By Mark Ferguson for COIN VALUES

While multimillion dollar coins and multimillion dollar coin deals are the stuff of pipe dreams for most of us, we still delight in viewing such coins when they’re displayed. A typical first-time reaction is to tremble when given the opportunity to hold and examine one of these trophy coins, even if it’s in a holder.

Coin dealer Julian Leidman, no stranger to trophy coins, told me about 30 years ago: “After a while they’re all the same,” meaning handling and making deals in such coins becomes routine, just like handling much more common coins.

The late Elvira Clain-Stephanelli, former executive director and curator of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Numismatic Collection, once said, while showing me a 1913 Liberty 5-cent coin, an 1804 Draped Bust silver dollar and other notable pieces, “They’re just pieces of metal.” Read Full Article