By Legend Numismatics
A FRUSTRATING SHOW
We went to the show with low expectations. Good thing-our show ended up not so good. Having the finally defunct Philadelphia Show one week before that siphoned off the majority of East Coast dealers definitely took a toll. Plus, no matter how many Lakers Girls or ex athletic stars they hire, the crowds they are soliciting and getting do not seem to be coin buyers-they are just bodies checking out a coin show. Two of the biggest dealers that exist and happen to live in LA did not even attend the show! Its not like the old days for sure (5-10 years ago we’d have sold six figures retail by the end of the first day). We do see PCGS and the Show operators are trying, but its still on a slight decline (in our opinion). There is NO question the busiest part of the room was in the rear where all the “bargain” dealers had tables. Still we did not hear many dealers from back there who said they have great shows. We’ll just write this one off to the post ANA Blazz and call the Long Beach Show a “work in progress”.
Buying was near impossible. It was like what are we doing here? As usual triple checked the floor to make sure we didn’t miss anything. Its always been fight to get better coins from the WHOLESALERS. Now they see crazy auction prices and thats where they put their coins. We’re fortunate, we keep our word, we offer them our coins, and we write a good immediate check-so we have access still to a few coins!
This Long Beach Show should NOT be held against the market. Overall, the market is quite healthy-especially when you have fresh and neat coins.
THE HERITAGE SALE
The amazing never ending “black hole” of numismatics did it again!
We bid on $1,290,729.00 and bought only $300,833.00 (23%). Our bidding is typically highly aggressive-especially on incredible coins. In most cases we ended up the direct under bidder and had already stretched beyond our stretch bid! Here are a few of the coins we came close but no cigar on for us:
H.01 1841 ORIGINAL PCGS PR65BN CAC $21,150.00
1C 1864L PCGS PR66BN CAC $129,250.00
5C 1936 TY II PCGS PR67+ $5,581.25
20C 1877 PCGS PR64 CAC $7,637.50
50C 1823 PCGS MS64 CAC $17,625.00
50C 1907 PCGS MS66 CAC $17,625.00
$1 1889 PCGS MS66+ CAC $5,287.50
$1 1924 PCGS MS67 CAC $14,100.00
$2.5 1912 PCGS PR66+ CAC $41,125.00
$10 1912 PCGS PR66 CAC $94,000.00
$20 1876 PCGS MS64 CAC $64,625.00
$50 1915S PAN PAC PCGS MS64 CAC $96,037.50
These are incredibly strong prices. Are the people who bought them buried? ABSOLUTELY NOT! All they did was establish the new prices on the coins. As we have said many times, the new way to estimate value-check auction prices realized. H.01 1841 NEVER trade. We promise, if another should come up for sale soon, it WILL sell very close to the amount realized by the coin in the Long Beach Sale (although if there is a similar one in the upcoming Missouri cabinet it probably would bring an easy $25,000.00+++)!
Take our word on it, if the market were not so good, all those coins we listed above would have sold for a ton less. We’re also raising our sight UNSEEN WHOLESALE BID On MS67 PCGS/CAC (ONLY) Morgans to $800.00. We can’t buy them on the floor for less then $850.00 (most dealers seem to ask $1,000.00-$1,200.00 WHOLESALE which we think is crazy).
One last interesting note: we have heard whispers of some HUGE private million dollar plus transactions happening-at record price levels. Even the coins from the Bonhams PR Gold Sale (which was expected not be record breaking) brought ridiculous money. The $4 1880 Coiled Hair brought an amazing $2,574,000.00-apparently from a collector! An $20 1891 NGC PR68 UC brought a staggering $550,000.00-to a dealer for his personal collection! Even an (NCS’d) $20 1911 NGC PR68 sold for a whopping $157,950.00. When BIG money like this is heavily buying, that has to be an added layer of comfort for all collectors. These guys just don’t waste their time or money!
Read the Full report including Legend’s Newp’s and more here …..
