The following is taken from the Subscriber Correspondence section of the June 2008 E-Gobrecht, the electronic newsletter skillfully published monthly by LIBERTY SEATED COLLECTORS CLUB and its editor Bill Bugert. For anyone who is unfamiliar with the LSCC or E-Gobrecht in particular, CoinLink would strongly recommend that you visit their site and subscribe. A finer group of serious collectors can not be found who freely diseminate their content for the benefit of all.

From Charles Sullivan: In the May “Auction News” by Jim Gray, he states “An 1873-CC seated dollar in AU-58 with album toning on well struck surfaces went up to $48,875 despite a dark spot below the eagle’s beak. A lightly toned, unmolested 1878-CC trade dollar, AU-58 and quite attractive, sold for $11,500.” In the same issue, David Lange cites coins being “subjected to multiple cleanings and poor storage” during the 1950’s and 1960’s, coins that “have been dipped, albeit more skillfully than the more common bleach jobs that are such an eyesore,” coins “dipped again and again in an attempt to remove the PVC residue” (post-1970’s), and, in the present day, coins dipped “just before [they are sent} to the grading services” as submitters have failed to rinse them properly. David fails to mention a prominent slabhouse has even set up an extra-charge cleaning service for ugly specimens, thus reinforcing the notion “every coin can be made better.”

As a group, we collectors STILL do not possess the maturity and vision to leave seated liberty coins alone for the guardians who will purchase, inherit, and conserve these wonderful specimens of history in the decades and centuries ahead. (more…)

Funny how things work. We expected this to blow away Long Beach, but for us, it ended up the quieter show. Overall, we still did several hundred thousand in business and unlike Long Beach, we did do some retail. The only thing we could not do: BUY COINS! Yet again, the floor was beyond dry. NOTE: We had commented that at the last LB Show you could “bowl down the isles.” An attention seeking know-it-all type dealer who has nothing better to do than troll gossip boards for biz, made some comments on a chat board that this was not true and that we had our backs turned. Well, that was BS and we totally stand by that comment and ALL our observations for the Long Beach show. Ask any major dealer who has attended that show for years, the public attendance is badly declining. There is no specific reason.

The Baltimore Show simply had too many odds going against them this time for it to be a great show. Having a major show the week before was the #1 problem. The overal uncertainty of the economy probably was #2 (i.e high gas). #3 bad luck with the killer heat (weather). And last, #4-many collectors along the East Coast simply are waiting for the summer ANA Show at the end of July (which is also in Baltimore). Dealers certainly were burnt out from all the recent travel. Less then the usual amount of summer dealers attended (so it seemed). Still, everyone who was there clearly tried to make the best of it. If you had nice and fresh coins, they immediately sold the first day or to the first person you showed.

Surprisingly to us, the collector turn out was a little heavier than what we thought it would be. However, it was still incredibly less than what the March show brings in. Many substantial dealers felt (for them) the show really ended by 10 AM Friday. Very few stayed for Saturday. We ourselves did NO business Saturday at all and we were bone tried, so yes, we left early.

We strongly feel this show should NOT be used to measure the market, it was most likely an abberation.

Yet again, we congratulate Mary Counts, David Chrenshaw, and all the Whitman people for working hard to put on what clearly has become the BEST privately owned show in the biz. We just wish circumstances could have been better for them this time around!

Read Full Market Report Here 

By Bill Waring [a hobbyist from Milwaukee]

For those who thought they had seen everything with coin grading, we now have fourth-party graders! Before we had grading companies it was pretty simple. It took two parties for coins to change hands – the buyer and seller plus a price list based on the state of preservation of the coin. Human nature typically had the seller lean on the better state of preservation of the coin (higher value) while the buyer often would estimate a lower grade (less cost).

The coin industry promoted the idea of an independent appraisal of coin (third-party grading) because it would simplify coin transactions and even promote sight-unseen trading of coins. It’s been over 20 years since companies started for a fee to evaluate a coin and assign a grade. The earliest was a non-profit service by the American Numismatic Association that would return the coin in a simple flip with a card with photograph of the two sides of the coin and a grade assigned to each side of the coin. The back of the card had a long disclaimer stating coin grading is subjective and there is no guarantee that the grade assigns a value. The reality was that a coin grade become a starting point to determine the value of the coin when a price listing was used.

In the 1980s this first ANA grading service was quickly followed by for-profit companies that would seal the coin in a plastic holder, or slab, and give on overall grade to the coin. We now have numerous grading companies all using plastic sealed holders. Some of these companies are considered to be reliable while others border on fraudulent with over grading of coins and unwillingness to state what standards they use to grade their coins. In fact, anyone can purchase their own plastic holders and put a name and grade on them. Even among the companies that by consensus are considered reliable, there are coins that seem to be either a little over graded or under graded.

Read Full Letter to Numismatic News