THE BRENT POGUE SALE MARCH 2020
What a difference two years makes. The Pogue sale was incredible. It had so many really cool coins. Stacks was gracious and sent a private jet out to pick me, John Brush, Jason Carter, and Bobby Avena up to fly across county for the sale. What a trip-it was a brand-new jet! THANK YOU STACKS.
The late Brent Pogue built one of the greatest coin collections ever. This was the last of his personal holdings to be sold. He was ever the great collector: he had Washington Quarters through an $5 1854-S purchased by John Brush for around $2 million dollars. We really wish things had been different and we could have bought more.
The sad part was, Covid was just crashing everything hard at the time of the sale. We had to hide in our hotel rooms and stay far away from everyone. John Brush acted as my travel buddy and we got through it. The streets were deserted as was the hotel. At that time it seemed like the world was going to hell. I know I was scared. At one point Stacks wasn’t even sure if they could have the sale. They got last minute clarification from their lawyers. I represented some big players, but they limited their spending as they didn’t know if there would be a tomorrow.
In the end, I spent $1 million-$1 million LESS then thought. I had a mix up w/Hedgie (Half Dome) and missed buying the $10 1907 Rolled Edge PCGS MS67 CAC. We did buy it a few weeks later for about 10% more.
The thing is about that sale-it was a rare time where the market had hiccuped. Just about EVERY gold coin from that sale is now worth 30-80% more! We recently turned down $1,000,000.00 for the Rolled Edge that we paid $675,000.00 for. The $20 1875-S PCGS MS67 CAC was another coin we bought about a month after the sale for $475,000.00. Today we could easily sell the coin for $800,000.00-maybe even $1,000,000.00! The list goes on and on about the coins we did buy at the sale. We can’t even guess what the $10 1908-D Motto PCGS MS68 CAC we bought would sell for today. The silver Type from the sale did not do as well in 2021-but it all moved a little.
If there ever was a sale to “seize” the moment, that sale was it. Look at the monster turn around the coin market had from that time. It was just that sale-the timing could not have been any worse (not by design).
My point here is buying the very best quality YOU can afford (it does not have to be six figure coins) does work. I do consider this Stacks sale to be one off. The market went bonkers in late 2020 and never looked back.
Was just thinking about the sale and the trip. Thought I’d share it. Hard to believe two years have already gone by.
You can always email at: lsperber1@hotmail.com
