Dallas, TX – The Official Auctions of the FUN 2009 Convention in Orlando have been posted by Heritage Auction Galleries on its HA.com Web site. Spread over seven separate catalogs of U.S. coins and currency are some 15,000 lots that Heritage will be offering at FUN. More than 600 consignors are participating in FUN; a further 2,800 lots of ancient and world coins for the NYINC Signature® Auction are also posted for bidding.

“FUN 2009 is simply amazing,” enthused Heritage President Greg Rohan. “Rarities across all series can be found, but our anchors have contributed several outstanding specialty collections. The Lemus Collection – Queller Family Collection Part Two contains 465 different Patterns – so extensive that it warranted a special Pattern Night catalog. The Jim O’Neal Collection of Saint-Gaudens $10 Indians, the #1 All-Time Finest at PCGS in both the Date Set and Full Circulation Strike categories also earned a specialty catalog. Quarter collections will enthuse over The Seated Quarters in the Malibu Collection, Barber and Standing Liberty quarters from The Plymouth Collection, and selections from The Scott Rudolph Collection. Important Morgan dollars have been consigned to FUN in The Arno Collection; The Jack Lee Estate Collection; The Good Morgan Sunshine #3 PCGS Registry Set of Proof Morgan Dollars; and The Sanderson Family Collection of Morgan Dollars. Rare gold has been contributed by The Calvin Collection and The Omaha Collection. The Dale Friend #2 PCGS Registry Set of Barber Half Dollars and The San Jose Collection of Colonial Coinage offer additional specialties. Type and better-date rarities in all series from The Deb-Ann Collection; The Martin L. Diffenbaucher, Jr. Collection, The Findley Collection; and The Peter J. Adasek, M.D. Collection. All together, Platinum Night, featuring our rarest and best coins, is so big that it is spread over two catalogs, being held over two nights.”

“We anticipate that FUN 2009 will be the single most valuable numismatic event of the year, but it remains to be seen how 2009 will rank against our world record 2007 FUN event – at $78 million – and our previous world record for the most valuable numismatic auction at FUN 2005 ($62 million). We are incredibly excited about the coins and notes we are bringing to the eager buyers in Orlando – the rest is up to the market.” (more…)

Highlights Include the “Riverside Collection” of 19th Century Proof Type Coins and an Exceedingly Rare Proof 1874 Double Eagle

IRVINE, Calif. – Bowers and Merena Auctions, America’s leading rare coin and currency auction house, launches the 2009 auction year with the Bowers and Merena Orlando Rarities Sale on January 4 prior to the FUN Convention. The auction will be held at the International Plaza Resort & Spa in Orlando and begins with lot viewing January 2-4, capped off by the auction on January 4 starting at 4 p.m. EST. Nearly 1,400 rarities will be presented during a single session.

A leading consignment in Bowers and Merena’s Orlando Rarities Sale, the Riverside Collection offers an impressive selection of rare, high-quality proof type coins from the mid-to-late 19th century. “It has been quite some time since we have offered such a wide array of 19th century proof type coins in a single sale,” stated Bowers and Merena president Steve Deeds. “The Riverside Collection includes selections from series as diverse as Shield Nickels and Liberty Double Eagles, the unifying theme being the strong technical merits and fabulous eye appeal that each individual coin possesses.” Most pieces also include a Cameo or Deep/Ultra Cameo designation as part of the grade assigned by PCGS or NGC.

Standouts from the Riverside Collection include lot 250, an enigmatic proof 1867 Rays Shield Nickel rarity, one of the finest examples known of perhaps just 40 to 60 coins believed to exist in all grades, tied for Condition Census #1 and graded by NGC as Proof-66 Cameo. Also noteworthy is lot 978, an exceptionally smooth and attractive 1882 Trade Dollar in Proof-67 Ultra Cameo by NGC. Its NGC Census is just four with a lone Proof-68 UC finer; the finest Deep Cameo specimens known to PCGS grade Proof-66. (more…)

The Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) will display Sunnywood’s “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” set of exquisitely toned Morgan silver dollars and PCGS Co-Founder David Hall will participate in an important educational forum at the Florida United Numismatists (FUN) annual convention in Orlando, January 8 – 11, 2009.

Hall will be a featured expert in the FUN seminar, “2009 or 1929? You Can Survive and Thrive During the Economic Crisis,” at 1:15 p.m., Saturday, January 10.

“The Sunnywood’s collection is a 100 percent complete, basic set of circulation strike Morgan dollars (1878 – 1921) with spectacular natural toning. The set is ranked number six in the PCGS Set Registry with a weighted grade point average and set rating of 64.611,” said BJ Searls, Set Registry Manager.

“The collection was assembled by attorney Douglas Kurz who will be on hand at FUN to discuss the composition of the set. One of the main attractions is an 1881-S graded PCGS MS68 with vivid rainbow toning that’s considered by many Morgan dollar enthusiasts to be the ultimate, finest-toned Morgan known.”

Other highlights of the 97-coin set include:

The Eliasberg specimen 1893-S graded PCGS MS65, a coin that is pictured in the popular book, “100 Greatest U.S. Coins.”

The 1882-S dollar, graded PCGS MS67, is pedigreed to the collection of former National Football League linebacker, Gregg “Ironman” Bingham. It is described as “spectacular” and “an exceptionally beautiful and technically superb example of what would otherwise be a common date San Francisco Morgan dollar.”

1880-S, PCGS MS68, described as having an intensely toned blue, pink and gold obverse and a rainbow toned reverse.

1885-CC, PCGS MS66, 100 percent rainbow toned obverse with the weave pattern of the burlap mint bag in which it was stored for decades. (more…)