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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By Doug Winter – RareGoldCoins.com

I first thought about writing this last week and when the question of “what are my expectations for the September Long Beach show?” popped into my mind, the immediate answer was short and sweet: “Expectations? I have no expectations.”

But that was before gold made its inexorable sprint towards $1,000. Suddenly, the no-go coin show might grow some legs.

Do I think that $1,000 gold is going to bring a stampede of buyers into the show? Possibly but this answer has a big asterisk. And this asterisk is as follows: there will probably be a larger than average crowd at Long Beach but that vast majority of these people will be browsers, tire-kickers and lookie-loos. Will some of these newbies (or resurrected buyers) come prepared to spend? Possibly but I would assume that the typical man-off-the-street at Long Beach is looking to buy a Saint or two and not a piece of Proof gold or even—gasp!—a Dahlonega half eagle.

The most noticeable effect of gold’s sudden spike will be felt on the wholesale level.

Many collectors don’t realize this but gold prices have been driving the wholesale coin market for quite a few years. The reasons are simple. Many of the biggest players in the wholesale rare coin market are also big players in the generic gold market. They have clients who are marketers and these marketers sell a lot of coins like MS65 Saints and MS63 Indian Head eagles. When the gold market is hot, orders for these generic coins skyrocket. The position of generics that the wholesale dealers own suddenly increase in value and cash flows improve accordingly. And fat, rich, happy coin dealers tend to buy more rare coins.

The retail segment of the market tends not to realize that dealers, in some ways, are the biggest coin weenies of them all. Every dealer has a list of dates or types that he/she is a sucker for and they will buy these coins purely on “spec” just because they like the coin. As an example, I am willing to support the market for a coin like an 1861-D gold dollar not because I necessarily have it pre-sold but because I like the story behind the issue enough that I want to own nice examples of this issue when they become available. But in a generics-on-steroids market like what we are in right now, dealers who typically might pass on an 1861-D dollar could have interest in this coin. (more…)