POST GARDNER SALE REPORT

We wish Gene Gardner a graceful retirement, a happy and relaxing future. He is universally beloved in the numismatic community. He was fortunate to be in a position where money was not a draw back and he could freely indulge on his second great love (after Mrs Gardner) his coin collection. If there ever is a “text book” collector he was it. Coin collecting to him was all about the beauty of the coin, the history, and the thrill of the hunt. He did have a little streak in him about owning the best, but he also had patience and would buy hole fillers until the best came to market. We’ve known Gene for many years and as you can see by the many Legend pedigrees did a lot of business with him. We know he absolutely LOVED his coins. So much so he rarely sold any of his duplicates as he had such pride in every coin he owned. Sadly, the new breed of collector does not really enjoy coins all that much. They simply want to be #1 via the holder then rush to get imaginary profits in a telephone book sized auction. We wish all the newbies would learn all they can about Gene Gardner and follow his footsteps. Gene congratulations on the huge success of the sale of your collection!

What collectors did not know about this particular sale-it was probably the biggest “crackout” event ever. Plus, for every one who asks “what is a fresh coin” this session certainly defined it. The majority of the coins in the session were Genes ORIGINAL purchases that became duplicates. Most of these purchases were made as long as 25 years ago. Gene was not into the grading game. So he simply bought higher graded coins to replace what he had. Plus, as we have been recommending, Gene did use a single dealer as a representative to advise him for auctions. A good example of the quality in this session: his 50C 1887 PCGS MS67. We bought the one from his #1 set. However had we known how high end and gorgeous this recent coin was-we never would have bought the one from the first sale. We think the coin in this recent sale will+. The one we bought won’t-and we paid $3,000.00 more! We’d bet if collectors could have had more insight, they’d have pushed prices even higher.

The sale was strong, but could have been stronger. Of course there were several runaway pieces:

1C 1866 NGC PR66 RD CAC $10,575.00

3CS 1866 PCGS PR67 CAC (which Legend out bid the major crackout guys to buy) $21,150.00

3CS 1870 PCGS PR63 CAC $3,055.00

H.10 1863 PCGS PR65 CAMEO, CAC $4,700.00

1803 PCGS AU58 10C $56,400.00

10C 1820 PCGS MS65 CAC  $30,550.00

10C 1936 PCGS PR66 CAC  $4,935.00

25C 1891 PCGS PR67 CAC  $15,275.00

25C 1897O PCGS MS66 CAC  $20,562.50

50C 1848O PCGS MS65 CAC $32,900.00

50C 1881 PCGS MS66 CAC $12,925.00

$1  1874CC PCGS MS64 $14,100.00

These are just a few of the many highlight prices realized from the sale. Legend spent nearly $500,000.00 at the Gardner sale alone!

The market itself is doing ALL collectors a favor-it is really having a once in a decade sale. So as strong as coins were in this session, they were stronger in 2008. Any one who bought anything out of this current sale if they put the coins away for 5-10 years they will have stellar returns!

The results were as expected: MIXED. That is due to the quality being mixed. Collectors clearly want accurate quality these days.

However we need to point out there was one part of the sale that sold for RIDICULOUS discounts: The MS Barber Halves. Two -four years ago there were 3-4 people all competing to buy the best. Now all have sold save for one-and they are selling at FUN. With little interest, these great beautiful coins were selling for literally cents on the dollar. We purchased the 50C 1900 PCGS MS67 which last sold for $32,200.00. We paid $19.975.00. We also bought the 50C 1905O PCGS MS68 CAC. That coin last sold for $63,250.00 in 2010. We paid $54,050.00. We doubt there was any MS Barbers that sold for more then their costs. If your a collector looking for great wide open field-MS Barber Halves certainly are it right now. Even if your a disciplined investor-ditto. These coins are just caught at the end of cycle.

In the second sale (NON Gardner) we represented several people. Some had to pay strong: we paid $61,687.50 for the $10 1911 PCGS MS67 CAC while another collector got probably the steal of 2015: the H.10 1837 NS NGC MS67 CAC $11,162.50 (should have been $15,000.00 hammer min). BOTH will do extremely well with their coins because BOTH are true quality and have great eye appeal.

As always we work hard each week to produce a NEWPS offering of the highest quality at the BEST prices. You can take our word that if we call a coin “great” it really is. And if we highly recommend it-BUY IT. Your probably getting a very special coins. Unlike many dealers out there, we are real coin dealers, not marketers.

Highlights from this week NEWPS include:

H.10  1849/8 PCGS MS67+ CAC  WOW, WOW,WOW!

5C  1914D PCGS MS66+ CAC. An amazing coin at an AMAZING price!

25C  1889 PCGS PR68 CAC Fabluous!

$2.5 1907 PCGS PR67+ CAMEO CAC . A stunner.

Of course we have many other coins for all tastes and budgets. Do know we prices all coins based on their costs. We usually have to pay more to buy the VERY best quality. In the end owning coins of the highest caliber DOES make a difference.

Our December 17th Regency sale will be a blockbuster. We are already at 350 really special and SUPERB coins. We expect to have 400-450 coins overall. To get there we had to REJECT about 50 coins (how many auctions houses really do that?). This week we are sending out a flyer with a list of the coins we have in the sale so far. We will have the list to distribute at the Baltimore Show.

THE DEADLINE FOR CONSIGNMENTS TO BE IN OUR OFFICE IS NOV 2ND. However, if you wish to give us consignments at Baltimore we will ONLY accept up until 5 PM Thursday. sorry, no exceptions. if you have coins you do wish to include in the Dec sale, please contact Julie Abrams immediately: julie@legendauctions.com

For other information please visit www.legendauctions.com