CAC ($103,500.00). One day we would LOVE to tell you where they went as it would PROVE the depth and reach of the US coin market all over the world! Other highlight purchases: the $10 1888 PCGS PR65 Cameo and the $20 1906 PCGS PR65 Cameo. All these went to different collectors.

Prices were very strong at the Stacks sale. The nicer the coins, the stronger the premiums went. We saw some coins sell for prices as much as 3 grades higher! The marketplace is starved for fresh coins.

The Bowers Sale was crazy. We had sold many of the MS Seated Half Dollars to the collector who formed the Malibu Collection. We figured there might be a little softness and we could get some good deals. NOT! We bought ONLY about 3 halves-and the 43O PCGS MS65 CAC we sold to a collector at lot pick up! The prices were “moon” money and beyond. You had two clear cut collectors competing, us (we were buying for collectors NOT building sets), another high end dealer representing a collector, and at least one party who LOVES rare CAC stickered coins and is not specifically a Seated Half Collector (we did confirm this individual was bidding). It is interesting to note that a NON Seated half Collector would pay such strong prices. This party thinks “outside the box”. His coin purchases from this sale over the years will be as astute just as if he were building one of the finest collections of Seated Halves. He understands, you can’t be scared to stretch when great coins with low to no pops are available.

Our highlight purchases from Bowers included the monster 1851 PCGS MS62 Slug (ex Amon carter) $316,250.00. Of all of our auction purchases, this was the ONLY coin we really stole. We had been prepared to pay up to $400,000.00 hammer! We also purchased the ultra rare and grossly undervalued $3 1877 PCGS PR65 DCameo CAC. We’re helping build a PR $3 collection that is now only 4 coins short of completion! We had to pay up, but we bought just about ALL the CAC MS 64 Seated Dollars for addition to a collection we are exclusively building. The gorgeous 25C 1916 PCGS MS67+ CAC was one we lost on. It sold for $195,500.00 in Bowers. The same coin at the 2010 ANA Boston auction (less than 3 months ago) brought $149,500.00. It was simply a coin that fell thought the cracks at ANA (everyone thought it would go for crazy money, so why bother bidding). At BOTH auctions, Legend was the under-bidder! We still regret not buying the coin-for inventory!

A note about Bowers, they have a new, young, and VERY aggressive staff. They attended to the smallest details for us and even tolerated our diva like behavior (we needed plenty of caffeine to last thru a 1600 lot session) and did what ever we needed to be comfortable. We do believe they will be true powerhouse in the next year (especially if they keep getting killer fresh collections like Malibu).

One thing we feel is extremely important to note about our auction purchases: all the coins mentioned went to different people. There were many more coins purchased buy us that will never make our web site. When FRESH material that’s nice come around, we are there. We only represent people who understand and are willing to do what it takes to secure these types of coins. Paying 10-20, even 30% too much today, is nothing as compared to seeing these items return 200-1000% in years to come! Plus, the like the 1877 $3, when will you ever see another true GEM that is also CAC’d? There still are plenty of buyers out there!

Dealers inventories were still drab and really full of dreck. Had you asked us before the show if we expected to buy well, we’d have told you no. The stars all aligned and we even had some absolute killer coins walk up to the table from collectors. We were very aggressive and ended up buying coins that ranged from a pop 1 fantastic Gold rarity to a six figure GEM! You will see the difference between what we will be offering this week and next vs the “stuff” other dealers have.

THE BALTIMORE SHOW-SELLING

Upfront and honest: we did extremely well WHOLESALE. We had our stealth team of 3 out on the floor and our associate Julie at the table and on the floor. Combined they sold well into six figures. Also, many of the coins sold brought strong money. However our sales to collectors at the show were weak. At no time did we have a crowd at the table. We know it was hit or miss for others too. If you had collector oriented coins, you did awesome. If you had high end rare coins like us, the results were the same according to others we spoke too. Can’t really explain it. The auctions certainly did not show any weakness. We do realize not every show will be a home-run.

