THE STACKS SALE
WOW! We knew it would be nasty, but OMG were prices realized beyond strong across the board for the nice and properly graded pieces. Can you say Pluto pricing? EVERY PCGS CAC-graded coin proved yet again they bring the ultimate premiums! Our congrats to Stacks for hosting such a remarkable sale.
Legend is proud to say we purchased the 1794 $1 for a staggering $1,020,000.00. WE LOVED THE COIN! There are few 1794s that are remotely close to this coin’s eye appeal—even in AU. Keep in mind, we had owned a few in grades from VG to SP66. It had none of the typical highpoint discolorations. We graded the coin shot AU. Our customer has no intention of resubmitting it. The freshness and eye appeal of the coin were too much to pass on. Sadly, the coin will be off the market now for at least another 25 years! We consider it a numismatic treasure for sure.
Here is a lesson about buying the 1794 $1 and paying the price. Our customer was not buying it for today. He has long-term collecting goals. A great coin like the 1794 is like a fine wine. It needs to sit and be nurtured. We are more than confident that many years down the road when resold, the coin will yet again reach a stratospheric record price. Buying like this applies to ALL coins, not just million-dollar ones.
We fought like mad on a few of the Bust Dollars. We directly underbid the 1795 at $480G hammer (it brought $600G all in). We graded the coin lock 64+++. It too was gorgeous. Why would we pay 65 money for it? Again, the coin was SUPER HIGH END, had a special look, and was super fresh. Sadly, we have seen fewer coins in higher holders. Congrats to the coin’s new owner.
The 1797 we had to buy. Having built the Morelan set of Bust Dollars #1 of all time, we knew exactly how impossible a 1797 is in GEM AU—and in MS. We paid $192,000.00 and were thrilled. We would have bid more had it been needed. This coin is incredible for 1797. It had a ton of luster too—something we never see. We are happy to say the coin is now placed in a growing GEM AU/MS Bust Dollar set that is deeply cherished by its owner.
Guess everyone piled on the 1800. Only spoke to one genius who thought it might be AUish. Everyone else LOVED it—as did we. The market more than agreed. That coin brought 64+ money—$264,000.00. So long as its new owner keeps it for a few years, they should do very well with that coin. You have to overpay on the great coins. FYI: We graded the coin MS63 with MS66 colors!
Last, the coin we quit way too early on, the $1 1883 PCGS PR66 CAMEO CAC. We directly underbid it and now regret that. The coin was a PR67 Cameo lock every day. It might even have been a 67+ Cameo. But CAC had spoken. Regardless, 1883 is a rare sleeper date in the higher grades. That coin brought $45,600.00 all in. Our customer would have been happy with a gold bean—even if we had bought it and paid $50,000.00. That is NOT a stupid move at all to pay “pluto” money for a coin like that. We won’t see anything like it at FUN and sure have not seen anything remotely close EVER (for the date). We will be keeping an eye out in case a crack-out dealer bought it (we will only buy it if it is CAC).
We wasted our time trying to buy the gold. PCGS CAC gold is always SOLD! Those coins were another slugfest. Strong prices across the board. The Proof gold had several big-time collectors slugging it out. We love watching the big guys go at it!
The Stacks sale was exactly like we thought it would be. We knew going into it that a fresh, remarkable group of eye-appealing coins would bring out the top buyers. When you cannot replace something, you have to pay up!
Next up—the Omerga 1C. That will be crazy. As of this writing, the first lot brought a crazy $200,000.00! There seems to be a minimum of $45,000-$75,000.00 per lot. These are real bids, NOT reserves! We knew this sale would be nasty too, as the entire world knows about the penny’s end. We had a bid of $300,000.00 on the hammer on the last lot, but we expect it to possibly break $1 million (we can dream, right?). Good luck to us and everyone else on them. They are the last circ 1C ever struck, very historic.
THE COIN MARKET
You know we like to compare the coin market to the art market. This is copied from a CNBC email on 12/11:
“More than 80,000 collectors and art fans poured into the Miami Convention Center for the annual art show, with several works selling for over $1 million. Collectors from the U.S., Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa visited the more than 280 galleries at the show, along with multiple art fairs and pop-up exhibits throughout Miami.
After nearly three years of declining auction sales and shuttered galleries, dealers and advisors say the market has suddenly sprung back to life. Auction sales in New York last month topped $2 billion, including a record-breaking Gustav Klimt that sold for $236.4 million”
We just saw a similar market reaction with the Stacks auction. Rare coins are still cheap per unit. Look at what you can buy for UNDER $10,000.00. Even in the higher price ranges there are some extremely low-pop coins to be found on occasion. We fully expect the ever-expanding deep black hole will choke the supply of those coins off within the next year or two to a point the market will do something wacky like double or triple overnight. Do NOT pass up HIGH-END good-looking coins today because you think they are too much. Buy today for tomorrow! Always ask, why is a coin not CAC? There are quality differences.
If you need guidance or help, email or call us. We are here for you.
NEWPS
Ugh oh, we have NONE to post. We got slammed selling since Dec 1st. Many great coins have come through our office that have not made the web. Plus, we sold many coins from the web too! Our last Coins of the Week email had multiple buyers for BOTH coins. It’s rare that so deep into December the market is still this active.
If you are thinking about a coin, do not think too long. We are bringing a box to the PCGS Invite this week in Las Vegas. We have high selling expectations (we gave a few coins to our super secret stealth seller too). We will offer one more group of coins this week in our COW email, so stay tuned (all are new)!
PREPARE FOR FUN NOW. HAVE COINS TO SELL OR CONSIGN? CALL OR EMAIL US TODAY. WE HAVE THE BIGGEST BUYERS ALREADY LINED UP FOR WHEN WE ARRIVE IN FL.
As always now, our offices are closed on Fridays. We do check emails over the weekend.
OUR OFFICES WILL CLOSE TUESDAY, DEC 23RD, AND WILL REOPEN UPON OUR RETURN FROM THE FUN SHOW. WE WILL BE CHECKING OUR EMAILS DURING THAT TIME AND CHECKING FOR PACKAGES.
