THE BALTIMORE SHOW

  Congratulations to Mary Counts and here team for staging another wonderful Baltimore Show. Her team really does want feedback and they do care about the quality of the show. They did confirm to us attendance was more then last year-and we could see it.

We were quite surprised at how our show turned out to be. Even with the market so “choppy” we call our results “VERY GOOD”. It was not one for the record books or even close. But we did have a consistent flow of sales and we even bought a few nifty coins from collectors. Our expectations had been very low to begin with.

  Surprisingly we sold a significant amount of mid level five figure coins wholesale. Dollars and outrageous Type, and better gold are what made up the majority of our sales. This show was the first time in many months we saw active demand from dealers. Even at this years ANA show wholesale demand was weak. Even more surprising, dealers who have had horrible cash flows all year were not requesting time to pay! Glad to see a little strength coming back.

A very interesting note: did NOT see a single Gardner coin for sale. Many dealers have their coins in grading and collectors certainly did not buy to resell immediately. As we mentioned in last weeks Report, the Gardner sale was one of the greatest freshest and “crack out” oriented sales we have seen in many years. We do believe once the product starts showing up, it will be bought up buy quality starved collectors immediately.

The coin market in our territory is still very choppy. However, the demand for real top quality and eye appearing coins is still there. The problem is, so few dealers know what real quality is. Sadly, many dealers only know how to grade from plastic.

Last week, we did do a $1.75 million dollar deal with a collector. The coins involved were all the best of the best. Yet at the Baltimore show, the dreck we had lingered in our box (yes, we have dreck for various reasons), and the offers were so low ball we’d much rather die with the pieces. Even the bottom fishers were tight.

PCGS CAC gold coins are strong right now as there are so few available. While CAC won’t admit it, we think the % they are stickering is LESS then it was a year ago. MS Barber Halves in GEM are an absolute “MUST BUY” at today’s prices. DMPL Morgans have become so rare we get multiple buy orders for any we post. Generally, its all about the quality now. We’re not talking buying crazy MS/PR68 grades, we’re talking about things like a PQ strong eye appealing MS/PR 64 coin.

Sure the market has been tested by the Pogue and Gardner sales, but it clearly proved its much bigger then most people think and can absorb the coins. As you may or many not have noticed, there are virtually NO Pogue coins available for resale and very few Gardner coins from the earlier sales.

The hardest thing for us to buy right now-coins valued $1,500.00-$4,000.00. There is just not a lot of PCGS CAC pieces around. Demand and lack of supply are the reasons. We went though the entire Baltimore show twice and only bought three gold coins. Could not find ANY MS66 PCGS MS66 W/Motto Saints. Even Proof Barbers were not to be found. Supply over all for what we buy was extremely limited at the show.

It will still take some time, but we do see a recovery underway. 2008 will not be repeated any time soon. We do think we are headed to a more stable and consistent market with supply being the only problem: not finding buyers.

Yes, we were able to buy a few coins-however several were for Want Lists. We will mention one coin we did buy for a Want List-a MONSTER 25C 1796 PCGS AU50 OGH GOLD CAC sticker. We pursued this coin for several years with the collector who owned it. We graded it 55 shot 58. Regardless it was unlike anything we’d seen in years. Our cost was OVER  $75,000.00. The last PCGS NO CAC piece to sell in AU55 brought $64, 625.00 in 2014. We showed it to several of our buddies and after they got done saying WOW, we have two very solid profit orders. This coin is sold to along suffering collector who has wanted one of these for years. We mention this not to brag, but to show you the power of TRUE QUALITY. It makes a 1000% difference. We base our selling prices predicated on what we pay which is totally predicated on the coins quality.

Highlights this week:

1C 1922 NO D STRONG REVERSE PCGS MS64BN CAC

3CS 1851O PCGS MS66+ CAC

5C  1918 PCGS MS67 CAC

$1   1893CC PCGS MS64+ CAC

$1  J-1221 1872 PCGS PR66RB CAC

Of course we bought other NEWPS to fit everyone’s tastes and budgets. Don’t forget to check out our regular inventory. We have many super pieces for your consideration!

Sure, it came down to the deadline. The consignments were so strong we actually had to STOP taking them earlier than we planned on. This is NOT hype, but from what we saw come in, this auction absolutely will offer an awful lot of AMAZING quality coins. We expect to have a list (nothing more) by mid week of what is in the sale posted on our web site.

Look at these: we saw an 1C 1854 PCGS MS65RD CAC that blows our minds! We don’t know why it isn’t a 66 and we have NEVER seen anything as GEM ORIGINAL RED like this since the Naftger sales. We’d be shocked if this coin did not bring a record price. Need to mention another, there is an $1 1880S PCGS MS68+ CAC that ranks up there with the VERY VERY best. The coin has light gold by the rims and is semi prooflike. It has phenomenal eye appeal. We expect it to to be in the record money price range. Also, we remember at the very last second we were handed a MONSTER 5C 1926D PCGS MS67 -the finest graded. This coin had shimmering luster and the look of total perfection! Last we have two killer halves: 50C 1796 PCGS VF35 15 stars and a rare 50C 1797 O-102 F 12. Wait until you see the other 495 killer lots (including some MONSTER toned Morgans)!

If you have any questions or need to discuss terms or even consignments for our February sale (space is already limited and we have some great coins consigned) , please contact Julie Abrams at julie@legendauctions.com

NOTE: We had to reject many toned Morgans for this sale. Collectors don’t get it, to obtain a strong price, the color has to be special and all there and then some. Even then, its the MARKET-not you or us who decides whether it will bring $500.00 or $14,000.00. Starting with this sale we will be introducing a special section for toned Morgans.