The Cardinal Type Collection of Early Copper, a multi-million dollar display of over two dozen high-grade early American copper pieces including items from an all-time finest PCGS Set Registry collection, will be exhibited at the Long Beach Coin, Stamp & Collectibles Expo, June 3 – 5, 2010. The show will be held in the Long Beach, California Convention Center, 100 S. Pine Ave.

“This special exhibit is a superb collection of historic and rare private coinage from 1787 to 1792 and early items from the Philadelphia Mint from 1793 up to 1852. The collection was assembled by Martin Logies and will be exhibited courtesy of Bowers & Merena Auctions,” said Ronald J. Gillio, Expo General Chairman.

Highlights of the exhibit include the following coins that were part of the 2009 PCGS Best of Registry winner for Large Cents Basic Set:

1793 Chain AMERICA S-2 variety formerly in the Beckwith, Collins and Naftzger Collections and graded PCGS MS65BN;

1793 Wreath, Vine and Bars Edge formerly in the Naftzger Collection, PCGS MS69BN;

1794 Head of 1793 formerly in the Garrett Collection, PCGS MS64 BN;

and 1803 No Stems S-243, PCGS MS66RB, formerly in the Helfenstein and Naftzger Collections.

During the three-day Long Beach Expo more than 1,000 dealers will be buying and selling rare coins, paper money, stamps, postcards, historic documents, antiques, estate jewelry and other collectibles. Some dealers will provide free, informal appraisals for visitors.

A free gold coin door prize will be awarded each day to a lucky, registered visitor, and a children’s treasure hunt will be held on Saturday, June 5. A half dozen educational programs and collectors’ clubs meetings will be conducted during the show and will be open to the public.

Heritage Auction Galleries of Dallas, Texas (www.HA.com), the world’s largest collectibles auction house and the official auctioneer of the Long Beach Expo, will hold a public auction of U.S. coins in conjunction with the show.

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A decade after its first appearance, the precedent-setting “Ship of Gold” display showcasing California Gold Rush-era sunken treasure recovered from the 1857 shipwreck of the SS Central America was again docked in Long Beach, California.

The $10 million exhibit was publicly displayed during the Long Beach Coin, Stamp & Collectibles Expo in February, marking its 10th anniversary.

“The ‘Ship of Gold’ exhibit is out of dry dock” said Ronald J. Gillio, Expo General Chairman. “The eye-opening display on the convention center floor is housed in a specially-constructed 40-foot long representation of the famous ship’s hull. This will be the first public appearance of the ‘Ship of Gold’ exhibit anywhere in the country in six years.”

The exhibit is courtesy of Monaco Rare Coins of Newport Beach and involved months of work to coordinate the display with collectors who privately own and now have generously loaned many of the items for the exhibit, according to Adam Crum, Monaco Vice President.
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A possibly unique gold coin celebrating the assassination of Julius Caesar will go on display at the British Museum today – the Ides of March, marking the 2,054th anniversary of his death.

The coin was struck in honour of Marcus Junius Brutus, one of the assassins of Julius Caesar. The reverse shows the cap of liberty given to freed slaves flanked by two daggers. This indicates Brutus’ intention of freeing Rome from Caesar’s imperial ambitions and the murder weapons employed to do so. Below the daggers is the day of the deed; EID.MAR, the ides of March.

Few coins capture a moment in history with such stark and brutal imagery. Brutus had carried out the attack with some fellow Roman Senators in 44 BC when Caesar had come unarmed to address the Senate on 15 March. This day was known to the Romans as the ides, or the middle day of the month and was recognised on a new calendar system that Caesar himself had established just two years before.

The assassins, or ‘freedom party’ as they regarded themselves, fled Rome to Macedonia to raise an army. However, they were defeated by Caesar’s allies led by Mark Antony and Octavian at the Battle of Philippi (42 BC). Brutus subsequently committed suicide.

The decision to flee east was probably influenced by the richness of the provinces of the eastern Roman Empire – raising an army was a very costly business. Supplies needed to be bought and soldiers needed wages. Amongst the coins the conspirators briefly struck to this end was this one.

Although numerous surviving examples of the silver version are known, including several in the British Museum’s coins and medals collection, there were only believed to be two in gold.

Curiously, King George III (reigned 1760-1820) owned one of the two gold examples as part of his large chronological sequence of coins and medals followed a system common among eighteenth-century collectors to arrange their ancient Roman coin collections. Experts now believe that this coin is a fake.

The present example on display was offered for sale to the British Museum in 1932 but they couldn’t afford to buy it. Sold privately to a number of collectors , its present owner (anonymous) has loaned the coin to the museum, and it will be displayed publicly for the first time.