CONSUMER CONFIDENCE

There seems to be a funny thing happening to the market. Consumer confidence is growing MUCH stronger. Its not just that collectors like hearing the coin doctors are on the run, gradeflation is being dealt with, or that CAC exists. What we are seeing all of the sudden are collectors (yes, real collectors) who are moving outside their typical areas and buying better coins. They are doing this because they do not want to be sitting on cash. They want tangible items. Not fully trusting stocks or even real estate, many are turning to buying more and better coins. Its a very important and interesting phenomena that we’ll have to monitor. No, it is NOT the return of the dreaded investors.

We were worried that Want Lists for collectors were so long and not being filled that they would get tired and walk away. NOT! In fact, its making more people switch to areas they can complete or at least build forever (like Type sets). Some people are finally doing what we have been suggesting forever, simply buying nice cool coins-without a theme.

In the upper tier or more expensive items (over $25,000.00), we can tell you consumer confidence and buying is strong as ever. No one we have encountered is thinking short term buying or looking for quick profits. We can not stress enough how important that is.

GOLD

Gold is still going up. Of course there are many geniuses who believe gold will hit $2-$5,000.00. Us, we do not know. If we did, we’d be writing this from our yacht off Hawaii! We do think gold will keep rising a bit more. The correction we predicted was short and small. We think there could be another, but now that the elections are over, people are not really liking what they see.

We still recommend MS66 Saints. They are the best “bang” if the price of gold really pops (meaning the premium will rise). The next thing we like-a simple gold Type set. The beauty of that-it can be loaded with common dates or rarities. MS 62 or MS67 coins. And if numismatic coins scare you, buy American Gold Eagles. There are plenty of ways to play the gold market.

Right now the premiums on generic gold are ridiculously low. There is a serious over supply of dreck, but at some point you expect it to be absorbed. Last November and December gold and the rare gold coin market were strong. We fully expect the price of gold to stay up and no question, the rare gold market WILL get even stronger this year!

WHATS HOT

HIGH GRADE Commems! Finally! The B+M sale has a collection of decent coins. MS Seated Halves and Dollars-just check the B+M Auction. ORIGINAL GEM PR Gold. ALL Bust coins. Walking Liberty Half Dollars. Patterns, we should know, every day we have been selling a decent amount (plus is you follow auctions, they prices are definitely firming).

WHATS NOT HOT

MS Indian cents in high grade. Morgan Dollars seem to be a bit quiet. dreck or average coins. To quote a major dealer ” if its not fresh and cool, nobody wants it”. 3C Nickels have quieted down too.

Related posts:

1. Legend Numismatics Baltimore Coin Show Market Report
2. Legend Numismatics Baltimore Spring Show 2008 Market Report
3. THE BOSTON ANA SHOW – Market Report by Legend Numismatics

GOLD

This is hard for us to believe that gold spot went up, yet ALL Generic $20’s came down! That is the most ridiculous thing we have ever seen. We have been told that the market makers here are flooded with coins. Plus, there seems to be a huge flood of gold coming from Europe. We have even heard some grumblings that the quality of these new arrivals have been poor (more gradeflation?). So no one wants to step out and make bids.

At one point last week, the LARGEST market maker in MS65 Saints quoted us $2,000.00 as his “buy” on a day when gold went up $20.00 (MS65 BID did end the week at $2,200.00). In the meantime, we know dealers who badly need CAC MS 65 Saints and have open BIDS of $2,300.00-$2,400.00 per coin and are buying very few.The demand for NON CAC generics is obviously thin.

The demand for CAC coins is huge with many MAJOR Funds or financial advisers selling the coins easily. We know they cannot get enough, because we supply them and we haven’t bought squat. We will still buy ALL the PCGS /NGC W/M MS66 CAC we can get at $3,475.00 sight UNSEEN. We will pay $2,675.00 for NON CAC PCGS coins only on a SIGHT seen basis. BTW, for anyone who wants to cat call, the CAC market is NOT artificial, its as real and powerful as you get.

