By Laura Sperber – Legend Numismatics ………..
With all the little ones back at something else other then wanting your immediate attention every 5 minutes and the bigger kids off to college to slack, its back to your time. Its coin time!
Sure the summer was exceptionally active, but now you can sit at home or in your office dream about which rarity you want to own or the next collection you want to try to build. You can work up every chart or graph about a coin or a series you can dream of. With all the big destractions now gone away, you can get back to your lifes mission: coins!
The only problem, we’re back in that slow zone. Typically the slowness lasts from Septemeber until FUN. Bascially the FUN and ANA Shows are the centers of the numismatic universe for any quantity of fresh exciting coins to pop up. This year, there is a huge expection: THE NEWMAN Collection. That happens November 14-15th.
Sure the Newman Collection has some wild coins that will easily bring “beyond moon money”, BUT its ONLY 1600 coins. With a world wide market thats starved for fresh properly graded rarities, how long do you think those coins will stick around? We predict LESS then 20% of the coins in that sale will be offered in seconday markets after words. The buyers at the sale will primarily be the end users-who will pay to get that one special coin they need. We strongly believe the Newman sale WILL boldly energize the marketplace at the end of the year.
Last week not much happened. We expected that. We think activity will start slowly and catch on fire by the end of the month. Still, the coins that will sell, primarily will NOT be the ones on specific Want Lists. They will be “fillers” to give collectors a “fix” until the right coin coems around. Our Want Lists did NOT go down. We just had a chance to see what we still need-and we’re still OVER $20,000,000.00!
COIN VALUES
One of the biggest and baddest problems in the market place right now are coin values. Its so hard for someone who does not deal in coins for a living to have a real clue. We still stress that you should use SEVERAL auction companies results as guides and NOT any printed rag. We’re furious how misinformational the CDN (GREY SHEET) is for people. They sell information yet want the people they sell it too to supply them? Thats totally wrong! This is why when we bought the $1 1850O PCGS MS64 and paid $105,750.00 while their rag was showing a value of $28,500.00. How can that be when the pop is ONE and it NEVER traded? We just had another instance where someone kept telling us a coin we just paid $199,750.00 for was worth only $130,000.00 because thats what the CDN showed. Not only was the CDN grossly wrong, we knew there were 3-4 places we could go with the coin to sell it for $225-$250,000.00.
We think for as many serious collectors who are out there and will pay the price to just buy the coin, there are many more who miss out because of misinformation. Coin valuations are like every bit as subjective as grading. If you insist upon doing it yourself, USE auction records. Go to ALL the big auction web sites and look up their prices realized. Its easy and free! If there is NO auction record for a specific coin-find OTHER similar coins and research those. Research what happens when an example of a coin has not been on the market for 10 years appears-study prices of coins like that. Also, its critical you see and understand why one MS65 coin will sell for $5,000.00 and another will go for $11,000.00.
Of course your best bet is to find and work with a good dealer. You have no idea how much you will save and benefit from a strong working relationship.
NEWPS
We’re still living off our ANA spending spree! Thsi eeks group of NEWPS is over $500,000.00 and contains some of the FIENSt coins available on the market. Of course, they are ALL CAC’d. Every coin we offer is handpicked for its outstanding quality and eye appeal. Legedn has never been nor ever will be hodler buyers!
Highlights include:
$5 1908 PCGS PR67+ CAC. We strongly believe this is the VERY FINEST $5 Matte Pr Indian that exists! PCGS should have graded it PR68. This is the grand highlight of our NEWPS.
3C 1872 PCGS MS66 CAC. WOW!
H.10C 1858 PCGS MS67+ TRIPLE WOW!
25C 1834 PCGS MS65+ CAC LOOK A BUST COIN!
$1 1881CC PCGS MS67+ CAC THIS WILL MAKE A DEAD HEART BEAT AGAIN!
$10 1910D PCGS MS66 CAC PERFECTION!
Of course there are many other incredible NEWPs now posted. Don’t forget to check out our regular inventory as well.
LM AUCTIONS
WE PROMISED YOU A MAJOR ANNOUCEMENT! HERE IT IS:
THE PHIL FLANNAGAN COLLECTION OF TERRITORIALS
Has been consigned to our Decemember 19th PCGS Regency sale in Las Vegas (at the PCGS Invitational)
This incredible collection consists of only 10 coins. Each coin is a significant piece of numismatic history. The freshness and quality of these coins is unrivaled! We do consider this a once in a lifetime offering!
$5 1849 PCGS AU53 NORRIS GN
$5 1850 NGC MS 60 MOFFAT
$50 1851 HUMBERT SLUG 880 PCGS MS61
$50 1852 ASSAY SLUG PCGS AU55 ELIASBERG-Red book plate coin
$10 1862 PCGS MS62 CLARK GRUBER PIKES PEAK
$2.5 1861 PCGS AU50 CLARK GRUBER ELIASBERG
$5 1861 PCGS AU 53 CLARK GRUBER ELIASBERG
$10 1861 PCGS AU58 CLARK GRUBER ELIASBERG-Red book plate coin
$20 1861 PCGS AU50 CLARK GRUBER ELIASBERG-Red book plate coin
$20 1861 PCGS MS08 COPPER DIE TRIAL CLARK GRUBER
Even of you do not collect territorials, you should make it a point to view these magnifcent pieces of numismatic history. All of the pieces were purchased back in 1995-1997. The Eliasberg coins were purchased straight from the auction after reviewing all the territorials that were for sale. Quality, eye appeal, and rarity were critical to our recommending Phil Flannagan to purchase these pieces. All of the coins were graded only once-and are in their original holders. Several of the coins are clearly undergraded!
We urged Phil to assemble the Clark Gruber set ($2.5-$20) out of Eliasberg. Out of all the rarities, Original Proof sets, unique coins, etc that Legend has handled, this particular set of coins has remained one of the highlights of our career. Thank you Phil Flannagan for building the set and now letting us find another guardian to safely keep it.
We will be offering the Clark Gruber coins individually, then offering them as a set. Its highly unlikely there are any other sets intact! The fact that all are from Eliasberg we think is wicked neat as well.
For more information about the magnifcent Phil Flannagan Territorial Collection, call or email us at: www.lmauctions.com, or [email protected]
We will be displaying these magnifcent coins at the Long Beach Show (table 723) and the Baltimore Show (table 555).
