THE BALTIMORE SHOW

THE REPORT WRITTEN HERE IS FROM LEGEND’S OBSERVATIONS AND SALES AT THE SHOW. EXPECT OTHER DEALERS NOT IN OUR MARKET TO HAVE DIFFERENT RESULTS FROM THE SHOW. 

WE HAD A FEELING

From last weeks Market Report:

We do expect this weeks upcoming Baltimore Show to be good. There has not been a major show since Long Beach Sept 8-10th.  Both collectors and dealers should be craving nice coins at the show. For us, the recent PCGS Invitational was easy selling. So we think Baltimore will be even better w/a much larger attendance. 

AND THE WINNER IS…

The show turned out exactly as we predicted last week. While we did hear of several dealers having weak shows, the majority of our peers we chatted with did very well. Our stealth seller was calling us pre show Tuesday and saying the action was strong. We actually arrived a day later then usual (see below why). Our schedule was off when we arrived mid day Wednesday. We did not get to really give our regular “secret” buyer first dibs. So the normal # 2 became #1 and did spend some good money, just not the pile we are used too. After that, every one was buying a coin or two. When we hit the bourse floor Thursday, we had real action.

For us, the Choice/GEM Bust Halves we moaned had been slow sellers were scooped immediately. Two dealers almost totally cleaned us our of our generics (they are pure CAC buyers). For us, no question gold was super strong. Copper also showed some life as well.

This show had more collectors in attendance then the 2 prior shows (ANA and Long Beach) combined. We can not explain why. Collectors were not just looking, they were buying. Our biggest sale to a collector: $180,000.00. We also made several $10-$15,000.00 sales. We did deals with “fresh” faces. The activity we enjoyed at Baltimore was unquestionably stronger then our last show held there, and stronger then any other show this year!

Clearly the attitude on the floor went from “no, sorry don’t want to look” at Long Beach, to okay, what do you have-ooh I can use this!  Really different attitude. One dealer surmised that too many coins came out up through ANA of this year. We don’t really know, but we can say for sure, the dealers mind set at this show was much more positive then we have seen all year.

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR “HEDGIE” FOR COMPLETION OF AN AMAZING COLLECTION

As many of you know, Legend Numismatics has been aggressively searching for a $20 1927S in GEM for 6 years now. We are proud to say, in last Tuesday nights Heritage Sale, we purchased a gorgeous $20 1927S PCGS MS65 CAC for $199,750.00! That coin completed the ONLY 100% PCGS/CAC set that is known to exist. There is a GEM 21 and 27D in the set. If this collection were on the PCGS Registry, it would rank #2!

Legend Numismatics is the ONLY dealer to ECLSUIVELY build not only the #1 all time set (Simpson), but now the #2! We also have out right bought and sold 3 different 1927D Saints-in MS66!!!! We are extremely proud of this accomplishment.

With all our resources no 27S had come close to what we needed in the past 6 years. We’ve seen 2 or 3 lesser graded ones striving for higher grades only to be denied the CAC bean. Ironically, along the way we came across a collector who needed a little guidance with his Saints and had an NGC MS66 27S. That coin downgraded to a PCGS MS65+ CAC. The second that happened last year we were so all over it. Unfortunately for us, it quickly became the collectors favorite coin (he really did not want to sell it). Oh were we crazy about getting THAT coin. Hedgie with the now completed set at one point even added the MS65+ to his collection notes thinking it would be his. Nope. In the end, it worked out well for everyone. The collector with the 27S in MS65+ was the very first congratulatory email we got that night. His coin is now worth more too! One day we will handle his coin.

If you don’t think the bigger collectors don’t care: Hedgie who is an extremely private individual made a rare appearance at the auction. He was actually nervous. We were both always looking to see if the phone bidders or someone in the room would be our competition. Then a very well dressed man entered. We saw him chatting it up with Heritage. Our hearts sank. Sure enough, that collector was the buyer of the $20 1920S PCGS MS65 CAC (really better then a 65) for the record price of $517,000.00. When he was bidding he did not look like he would stop. Hedgie said to me as the 27S opened: ” buy it”. He even threatened to leave the room or not to watch.  Fortunately, he remained calm and the other guy did NOT bid on the 27S. As the gavel closed the 27S we both strongly exhaled! CONGRATULATIONS Hedgie! 