The CAC coins sell by demand, not dealers creating phony bids and trying to pump the market. With gold (especially generics) right now for sure there is a two tier market, and quality is what people want.

You know there is something seriously wrong when graded MS61 $20 Libs are priced at $100.00 OVER melt!

With $20’s, it also seems to us that the market feels they are too high (along with the price of gold). We doubt at the lower grade levels quality is the issue. Something has to give in that market. We believe there will be a correction in the price of gold sometime soon. But, its really the hedges who control the price of gold and it seems they want to take it up a little further.

Its totally bewildering to us why there are not stronger premiums since gold is climbing daily into record territory. Something is just not right with this picture.

Right now the BEST buys are $10 Indians and $5 Indians (no 09D) in MS64 and higher. You can not find them emass, and the grading seems to be OK. If you insist on playing the $20 generic market we still believe MS66’s are too cheap or, you can buy NICE MS61/62 $20 (if you can find them) for little over melt and hope one day the premiums expand. We still recommend building a Gold Type set. You can include ANY coin you want then.

SILVER

People are finally waking up to the fact silver is at its all time high. Here too, things like MS65 Morgans and Walkers have come down. That’s insane! How can such a huge market as coins show little demand for simple $100-$200.00 items that actually were popular? Where are all the collectors?

We do not know if poor quality has driven them quiet or what. A GEM 1943 Walker at $105.00 is cheap-no matter how many were minted.

We say this not because we have the huge McClaren deal, but because we see these as just too cheap. We suggest you load up on TRUE MS 65-MS67 Morgans and TRUE MS65-MS67 Walkers. Build a Walker short set in GEM, buy the easy S Mint Morgans in 67, or just load up on really nice pieces. There is almost NO down side at today’s levels with these.

RARE COINS

The only real problem with this end of the market today-there are not enough rare coins around!

We’ve seen several people end their quests to build collections because they have not bought a coin in a year. A suggestion: be creative: one customer of ours is building the second finest MS Seated Dollar set. We added ONE coin over the past 3 years (an 1855 PCGS MS64 CAC) at the Boston ANA Show. So what he is doing now? He is filling in the dates he can’t find with Proofs! Thats not easy either, but we do find a coin here and there and it satisfies his need to have the holes filled in a timely manner. Of course if an MS piece of a date where a Proof has been substituted arrives, no problem, he will keep both!

When people ask us what to collect these days, we recommend Type sets. This way there are no barriers, its completable, and you put in the coins you want.

Today, we see the market as steady but building. Based upon our sales, we know things are far from dead. Who knows what gold is going to do or how it will effect the coin market. For now, everything is positive. Even if gold corrects, rare coins probably will not really feel its effects. Remember, the rare coin market is base on supply and demand.

Related posts:

1. The 2008 Rare Date Gold Market Report
2. Rare Coin Market Report: The June 2010 Long Beach Show
3. Legend Numismatics Mid October Rare Coin Market Report

The only known 1943-dated Lincoln cent mistakenly struck at the Denver Mint on a bronze planchet has been sold for a record $1.7 million by Legend Numismatics of Lincroft, New Jersey. The unique coin, not publicly known to exist until 1979, is graded PCGS MS64BN.

The new owner is a Southwestern United States business executive who wants to remain anonymous, but who plans to exhibit this coin and others in January at the Florida United Numismatists convention.

He also purchased in the same transaction through Legend a 1944 Philadelphia Mint cent struck on a zinc planchet, graded PCGS MS64, for $250,000, and an experimental 1942 Philadelphia cent mostly composed of tin for $50,000. The unnamed new owner plans to exhibit these coins and others at the Florida United Numismatists convention in January.

(Photo credit: Legend Numismatics.)

“The 1943-D bronze cent is the most valuable cent in the world, and it took four years of aggressive negotiations with the coin’s owner until he agreed to sell it.”

“The new owner is proudly now the only collector to ever own the all-time finest and complete sets of Philadelphia, Denver and San Francisco 1943 bronze cents and 1944 steel cents,” said Laura Sperber, President of Legend Numismatics.

