The Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) will display the only complete grading set of “Hot Lips” dollars, one of the most interesting of all the different varieties in the popular Morgan dollar series (1878 - 1921), at the Long Beach Coin, Stamp & Collectibles Expo, May 29 - 31, 2008.

“Some Morgan dollars were struck at the New Orleans Mint in 1888 with a doubled die obverse that produced significant doubling of Miss Liberty’s lips, nose and chin. A faint second eyelid is also visible,” explained Ron Guth, PCGS President.

The unusual variety is listed as 1888-O VAM-4 (for the “VAM” reference book created by Morgan dollar researchers, Leroy C. Van Allen and A. George Mallis), but many collectors refer to it simply as “Hot Lips.”

PCGS will display the Ashmore “Hot Lips” grading set during the show in the Long Beach, California Convention Center. The 21-coin set is owned by Ash Harrison, President of the Society of Silver Dollar Collectors and owner of Ashmore Rare Coins in Greensboro, North Carolina, who has assembled examples of this unusual variety in grades ranging from Poor-1 to Mint State-61, according to BJ Searls, Manager of the PCGS Set RegistrySM program.

Only two are certified PCGS MS-61, and none in higher grade by PCGS. The MS-60 coin in the set formerly was in Van Allen’s personal collection, and is the only Hot Lips variety example certified as Deep Mirror Prooflike (DMPL). With the recent acquisition of this unique coin, Harrison completed the years-long hunt to assemble the first-ever “Hot Lips” set for all reported grades. (more…)

Pattern coins and the precious metals markets are the topics of the next two, free Professional Numismatists Guild (PNG) “Share the Knowledge” educational seminars. They will be conducted, respectively, by PNG member-dealers Andy Lustig and Richard Nachbar at the Central States Numismatic Society convention (CSNS) in April and at the Long Beach Coin, Stamp & Collectibles Expo in May.

A complimentary light lunch will be available for audience members at both PNG seminars.

Lustig of Nyack, New York is a co-founder of The Society of U.S. Pattern Collectors. He will present “Collecting Pattern Coinage” starting at 11 a.m. on Friday, April 18, 2008 in room 42 of the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, 5555 N. River Rd., Rosemont, Illinois, the site of the 69th Annual CSNS Convention.

“Patterns are some of the rarest coins struck by the United States Mint. The series has more than 2,000 different prototypes for American coinage including patterns, die trials and experimental pieces. This half hour seminar will provide an overview of the series, historical background, collecting strategies and a superb slide show of great rarities,” Lustig said.

The annual spring PNG Day will be held in conjunction with the CSNS show on Wednesday, April 16. Collectors may obtain free, printed PNG Day invitations from PNG member-dealers. An online membership directory is available at www.PNGdealers.com, or call PNG Executive Director Robert Brueggeman at (760) 728-1300. (more…)

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…)

By Laura Sperber of Legend Numismatics

This was a very interesting Long Beach excursion. We did ok and we even were able to buy a few wonderful pieces.

Like with most shows today, the main events are the auctions. For us, Long Beach started off with some heavy auction sales. For the past few months we had been eyeing the Superior Sale. They had a group of incredible early PR Bust and Seated Dimes that haven’t been on the market for ages. We were determined to buy some-and did. In fact, we were extremely happy with the prices we paid and the coins we bought (yes, we did buy the spectacular 1845 NGC PR67 10C). Over at the Goldberg Auction, buying was much harder. Gold especially brought huge money. We did not buy nearly as much there as we had hoped. Overall, the activity at the pre show auctions was very strong.

During the show, the Heritage Auction just blew everything else away. The amazing Husak Collection of Large Cents realized just over $10,000,000.00 to a standing room only crowd of over 150 people! Many high grade coins in the regular sessions brought amazing record prices (like the 1860 NGC MS67 50C or the 1863S PCGS MS65 10C). Our buying out of those sales was very minimal. Please see our HOT TOPICS article for more information about how we approached the Husak Sale. (more…)

(Long Beach, California) - A complete set of Type I Double Eagles, rare Hard Times tokens and the number one collection of early U.S. silver dollars in the PCGS Set RegistrySM will be displayed at the Long Beach Coin, Stamp & Collectibles Expo, February 14 - 16, 2008, in the Long Beach, California Convention & Entertainment Center, 100 S. Pine Ave.

Monaco Rare Coin of Newport Beach, California (www.zoomcoin.com)will exhibit a condition census set of U.S. $20 denomination gold coins struck from 1850 to 1866, including examples of the 1854-O, 1856-O and one of the two known 1861-P Paquet reverse specimens. The collection is valued at more than $5 million, according to Adam Crum of Monaco.

“The PCGS exhibit will showcase 107 varieties of Flowing Hair and Bust dollars from 1794 to 1803 from the collection of California radiologist, Dr. Robert D. Hesselgesser. He has added a number of new or upgraded coins in the past year, and his collection is the finest of its kind in the Professional Coin Grading Service’s registry,”said Ronald J. Gillio, Expo General Chairman.

Stack’s of New York City and Wolfeboro, New Hampshire (www.stacks.com) will display “The Old Time Dice-Hicks Cabinet” of rare, historic Hard Times and merchants’ tokens privately struck in the 1830’s and shortly afterward when circulating coins often were scarce. (more…)