By Laura Sperber – Legend Numismatics ……
Legend Numismatics wishes to thank everyone for their concerns. The airport shooting was horrific. Our hearts go out to the victims and their families.
We were never in harm’s way, however we were right outside the location of the suspected second shooting in a garage as it happened. It was unnerving and just a scene of pure chaos. Swat teams and FBI tactical all around us with weapons drawn. Talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Legend Numismatics also wants thank ALL the first responders at the scene. Law enforcement was unbelievable. Its one thing to see it all on TV, another to see them running into real harms way. The fear factor was off the charts for us just sitting there! After 48 hours of stress, we are all finally back home.
THE FUN SHOW
This is a very difficult report for us to write. It was a long show (and a good one) up until 1 PM Friday. Concentrating 100% on this report has been difficult. Here goes:
Our expectations for this show were strong. We firmly believed the overall market was good at the end of December. For the first time in three or four years we left the FUN show convinced the market is VERY good. The ONLY thing that perplexed us is that the general type of collectors we sell too did NOT appear this year. We absolutely believe the location of the show was to blame. Ft Lauderdale is NOT easy to get too for many. Plus, for as much as we all moan about Orlando, it’s a destination people bring their families to, and they have plenty of choices so they always attend.
Overall, our sales to collectors were the only disappointing part of the show. We must note: we observed the smaller dealers who did not sell higher-powered slabbed stuff seemed to always be crowded. This is NOT in any way saying our market is slow.
The very first hour we arrived we saw our “super secret” buyer. He made his usual piles and spent some good money. From the next dealer on, sales were strong. The majority of invoices were in the mid- to high five-figure range. Gold clearly was our #1 seller. One step further: EARLY Gold. By the end of the first set up day, we sold out of ALL of our Early gold and most of our better gold.
We did not sell much PR Type at all and MS Seated 10C-50C and Barbers were still frozen. Copper and Nickel coins did fair. Sold NO Commems. Dollars sold VERY well too.
The crowd was good and there did seem to be a buzz in the room Thursday and in the AM on Friday.
EARLY 2017 ACTIVITY
At the end of 2016 we saw strong increased coin buying on all levels. We did quiz several of our peers and they agreed–they had good to very strong Decembers. The majority of dealers came into the show with POSITIVE attitudes.
It seems the week the election ended collectors perked up and felt okay enough to resume buying. Then, after a bump up in stocks, many more people with money felt good again and really started buying coins. We are seeing a very interesting trend of NEW people starting to collect.
There will NOT be a spike up in prices. We witnessed very strong across the board prices at the FUN Auction, vs typical poor weak results of the past three to four years. We’re still radically down from 2012/2013. We probably have another 50% to rise before the market really can be deemed hot. At least we are now for sure going in the right direction.
An even more important note: supplies of great PCGS CAC coins are NON-existent. So it won’t take much for prices to rise quickly–especially for the most ill liquid of series. QUALITY coins will have the sharpest and longest rise when things really start rocking. It’s all about old-fashioned supply and demand.
One last interesting note: the more gold slithers down, the MORE demand grows for all kinds of gold.
Legend is not hype or talk. Here are some of our bids in the FUN Auction. Some we won; others we got smoked on (something that does not happen much). Prices realized include 17.5% buyer’s premium. ALL of these are strong prices.
- 1C 1853 PCGS MS65 RD $6,756.00 LOST
- 1C 1992 Close AM PCGS MS67RD $25,850.00 (yeah, we really paid that) BOUGHT
- 2C 1867 PCGS PR65 RD CAC
$9,987.00 (lot 3405) LOST 
10C 1895 PCGS PR68 CAM CAC $16,450.00 LOST- 50C 1913 PCGS PR68 CAMEO CAC $42,300.00 BOUGHT
- $1 1882 TRADE PCGS PR68 CAMEO CAC $94,000.00 LOST
- $1 1878 8TF PCGS PR66 CAC GOLD $56,400.00 LOST
- $5 1797/5 PCGS AU55 CAC GOLD $211,500.00 BOUGHT
- $5 1929 PCGS MS64+ CAC BOUGHT
- 50C HI PCGS MS67 CAC $39,950.00 LOST
NEWPS
The staff weren’t home until Sunday evening (they are due out of West Palm), so the NEWPS weren’t posted until LATE Sunday night.
ROUND I OF FUN SHOW NEWPS ARE NOW POSTED. ENJOY!
LEGEND RARE COIN AUCTIONS
We wish to thank everyone who stopped by to check out our upcoming January 29 Regency Sale. The stream of viewers never seemed to stop. The sale is live with many strong bids already placed. So BID NOW!
We are current seeking quality consignments for our Premier Sessions February Sale. We are maxing it at about 150 lots and we are pretty strict about quality. We DO get strong results. The February Sessions sale will be available for lot viewing at Long Beach.
If you have any questions or need any assistance with our current Regency Sale, please contact Julie Abrams at [email protected] or Greg Cohen or [email protected].
IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR WISH TO ORDER, PLEASE EMAIL US AT [email protected]. WE DO NOT CHECK OUR MESSAGES UNTIL MONDAY 9 AM.
For more information, please visit www.legendauctions.com.
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Legend Rare Coin Auctions (LRCA), based in Lincroft, NJ, is a boutique-style rare coin auction firm.
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