THE UNEXPECTED
Yet again, another PCGS Invitational has turned out to be a better show for us then one or two of the majors! If you have not ever attended one, you simply MUST. You can deal with some of the BEST graders in the biz you would not have access to at a major show. PCGS provides delicious food. They also have big tables where you can sit, do some work, or mingle with your fellow collectors.
As soon as we arrived our normal #1 secret buyer was waiting and was clearly eager to do business. He had a nice fresh deal we happily bought some pieces from while he was making his normal piles of our coins. Need less to say, we were happy enough that we packed up and called it a day after words.
Things only got better when the show opened Wednesday AM. Our friend came back and spent even more on some coins he saw. Then others came up to our table and were buying a decent size coin or two. Even with the price of gold down, CAC Gold was in HIGH demand. The other thing that everyone noticed-Wednesday was packed and there was a clear “buzz”in the room. Not just dealers, but many collectors attended-which was unusual for December (we think our auction had something to do w/it). Even our stealth secret seller did extremely well with some “slop” we gave him.
THE END OF THE YEAR MARKET
Between our web sales, NEW Want Lists, and the auction, we clearly see strong activity, the market was pretty much frozen until the election ended. CONSUMER CONFIDENCE IN THE COIN MARKET IS CLEARLY BACK AND IS RUNNING STRONG. Now, you have a robust stock market and people are starting to realize life isn’t so bad. Even with gold down, we are seeing very strong activity (in the old days it seemed the rare coin market was tied to gold-today, NO!). In fact, we NEED gold badly-especially PCGS CAC gold.
Many NEW collectors are surfacing each day. And they are PURE collectors, NOT speculators. Even long time sitting on the sidelines collectors like the prices today and are trying to finish up sets. Keep in mind, even with top prices being realized today, the overall market is still down from its peak 2008 levels.
We HIGHLY recommend PCGS CAC Gold right now. Build a Type set. We also like the off areas; 2C Proofs, MS+PR Seated coins. Patterns are ridiculous cheap too. The ONLY problems we see; SUPPLY. Even coins that were semi available (when was the last time you saw a glittering PCGS CAC PR64 Seated Dollar or a 1887 PCGS MS65DMPL Dollar?). When the better coins pop up-do not think-BUY THEM! We are seeing people think and then miss out by minutes! You can NOT replace great coins today. Paying 10-20% more today should end up being cents on the dollar as time goes by-we could give you a never ending list of coins that have done so.
Along those lines, we admit to buying ALL 5C 1913 TY 1’s from the Angel Dee Nickel auction. Typically we buy the left overs so as not to compete with our customers (remember Legend IS one of the absolute top buyers at the major auctions). From the first time we saw these coins we could not stop thinking about them. The quality and eye appeal of each coin was totally gonzo! In anyone else’s sale we certainly would allow no one else ownership, so we took a deep breath and had it in our heads to buy them. We were prepared to pay the price because we know there will never be another 3 coins like them. We have no qualms about paying record prices for these coins. Down the road after years off nothing similar popping up-the premiums on these coins will be even more substantial. Some collectors think buying cheap is the way to go-we KNOW it is not! Legend does indeed practice what it preaches.
NEWPS
We thank PCGS for NOT giving us our coins back at the show which is allowing us a very small NEWPS this time.
One super goody we do have as a highlight: $10 1799 PCGS AU58 CAC! Its so hard to find PRE 1800 pieces that are not messed with. Don’t think too long about it-we DID immediately sell all of our Early Gold at the show. CAC isn’t beaning too many of these.
As always, we strive to have an offering that offers something for everyone (the 10C 1898 PCGS PR65 CAM CAC is a stunner)!
Depending on when ever we get our PCGS grading back, we’ll try and have one more group of NEWPS this year.
Legend is buying better PCGS CAC coins, what do you have (we will look at NGC coins too)? We especially want PCGS CAC gold in GEM. Contact: George Huang legend@legendcoin.com
NEWPS ARE NOW POSTED.
LEGEND RARE COIN AUCTIONS
RECORD PRICES SMASHED-AGAIN!
We were extremely nervous before the sale. Bidding had been really good, but overall prices were less then what we were hoping for. We even approached the owner of the 25C 1896 PCGS PR69 DCameo asking if he would take less then his reserve if it did not sell. When the final lot was hammered, we were not just stunned, we were in massive shock! The 25C 1896 PCGS PR69 DC sold for a whopping $41,125.00-HAMMER in a true bidding war! Hundreds of other coins sold for record monies as well.
Starting Wednesday morning through 5 min before the auction started, it was like a tidal wave of bidders, including many first timers.
The fabulous Angel Dees Buffalo Collection brought strong to “moon”money. It was standing room only for the Buffalos. Here are the sale highlights:
5C 1913 TYI PCGS MS68 CAC $28,200.00
5C 1916D PCGS MS66+ CAC $22,325.00
5C 1924S PCGS MS65 $14,100.00
5c 1936D PCGS MS67+ CAC $10,575.00
The Young-Dakota Collection smashed records too. Prices were strong even before the live auction in Las Vegas started. Highlights included:
10C 1894 PCGS PR67 CAC $4,700.00
10C 1902 PCGS PR66 CAC $4,583.00
10C 1903 PCGS PR67 CAC $5,875.00
10C 1914 PCGS PR68 CAC $16,450.00
Have to mention the great Northern Lights Collection. Yet again, records were smashed.
$1 1879S PCGS MS66 CAC SPEED RACER $13,513.00
$1 1879S PCGS MS67 CAC NORTHERN LIGHTS $16,450.00
$1 1898O PCGS MS66DMPL THE BLUE/PURPLE PEOPLE EATER $18,800.00
It was not just collections that brought astonishing prices:
1c 1914D PCGS MS66RB CAC $30,550.00
5C 1913 TYII PCGS PR68 CAC $58,750.00
H.10 1853 PCGS MS68 $27,025.00
50c 1838 RE PCGS MS66 $$45,825.00
$1 1857 PCGS MS65 CAC $73,438.00
$1 1888o PCGS MS66+ DMPL CAC $24,675.00
$2.5 1895 PCGS MS66 CAC $8,813.00
$5 1892 PCGS PR65 DCAMEO $52,875.00
$20 1863 PCGS AU58 CAC $29,375.00
50C LINCOLN PCGS MS67+ CAC $5,875.00
1C J-213 PCGS PR65 CAMEO $12,338.00
There were MANY other strong to record prices realized in this sale. If you notice, all the record prices came on TRUE QUALITY coins-with the majority being PCGS CAC. These were not one bid and win, there was strong bidding on all coins!
After sales are happening still, so we do not have the overall totals.
An interesting FYI: we confirmed we had someone bidding from a private plane while up in the air, plus we do know a kitty cat bid by mistake on a coin (it hit the keys). Registered bidders and actual bidders set a record for us this auction (we’re not counting the cat)!
We are always seeking quality consignments. Our next Regency Sale we are accepting consignments for is in May, however we will be holding our Monthly Sessions Internet sales (do not look down on them) starting back up in February (we will have an announcement about some big improvements). We will have a major Regency Sale in January too highlighted by the Simpson Standard Pattern Collection Part I.
Legend Auctions thanks everyone who made this sale such a runaway success!
IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR WISH TO ORDER, EMAIL US: legend@legendcoin.com. WE DO NOT CHECK OUR CALLS UNTIL 9 AM MONDAY.
