By Kathleen Duncan - Pinnacle-Rarities.com

There was noticeably less business being conducted at this year’s Baltimore show than is the norm for the well run Whitman venue. The coin festivities began with a Stack’s auction November 18th and 19th. Unless the coins were problem-free, and not easily replaceable, they tended to sell cheaply or not at all. The current economic climate has caused some reverberations in the world of numismatics. A larger percentage of buybacks than normal appeared on the books and some bargains were definitely to be had. However, there were few, if any, bargains amongst the fabulous Warren Snow collection of Large Cents, further testament to the wisdom of buying the best you can afford:

* 1813 1c PCGS MS65BN $207,000
* 1821 1c PCGS MS63RD $80,500
* 1857 1c PCGS PR65RD $74,750
* 1848-O 50c NGC MS65 $29,900
* 1808 $2.5 PCGS MS63 $517,500

The Bowers and Merena auction commenced later in the week with largely the same results. Unusually rare and especially nice material did well, but the vast majority sold inexpensively or were bought back by consignors. One of the highlights of the sale was the Capitol Collection, a fabulous group of Standing Liberty Quarters and Walking Liberty half dollars to which Pinnacle substantially contributed. The three highlights, pedigreed to the GBW Collection, brought prices roughly double what we sold them for in April of 2004:

* 1919 50c PCGS MS67 $32,200
* 1920-D 50c PCGS MS66 $48,300
* 1920-S 50c PCGS MS66 $50,600

There was also an outstanding collection of Buffalo nickels consigned to the sale whose prices reflected the lovely quality of the material:

* 1920-D 5c NGC MS67* $138,000
* 1923-S 5c NGC MS66* $25,300
* 1924-S 5c NGC MS66* $31,050
* 1927-D 5c NGC MS66 $23,000

Early copper brought out the big guns with a 1793 Wreath Cent in MS63BN bringing $115,000 and a 1795 Liberty Cap, Reeded Edge in G-4 commanding a robust $402,500.

While there was no shortage of coins to be had at the show, there were few interesting, fresh ones from which to choose. We looked through thousands of coins to find the few “diamonds in the rough’ we brought home. Because this is typical of most shows, we feel the cream will always rise to the top. If you are patient and wait to buy the very best, you will be rewarded.