“The new owner is a prominent Southwestern business executive who’s been collecting since he was a teenager, searching through pocket change looking for rare coins. As a youngster he thought he’d actually found a 1943 copper cent in circulation but it was not authentic. He still has that in his desk drawer, but now he’s the only person to ever assemble a complete set of genuine 1943 bronze cents, one each from the Philadelphia, Denver and San Francisco Mints. He will display that set at FUN along with his 1944 Philadelphia, Denver and San Francisco zinc cents,” said Sperber.

The anonymous collector who formerly owned the coin “donated it to a charitable organization so they could sell it with all of the proceeds going to the charity,” according to Andy Skrabalak of Angel Dee’s Coins and Collectibles in Woodbridge, Virginia who acted as agent on behalf of the former owner.

“As a specialist in small cents, this transaction is the ultimate accomplishment for me and I’m privileged to be part of it. I don’t think it will ever be duplicated in my lifetime,” said Skrabalak.

Zinc-coated steel was used for producing cents in 1943 to conserve copper for other uses during World War II, but a small number of coins were mistakenly struck on bronze planchets left over from 1942.

“We estimate that less than 20 Lincoln cents were erroneously struck in bronze at the Philadelphia and San Francisco Mints in 1943, but this is the only known example from the Denver Mint,” explained Don Willis, President of Professional Coin Grading Service.

Sperber said the collector’s historic, mis-made World War II era cents will be displayed during the first three days of the FUN convention in Tampa, Florida, January 6 – 8, 2011.

For additional information, contact Legend Numismatics at (800) 743-2646 or visit online at www.LegendCoin.com.

News media contacts:

Laura Sperber, President of Legend Numismatics who obtained and sold the $1.7 million 1943-D bronze cent, Office (732) 935-1795

Andy Skrabalak, Owner of Angel Dee’s Coins and Collectibles and agent for seller of the unique coin, Office (703) 580-6969

Don Willis, President of Professional Coin Grading Service, the company that authenticated the unique cent, Office (949) 567-1154

Related posts:

1. 1943-S Lincoln Cent Struck in Bronze sold by Heritage for $207K
2. Unique 1943 Bronze Cents Set To Be Displayed at the FUN Show
3. Previously Unaccounted 1943-S Bronze Cent Acquired by Rare Coin Wholesalers

There is no magic wand or crystal ball that can tell you when the coin market will turn red hot again or when prices will finally rise across the board. Until then, there are many areas you can explore that we feel have awesome potential-and are actually completable.

GOLD BUGS READ THIS:

Its very interesting that we see the masses buying Saints in MS64 and higher. People have always enjoyed the feel of bigger gold. Because of this, many Gold Type coins have been drifting and actually have come down in value. WE SUGGEST YOU BUILD AN MS64 AND HIGHER GOLD TYPE SET. You can put in it whatever you want. So buy a slight better Gold Dollar for very little premium or buy an MS65 $3 Gold piece-of which we have seen so few around recently. All Indian Gold in GEM has actually fallen recently-and they are NOT easy coins to find.

ALL PROOF BARBERS

HELLO! We KNOW these are incredible values. For years we preached about PR64’s. They have since gone up and are ok, but you can do better in the higher grades. BUY PR 65-67 coins. You can build a COMPLETE 24 coin PR Barber 10C set in 66 for UNDER $60,000.00. Or how about a PR barber Quarter set in PR65? That about $50,000.00. The beauty is the coins look great and MOST have mintage’s of UNDER 1,000 pieces. We only own maybe one or two PR Barbers total-so do NOT accuse us of manipulating pr hyping a market to our benefit!

PROOF LIBERTY NICKELS

Do a PR65/66 Set. Even a semi mixed set of them should cost SUBSTANTIALLY UNDER $25,000.00! These are beautiful coins! You can’t go to a major show and finish the set in day, but you can build a set over a few months.

