Bowers and Merena’s Official Auction of the Baltimore Coin and Currency Convention in March Includes Choice AU 1870-CC Double Eagle as Part of the Southerly Collection

IRVINE, Calif. – Bowers and Merena Auctions, America’s leading rare coin and currency auction house, makes its first trip to Baltimore in 2009 for the Official Auction of the Baltimore Coin and Currency Convention set for March 24-28. The auction will take place at the Baltimore Convention Center and begins with lot viewing Tuesday, March 24, to Friday, March 27, followed by the three-session auction on Thursday, March 26, at 6 p.m. EDT, and Friday, March 27, at noon and again at 6 p.m. EDT.

The auction is highlighted by two standout, multi-million-dollar collections. The Southerly Collection offers a variety of distinguished coins including a top-notch Choice AU 1870-CC Double Eagle as lot 3909. This 1870-CC Winter 1-A is graded AU-55 by NGC and is the single highest-graded example of this famous frontier-era rarity known to PCGS and NGC. Also raising the bar in the Southerly Collection is a highly elusive 1797 Small Eagle Ten. At lot 3786, this 1797 Capped Bust Right Eagle, Small Eagle, BD-1, HBCC-3175, Taraszka-7, Rarity-5, is graded MS-61 by NGC and represents the rarest of only three issues in the Small Eagle Capped Bust Right Ten-Dollar gold series. NGC Census reports just six, with a mere four finer through MS-63. Lot 3785 is a very rare 1796 Capped Bust Right Eagle, BD-1, HBCC-3174, Taraszka-6, the only known dies, Rarity-4, in NGC MS-61, boasting a population of just nine with just six finer through MS-63.

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Review by Doug Winter – www.RareGoldCoins.com

I’m guessing it’s been close to twenty years since there was a major coin show in a city in which I lived. That’s why I was really excited about this year’s Mid-Winter ANA being held in my home town of Portland, Oregon. Even if the show was crummy, I’d be able to sleep in my own bed. Plus, I could show off my Portland Expert status to friends and acquaintances and rattle off a list of obscure restaurants (Peruvian? Check. Malaysian? Do you want Northern or Southern?) without having to pull out a Zagat’s.

Portland doesn’t have a reputation as a Great Coin Town and to be honest I had very little in the way of expectations for this show, other than it being well run. That’s why I was so pleasantly surprised that it turned out to be quite good.

I have to give some kudos to the ANA. There were articles in the paper about the show, ads on TV; even my neighbors knew there was a coin show in town. This excellent publicity meant that the attendance would probably be good and it was. More on this in a second.

The first day of the show was devoted to wholesale trading and, for me, the action was a little less than my last few shows. The main reason for this was that I didn’t have much generic gold and generic gold remains incredibly hot.

This is a good time to go off on a mini-tangent. With the almost total focus of the gold market on generics right now, this seems like a good time for people who care about legitimately scarce and rare coins to be buying. I had a few dealers comment to me at the show that they are so focused on generics that they are slowing down their “real coin” business. That means less competition for me when I buy and I can focus on coins like New Orleans half eagles and Dahlonega quarter eagles when many of my usual competitors are busy making MS63 Liberty Head double eagles. (more…)

The Olsen specimen 1913 Liberty Head nickel, the most famous of five known specimens, will be displayed at the 2009 National Money Show™ in Portland, Oregon.

The coin has has been graded Proof-64 by both PCGS and NGC. It has the distinction of being the only 1913 Liberty Head nickel ever handled by B. Max Mehl, who made it a centerpiece of his lifelong advertising campaign. It was also briefly owned by Egyptian King Farouk. When the set of five 1913 nickels was broken up in the 1940s, the Olsen specimen was sold first to James Kelly and then to Fred Olsen, whose name it has kept ever since.

The Olsen specimen was featured on “The $100,000 Nickel” episode of Hawaii Five-O soon after it broke the record for the most expensive coin ever sold in 1972. During the episode, the “star” coin is stolen by a thief and spends much of the episode passing from hand to hand as the human stars of the program look for it. The coin’s price doubled to $200,000 when it was purchased by Superior Galleries in 1978. It has been resold on several occasions since then, most recently fetching $3 million in June of 2004.

The coin is being exhibited courtesy of its anonymous owner, in cooperation with Integrity Assets Management, LLC. At the conclusion of the Portland show, the coin will return to ANA Headquarters, and will be on displayed on loan at the Edward C. Rochette Money Museum.