A virtually non-stop flow of bourse floor traffic, nearly $35 million of coin and bank note auctions and visits by California’s Attorney General and former Governor, Jerry Brown, and Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster, highlighted the busy September 18 -20, 2008 Long Beach Coin, Stamps & Collectibles Expo.

“Gold jumped about $40 an ounce on opening day, and we saw many ‘new faces’ among the thousands of attendees. Thursday is usually a busy day, and attendance this time was about 20 percent higher than recent, previous opening days,” said Ronald J. Gillio, Expo General Chairman.

“I’ve had a table at every Long Beach show since 1995, and this was my best opening day Thursday,” said Peter Walters of Columbia Collectibles in Irvine, California who specializes in Civil War to World War I era items.

The multiple auction sessions of U.S. and world coins, paper money and tokens and medals conducted by Heritage Auction Galleries of Dallas, Texas, official auctioneer of the Long Beach Expo, generated nearly $35 million in prices realized bidding.

Several hundred children took part in a Saturday “treasure hunt” at the show. Among the free numismatic gifts given to the participants were more than 100 modern proof and mint sets donated by collector Dennis Riley of Maryland, according to Walter A. Ostromecki Jr., coordinator of the show’s youth activities.

The Long Beach Stamp Club provided free stamps to help youngsters start collections.

A coin collector, Attorney General Brown walked the bourse floor for about an hour on Friday, September 19, accompanied by American Numismatic Association President Barry Stuppler and ANA Executive Director Larry Shepherd. He then met with collectors and dealers in an informal question and answer session organized by Stuppler in his role as President of the California Coin and Bullion Merchants Association. (more…)

(Long Beach, California) – An exhibit by Professional Coin Grading Service of counterfeit coins and the latest in the Professional Numismatists Guild’s “Share the Knowledge” educational seminars are among the highlights of the next Long Beach Coin, Stamp & Collectibles Expo, September 18 – 20, 2008. The show will be held in the Long Beach, California Convention Center, 100 S. Pine Ave.

“The PCGS display will showcase an assortment of fake Chinese coins and the dies used for making some of them that were sold on the Internet or offered at souvenir shops and street fairs in Hong Kong,” said Ronald J. Gillio, Expo General Chairman.

“We’ll also have a half dozen various club meetings and educational programs that are open to the public. Whether you’re a consignor or a bidder, you’ll want to attend the PNG seminar about numismatic auctions.”

The program, “Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Rare Coin Auctions,” will be presented by PNG member-dealer Greg Rohan, President of Heritage Auction Galleries of Dallas, Texas, at Noon on Thursday, September 18. A complimentary light lunch will be available for audience members as part of this latest in the series of PNG “Share the Knowledge” seminars being conducted at major coin shows across the country.

A half dozen other seminars and club meetings also will be conducted during the three-day Long Beach Expo. The programs include: “The History of Coin Grading,” presented by PCGS President Ron Guth at 2 p.m. on Thursday, September 18; the National Silver Dollar Roundtable at 2 p.m. on Friday, September 19, and the Long Beach Coin Club seminar, “The Red Book – A Guide Book of United States Coins and its Beginnings,” presented by Howard Feltham at 11 a.m. on Saturday, September 20.
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by Greg Reynolds for CoinLink

From July 30 to Aug. 3, thousands of coin collectors flocked to Baltimore to attend the annual Summer ANA Convention. Among the most newsworthy of events at the Convention were the sales of two San Francisco Mint pennies. On July 30, a 1943-S copper cent sold on the bourse floor and, on July 31, a 1944-S steel cent sold at auction. The topic here is the copper cents of 1943, with emphasis upon this specific 1943-S copper cent. In part 2, steel cents of 1944 will be discussed, with the focus being upon the 1944-S that set an astounding record, along with additional reasons as to why 1943 coppers and 1944 steel cents are interesting and important.

Why are certain 1943 and 1944 pennies valuable? More than one billion Lincoln Cents were minted in 1943 and more than two billion in 1944!

From 1864 to 1942, and from 1944 to early 1982, U.S. one cent coins were typically 95% copper. Usually, the other 5% was a mixture of tin and zinc. For simplicity, it makes sense to refer to a coin that is 95% or more copper as being ‘copper’! From 1982 to the present, Lincoln Cents have been made of copper-plated zinc. Though the overall percentage of copper is very small, the copper plating of post-1982 cents causes them to appear to most people as if they consisted primarily of copper. So, people are accustomed to thinking of cents as being copper.

In 1943 only, in order to devote more copper for purposes relating to World War II, U.S. cents were made of zinc coated steel. In 1944, copper was employed again, and steel cents were not supposed to be minted.

Steel cents of 1943 have sort of a silvery-white look. It is readily apparent that these are not composed of copper. For unknown reasons, however, a few 1943 cents were minted in copper, and are extremely rare. It is generally believed that a few leftover copper planchets (prepared blanks) were stuck, for a while, in the mechanism that channeled the planchets to the coinage presses. As these copper planchets became unstuck eventually, due to the movements within the mechanisms, and joined the flow, they were struck into coins. Conversely, in 1944, a few steel cents were minted as a consequence of leftover steel planchets joining the flow of copper planchets.

So, 1943 copper cents and 1944 steel cents are off-metal strikings. These are the most famous of all mint errors. Moreover, as there are no extremely rare dates in the Lincoln Cent series, wealthy collectors often collect certain errors ‘as if’ these were regular issues and include them in sets of Lincoln Cents. (more…)