PROOF TWENTY CENT SET

There are ONLY 4 coins in this set-two of which are Proof ONLY! This set supplies it all: rarity, obsolete, beauty,and affordability. A set in PR64 can be built for UNDER $25,000.00. Or, go for the BEST and do a PR66 set: $50,000.00. Its all up to your tastes and budget.

WALKERS

We have learned from our McClaren Collection that the short set of Walkers (1941 PDS-1947 PD) in MS65/66 is probably one of the most popular collected areas in all of coins. Stunning GEM MS66 Walkers can be purchased for around $225-$275.00. Even the rare 1941S PCGS MS66 will only cost you $2,250.00 or so.

OUR ALL TIME FAVORITE RECOMMENDATION:

Build a Type set. A Type set is a representative of a series. It can contain the 50C 1905 PCGS MS68 we recently bought and sold for over $135,000.00, or it can contain an MS66 PL Morgan for $225.00. You simply pick the BEST examples you can afford and like. By building a Type set, opportunity does NOT pass by you.

WHAT LIES AHEAD FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR?

Typically the market rebounds starting in Mid September. This month there are TWO major shows (both in our opinion poorly planned on top of each other) that could actually slow the market a little. However, there is a 3 week recuperation of no major shows after that.

Price MUST move up sometime. For the past year we have not been able to buy ANY better date MS65 and higher Ten Indians. We have been hyper aggressive looking for them. So as more players come back from summer retreats and focus on coins-a series like that could pop up 10-20% overnight. For every series that happens in, there will be some commodity related price dips. Study the series you want to buy in carefully. Look around for what you do NOT see-those are the areas that have the biggest short term potential.

We strongly feel the market will be exceptionally healthy and active after the middle of September. We are NOT saying this for hype. We have spent millions to buy really neat coins and sit on them to preserve the freshness. If we are wrong, and there is even so much as a hiccup, we lose a ton of money. But the coin market seems to be following its classic summer pattern, so we are quite comfortable with our instincts.

Read the Complete Legend Market Report Here

Related posts:

1. Collecting Date Sets of Liberty Seated Coinage Part 2: Quarters through Half Dimes
2. Collecting Date Sets of Liberty Seated Coinage – Part 1: Dollars and Half Dollars
3. CoinsTV.com Offers Free Collecting Videos Online

Legend Numismatics also wishes to thank all of our friends who stopped by our table to do biz or say hi.

We also wish to thank the ANA for displaying the Simpson Bickford Pattern Collection and for NGC for displaying the Simpson $10 1804 Gold J-33 and silver $10 1804 J-34 (worth $6 million combined)!

HOW WAS THE SHOW?

We were wrong. This was NOT the incredible “blockbuster” we had expected. However, we will declare it was the next best thing: a GREAT SHOW! From the time we set up (within the first 15 minutes we had a serious crowd of buyers at our table) until the very last coin we sold Saturday afternoon (a six figure coins too), activity was pretty much non stop. It was interesting the lulls came Wednesday morning and Thursday morning. You could easily tell when a new wave of collectors arrived in town. We have not heard about the attendance, but we’d bet anything it was far more than last years ANA in LA.

Legend had our BEST show EVER. BUT, we will only categorize it as great because our big customers stepped up (which we do not really count). We ended up spending nearly $8,000,000.00! Our sales were OVER $6,000,000.00. Needless to say, we have a blizzard of paperwork that will keep us working 23 hour days for the next week or so. Still, we sold more McClaren coins than ever and we sold dozens of coins from our cases. Our average invoice from the show to collectors was about $7-14,000.00. That’s rare these days, but that was the least we expect from an ANA Show.

You WILL LOVE our NEWPS. We searched hard and bought only the “best” of the “best”!

So far this August, business for Legend has been staggering. We see little let up in the strong demand for quality coins. We doubt this will change anytime soon (however in late August there is small summer lull).

THE TALE OF TWO DEALERS

We find this true story interesting. Dealer #1 is a long time wholesaler who basically is a “sheet”/CCE buyer. He does not sell great quality but does sell a lot of generic gold and other less expensive items (and yeah a lot of dreck). Dealer #2 is an up and coming retail dealer who sells real quality.

