By David W. Lange – www.coincollectingboards.com …..
For Collectors of Antique Coin Boards
Number 41 — Winter 2017
BIG ANNUAL UPDATE ISSUE
Yes, it’s that time of year again when I include a newly updated Check List & Value Guide for coin boards, as well as updated Revisions reports for each of my books. You’ll find these included with this issue. The values for most rare boards have been raised significantly in accordance with some very revealing recent sales. It’s clear that buyers are now prepared to step up with real cash for those seldom-seen items.
SLIM PICKINGS SLIM PICKINGS
Once again I have no list of coin boards for sale, as there have been too few items added to my inventory to justify it. I did, however, pick up a couple of Oberwise boards for Buffalo Nickels, a fairly scarce title, and I’ll include them here along with another acquired a few months back and seemingly overlooked:
- 2331 O5¢Bi F-VF $26 Two partially torn openings; corners slightly rounded, but otherwise clean
- 2324 O5¢Bk VF-NM $45 Very clean, but net priced due to a black marker line across the top of the back; below this is written “October 20, 1939”
- 2332 O5¢Bk F $19 Four partially torn openings; corners rounded, but otherwise clean
MARKET ACTIVITY
As alluded to in the opening paragraph there have been some startling price advances for actual sales of rare coin boards. In September an empty Earl & Koehler board for Lincoln Cents, Lange No. EK1¢Ab.2, sold on eBay for $569! I graded it VF from the photos. This was followed on Halloween by an example of EK1¢Aa grading VG-F that was filled with all coins but the 1909-S VDB, and it brought $749.99. Though the coins skew the value placed upon the board, it’s hard to imagine the same coin collection bringing that much in a common board or folder. I had no involvement in either transaction and just stood by in disbelief.
In another stellar development, not one but two rare Lincoln Printing Company boards traded during the past quarter. These were of Lange No. L1¢Bx, the extremely rare Lincoln Cent board custom printed for funeral director Dave J. Malloy. Both passed through my hands and went to the longest-standing names on my roster of want lists. One graded VF, the other VG, and both sold for well over last year’s Check List & Value Guide figures. This brings to four the number of examples known to me.
The only other noteworthy sales were from a single eBay seller who simultaneously posted four Oberwise boards for Buffalo Nickels as Buy-it-Now at $50 apiece. This happened on a morning when my car was in the shop.
I was awaiting a ride from one of my co-workers, and he arrived just as I spotted the listings. The boards all included coins, but there wasn’t time to determine their value, so I just responded to my instinct. Though I tried to buy all four on my cell phone, two were already claimed by an astute reader of Coin Board News. I later made enough money selling the coins that I can now offer both boards below their purchase price.
BOOK UPDATES
The only new variety this quarter is from Joseph Oberwise and Company. One of the four Buffalo Nickel boards described in the above account is O5¢Bf. Sadly, it was not among the ones I bought.
BETTER LATE THAN NEVER
After being bumped several times, the long-anticipated article by Joshua McMorrow-Hernandez on vintage coin holders is slated for the February issue of COINage. I was interviewed for this piece and provided many images for it.
SPECIAL BOOK OFFER
To encourage my legion of coin board collectors to expand their horizons, I’m offering an irresistible deal: Buy my two coin album books, Volumes 1 and 2, at their list price of $99.90 for the pair, and I’ll include a free copy of my coin board book. Just add $10.10 for priority shipping, making the total price $110 out the door. By now your copy of the board book must be dog-earred, so here’s a chance to get a fresh one and learn something new, too.
ON THE ROAD AGAIN
My coin show schedule for the first quarter of 2017 is still developing, but I am committed to the FUN Convention in Fort Lauderdale, January 5-8 and the Long Beach Expo, February 16-18.
Stop by the NGC booth to say hello, as I’ll have copies of my books for sale upon request.
PERIPHERAL ITEMS OF INTEREST
As some of my customers collect coin folders and albums, in addition to boards, it’s worthwhile to report on some of the happenings in these areas. I recently picked my third example of a metal printing plate for Whitman coin folders. All date from the 1960s and now represent obsolete technology, but this newest one is the first I’ve owned that I can match to a folder variety actually printed. It is for Jefferson Nickels and dates from 1962 or so. When the Whitman Globe logo was adopted for folders in 1968, this feature was evidently soldered onto the existing plate. Photos of the plate and the printed folder are included below.
Another Whitman folder of interest dates from 1942 and was modified to include a banquet program for that year’s annual gathering of the Racine Numismatic Society. Racine was Whitman’s home town until 1995, and in 1942 Yeoman himself was president of the RNS. The banquet program was overprinted with two large letters “V” for Victory, a commonly seen symbol during World War II.
–Dave