Our Hedgie with this complete Saint set has several other major sets he is building exclusively with us. He is totally quality oriented. He is extremely passionate about his coins-and he is in his early 40’s. His father is a long time coin collector as well. CAC has given him the confidence to buy the more expensive gold. He feels no need to run and play the upgrade game. Of course he trusts our eyes, but in the marketplace he knows how strong the CAC bean is and he will not buy any coin with out one. We’re sure we will be congratulating him on another big projects completion shortly! His sets will be off the market for many years. However, down the road, his sets will be displayed.

A note: Legend has learned our lesson, we would still buy another $20 1927S PCGS MS65 CAC (only) or even a MS64 if one becomes available. Hard to believe with all the high power rarities in the Saint set, that date was the last one we needed. Its a “silent stopper” for sure!

GOLD

From our perch at the show, gold-especially better gold was strong. We had a couple Early gold pieces that were PCGS CAC-and they sold easily for our full asking prices. Even generic gold was selling strong. We believe that happened because gold is inching up and there is a severe lack of PCGS CAC product to buy. Even commoner smaller gold-like Gold Dollars sold strong.

As forever gold bugs, we think gold will continue to gain strength. Coins like $2.5+$5 Indians in GEM are certainly coming back into a heavier demand stream.

For all PCGS NON CAC coins, you still have to buy them for little to NO premiums. There usually is a good reason why they did NOT earn the CAC bean.

We are still as bullish as ever on building Gold Type sets. There still series where the commoner coins (like $10 Libs) are too darn cheap!

NEWPS

Finally found a few DMPL’s-just a few.

NEWP highlights this week include:

$1  1869 PCGS MS65 CAC

$1  1896 PCGS PR67+ DCAMEO CAC

$3  1877 PCGS AU 55 CAC

$5 1909D PCGS MS65+ CAC

Legend purchased a 2C 1868 PCS PR66 RD CAC so cheap, we had to triple check our invoice to reconfirm what we paid. In dealer lingo, its called a “rip”. Its a coin that the population actually has NOT changed since 2005! There are zero issues with the color or quality. Checkout the coin and the price. Its a MUST BUY for 2C PR  or Type buyer.

As always, we tried to have an offering for all tastes and budgets.

ALL NEWPS WILL BE POSTED BY VERY LATE SATURDAY-WE ARRIVED HOME LATE TOO

LEGEND RARE COIN AUCTIONS 

www.legendauctions.com

Our November Session Internet ONLY sale is now listed. We will open the sale for bidding Thursday the 11th. The sale closes the 18th. The vast majority of the sale is unreserved. ALL Internet ONLY Sales have a 10% buyers premium. Of course every coin is handpicked by two world class numismatists. You can bid with full confidence.

Also, our December Regency Sale is now closed for consignments. When you see what is in the sale, you will be more then impressed. We will start posting highlights on our web site this week. We expect that sale to open around November 15th-watch fro our announcement.

We do thank everyone who came to see our display of the $1 1795 SE PCGS MS65 CAC, the Northern Lights Collection, and the Angel Dees Buffalo Nickel Collection. A note: we appologize for sending out a poorly imaged flyer on the Buffaloes. We had problems transfering the images to the paper. That has now been corrected and we have the new images posted on our web site. We do care very much about images and presentation.

We are currently accepting consignments for our December Sessions Internet only sale, our January Sessions Internet Only sale, and our January Regency Sale to be held in Las Vegas in conjunction with the PCGS Invitational January 25th. Please contact Greg Cohen: greg@legendauctions or Julies Abrams: julie@legendauctions.com.

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR WISH TO ORDER, PLEASE EMAIL US: legend@legendcoin.com. WE DO NOT CHECK OUR PHONE MESSAGES UNTIL 9 AM MONDAY.