On Saturday we chatted with both. Dealer #1 was devastated he had a horrible show. But then we looked in his case and he just drecky stuff left to sell. Dealer #2 grabbed us and complimented us on saying how strong the show would be,. Dealer #2 had his best show ever.

The fact that one is wholesaler and the other retail is NOT the difference. Both have coins on display, both will do business with anyone who walks up to the table.

It was an issue of QUALITY. We have been telling you dreck is become totally undesirable. Which case would you buy from? A case with a few beautiful coins, or one with many ugly looking ones? Quality does rule. We cannot stress enough that if a coin is not 100% all there, its worth MUCH less-if wanted at all.

LEGEND NUMISMATICS ANNOUNCES THE PLACEMENT OF THE 1794 $1 PCGS MS63+ AND THE Norweb 1797 50C PCGS MS65+

Yes, the 1794 $1 was the same coin from the pre ANA B+M Sale. We were the under bidders in that sale. We have missed owning this coin for the last 25 years! We once turned it down for $115,000.00! This time around we paid over $1,300,000.00 for it. The coin is spectacular. It has amazing luster for a 1794.

The 1797 50C was purchased by private treaty. The price was well in excess of $1 million dollars. This coin is just incredible. The strike, the surfaces, the eye appeal are everything you’d want a coin like this to have.

Both coins are now in the Legend Type Collection being formed by our partner Bruce Morelan (yes, he still has his Trade Dollars)! We have built some of the finest collections ever together, and this Type set will be no exception.

LEGEND PURCHASED THE 1905 50C PCGS MS68+

This coin was out of the Heritage Auction. We paid $132,250.00 for it without thinking twice. Every major collector and dealer in the world agrees this coin is the most amazing MS Barber Half EVER. Believe it or not, we bought it for inventory on spec. We NEVER have ANY fear about buying MONSTER coins like this. Immediately after the sale we had an inquiry about selling it, but we passed. On Friday we actually had three dealers who were interested in it. Then on Saturday, a dealer asked us if we bought anything cool? The coin was sold to him in five minutes!

This is a perfect example of why you should NEVER be afraid to pay for a MONSTER coin. The new owner WILL make huge money on this coin in years to come. Its been over 100 years and there are no similar coins that exist.

Legend also was the under bidder on the 1944 50C PCGS MS68 that sold for $109,000.00. That was a very real price realized (and the collector paid another % on top of that to his dealer).

This just proves, great coins are not out there-but money is. With supplies so tight, you better think twice before you pass up a coin you may not see again for many years. When we saw this coin for the first time at lot viewing, we knew we were going to buy it. Even though we paid a record price, we really believed the coin is worth quite a bit more. We were right.

PATTERN LOVERS BEWARE-THE DENALI SET WILL BE PRESENTED SHORTLY

Now that we are back from the ANA, we can finish inventorying and imaging the Denali Collection of patterns. We expect to begin posting them in either ROUND II or ROUND III of the ANA NEWPS. The Denali coins consist of 3CN set, 20C set, and a nearly complete several hundred coin set of all the patterns from 1870! The quality is amazing! The majority of these coins have been off the market for at least a decade. Each coin is pedigreed and imaged. Stay tuned!

WHAT IS HOT?

Better gold. Does anyone have ANY $10 Indians (better dates) PCGS MS65 and higher CAC? Bust material. Morgan Dollars are back in GEM! Liberty Seated Type in MS. And yes, MS Barber halves were hot.

WHAT IS NOT?

DRECK-even if it is in a hot series. MS Indians (too much dreck), Commems seemed to have softened. C+D Mont gold seems to have quieted.

Related posts:

1. Legend Numismatics Market Report: The Fun Show
2. The Baltimore Coin Show – Legend Numismatics Market Report
3. Legend Numismatics Market Report – THE PHILADELPHIA COIN SHOW