The acclaimed, new traveling exhibition of the Smithsonian’s National Numismatic Collection, “Good as Gold – America’s Double Eagles,” now can be seen on a free, new video available online courtesy of Professional Coin Grading Service.

The 7 minute program is on PCGS’ home page at www.PCGS.com. By clicking the full screen option, viewers get can get an up close ‘n’ personal with some of America’s greatest numismatic gold rarities that were exhibited for the first time together outside of Washington, D.C. at the American Numismatic Association’s World’s Fair of Money convention in Los Angeles, August 5 – 9, 2009.

“This stunning exhibition will be displayed at the next three ANA spring and summer conventions. We created this video in cooperation with the Smithsonian and made it available on our web site so that everyone can enjoy seeing and learning about these amazing coins whenever it is convenient to do so,” said Don Willis, PCGS President.

Jim Hughes, Associate Curator of the National Numismatic Collection, gives viewers a “private tour” describing and showing on camera many of the 20 historic coins in the exhibit.
One part of the Smithsonian exhibit.

Highlights include an 1849 pattern Liberty Double Eagle, the first $20 denomination coin struck by the United States Mint during the early days of the California Gold Rush, and two of the Smithsonian’s three 1933 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagles, representing the last year of production.

Hughes describes the 1849 pattern as “probably the highlight of highlights of the Smithsonian collection.”

The videos also shows examples from the exhibit of branch mint gold pieces as well as territorial and private gold coins, such as Clark, Gruber & Co. of Denver, Baldwin & Co. of San Francisco, and Mormon gold pieces struck in Salt Lake City. (more…)

An informative video news report about the rare coin market has been posted by CNBC on its web site. PCGS Co-Founder David Hall is prominently featured in the story.

“The market’s very active and very strong, though prices are down a little. The exception, of course, being the gold coins,” Hall told CNBC during the video taping at the September Long Beach Coin, Stamp & Collectibles Expo.

“There’s no question that there’s a huge financial component to this marketplace.”

The report mentions the PCGS3000TM Index that collectors, investors and dealers use to track the historical price trends of the rare coin marketplace and 3,000 specific U.S. coins.

The four-minute news segment prominently features well-known early American coppers collector Walter J. Husak of California whose astounding collection of large cents – nearly every one of them certified by PCGS – shattered records in a $10 million auction conducted by Heritage Auctions in Long Beach in February 2008. Husak explains that he re-purchased some of his previous coins, as well as made new acquisitions for his collection, at the recent auction of the Dan Holmes and Ted Naftzger collections conducted by Ira & Larry Goldberg Coins & Collectibles. Those coins also were certified by PCGS and many set record prices.

PCGS and the Long Beach Expo are divisions of Collectors Universe, Inc. (NASDAQ: CLCT).

New features and more than 2,500 additional high-quality coin photos have been added to the all-new PCGS CoinFacts® (www.PCGSCoinFacts.com) since the enhanced web site was launched on July 27. A division of Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS), the site is the Internet’s most comprehensive, one-stop source for historical U.S. numismatic information.

“We’re adding about 250 superb-quality PCGS TrueView images of high-grade coins every week. We’re all very pleased about the response by the collecting and dealing community to the huge expansion of the site,” said Ron Guth, PCGS CoinFacts President.

“In addition to all the photos, we’re also adding new findings and narratives about particular coins written by members of the PCGS CoinFacts Board of Experts, including PCGS Co-Founder, David Hall. It‘s a way for disseminating the accumulated knowledge of veteran numismatists as well as quickly getting out information about new discoveries and new varieties.”

A multi-functional combination of numismatic encyclopedia, historical price guide and reference resources, PCGS CoinFacts is the most extensive repository on the Internet for information about nearly 30,000 United States coins.

Guth explained that the high-quality images help collectors and dealers immediately discern differences in coin varieties, such as large and small dates or lettering. (The accompanying close-up comparison illustration of four varieties of 1823-dated Capped Bust half dollars is an example of the educational convenience and photographic clarity available with PCGS CoinFacts.)
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