The “Red Copper Collection” of mint state and proof half cents and cents will be publicly displayed for the first time by Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) at the American Numismatic Association World’s Fair of Money® convention in Baltimore, July 30 – August 2, 2008. Assembled over a period of more than 20 years by Stewart Blay of New York, the collection contains some of the finest known copper coins and has won awards from the PCGS Set Registry annually for each of the past six years.

Among the highlights are a 1796 half cent graded MS-66 RB, the finest known early American copper coin; an 1877 Indian Head cent MS-66 RD (nicknamed “the Golden Princess”); and a 1909-S V.D.B. Lincoln cent MS-67 RD.

“It’s the finest collection of high-grade copper coins ever assembled, and some of these coins have never been publicly exhibited before. There were many excited comments posted on the PCGS Message Board when the word started to spread that this legendary collection would be shown for the first time,” said BJ Searls, Manager of the PCGS Set RegistrySM.

Blay is a sculptor who works in Colorado, Indiana and Italy, and also has acted in television commercials and soap operas. He began collecting at the age of eight.

“I had a neighbor whose uncle worked for the (New York) Transit Authority. He used to bring change home and we’d sort through it. I started with Lincoln pennies and began to fill up an old Whitman folder,” Blay explained.

In addition to the three coins mentioned above, the Red Copper Collection items to be displayed by PCGS at the ANA convention in Baltimore include:

Half cents, 1793 to 1857, all in Mint State including a 1793 half cent MS-65 BN and an 1828 half cent 13 stars MS-65 RD, the finest known. (more…)

Noted numismatic authority Maurice Rosen interviewed John Albanese. The following interview appeared in the Rosen Numismatic Advisory Newsletter (Vol. 33 No. 4) in May 2008.

A grading service grading other services’ coins? What’s going on?

You’ve heard about CAC [CERTIFIED ACCEPTANCE CORPORATION]. They’re the ones affixing labels or stickers to already slabbed coins attesting to the “premium quality” of the encased going – a sort of Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval. We all know that the variance in quality among slabbed coins of the same issue and grade can be substantial. If the grading services properly anticipated – and provided for – the growing problem of “C” and “D-quality” coins, there would be no need for CAC. For sure, no two coins are alike and grading is an art not a science. Unfortunately, after 22-years of grading, and after tens of millions of coins have entered the marketplace, the advertised solutions that the grading services promised to us have yet to be fully delivered.

The problem? The “bottom-of-the-barrel” coins have been dragging down the market for the solid-for-the-grade coins. The sight-unseen bidding system recognizes the ugly truth that the worst coins in holders might be put to a dealer forced to pay his bid. His defense? Lower his bids to provide for that contingency. Sight-seen bidding, on the other hand, permits the bidder the option of first viewing the coin to determine if he is satisfied with it – with no obligation to buy the coin.

As time went on, as the nice coins have been squirreled away by savvy collectors, investors and dealers, the bottom-dwellers took on a growing presence in the market. Their ranks have also been bloated by successful crack-outs, the resubmission of coins to the same or another service with the hopes of receiving a higher grade.

Read the Full Interview at the CAC Website Here

by Greg Reynolds for CoinLink
This is Part 4 of my review and analysis of the auction of the Millennia collection of world coins.

The main purpose of Part IV is to cover the structure of, and the plan for, the Millennia collection. Several more coins from the collection will be discussed and related to the plan, with emphasis upon types that were not discussed in the first three parts.

The Millennia collection contained coins of many nations, and this collector never intended to complete a series of coins ‘by date.’ Also, there was not a plan to construct a type set of all denominations of any one nation.

Generally, for each nation or coin-producing society represented, there is a carefully selected group of high quality Crowns (large silver coins), plus a smaller number of gold coins, if any. Curiously, all the Belgian coins in the Millennia collection were gold coins.

A 4.22 gram (0.15 ounce) Belgian coin, a ‘lion of gold,’ which was minted in Bruges, is noteworthy. It is not extremely rare. It is important in an artistic and cultural sense. The growling lion and other symbols are carefully chosen and placed. It was probably minted in the 1450s, and it provides clues regarding the independent and defiant, as well as flamboyant, personality of the reigning Duke, ‘Philip the Good.’ It is also one of the few coins of the period that is not overcrowded with design elements. This coin has sizeable, carefully balanced fields. It is NGC graded MS-62, a high grade for a Belgian coin from the 1400s. It sold for $5750.

For Britain and for a few Latin American societies, there were more gold coins than Crowns in the Millennia collection. A substantial percentage of the gold coins that circulated worldwide from the 1730s to the 1850s were minted in Latin America within the Spanish Empire or by former Spanish colonies that became independent. It is thus logical that there were a large number of Latin American gold coins in the Millennia collection. To a meaningful extent, Ira Goldberg intended for the Millennia collection to reflect the large coins that were widely used, and characteristic of their respective societies, over the last two thousand five hundred years. Large coins usually weigh more than one-half an ounce. (more…)