THIS REPORT IS WRITTEN BASED UPON LEGENDS OBSERVATIONS AND EXPERIENCES. WE DEAL IN THE TOP 5% OF QUALITY AND RARITY. OTHERS WILL HAVE HAD DIFFERENT EXPERIENCES. SORRY, WE WON’T GET INTO THE FLUFFY PANCAKES WE ATE OR OTHER NON BOURSE SHOW HAPPENINGS. THIS REPORT IS ABOUT WHAT THE MARKET REALLY DID AT THE SHOW!
The 2015 Ana Show
As many of you read, the PRE ANA PNG Show as a BOMB. Why they insist on having these is anyone’s guess (why we are dumb enough to go-only our shrinks know-even though we go to buy). The PRE is just a drag on the ANA Show.
After enduring a week and day a in Chicago, we are pleased to say overall, we had a good show. We certainly set no records, and we certainly were not anywhere near a bad show. Every day we had strong activity in the mornings, then it would taper off, and be back to full strength around 3-4 PM after everyone did their hunting all over. In total we DID break $1 million in sales. We were pleasantly surprised at how many coins (especially five figure coins) we sold to collectors. Our wholesale activity was moderate, however many “old friends” were sold for strong money.
One thing we were very disappointed in-the collecting public seemed to have had a weaker turn out. We never heard any real buzz develop. The isles were NOT empty, but they were not totally full. We believe the reason for this is diminished availability of coins for collectors to see. Why keep coming to these big shows when the best coins are now appearing in auctions? Chicago/Rosemont certainly is a easy location for everyone to come in and out of. Sadly, the greatest coin show of all-the ANA Show needs some freshening up. Moving it to Anihem is not the answer either (we’ll give our views on that in a Hot Topics soon).
Legend does wish to thank all of our friends who did stop by to say high or do business. We also thank the loyal customers who emailed us and did biz during the show (and the 3 who bought our emailed daily show specials).
SUPPLY
At the PRE Show we figured the extreme lack of great coins was just a typical PRE Show happening. As set up for ANA rolled around we started to worry. We had walked the bourse floor MULTIPLE times and saw very little new and exciting coins. Then we figured ok, we’ll wait until people are settled in-NADA. Even on Tuesday when the show opened to the public, no deals came in (that we know of) and we had gotten offered a single GEM 25C 1916 PCGS MS65FH CAC piece (that of course we bought). After Tuesday, we were just exercising our legs. No matter how many times we’d look in dealers cases, no new coins were appearing. The stuff we were being offered by dealers during the later part of the show was not just dreck, most of it was pure puke!
On Wednesday we were chatting with a few major market maker dealers. They too were moaning there was little on the floor to buy.
Our buying at an ANA Show hit an all-time low. We spent at most $400,000.00 on the bourse floor-of which $225,000.00 was another 50C 1795 PCGS MS64 (a variety where only one other MS is known) we flipped to a collector instantly. Out of 4 graded, we have bought and sold 3 of them in the past 45 days! You won’t be seeing any more of those for many years!
Why are prices not going up if there are no coins? They have for the better coins-many people just don’t see it. Look at what the BETTER and NICER coins sell for in auctions. There are NO reliable pricing guides for better coins other then auction prices realized. That’s why nice widgets sell for 20% over what you’d think they should bring on the bourse floor in auction (lack of nice supply). The average or marginal coins are what we call “stuck in mud” on their values as the services seem to be making more and more of them.
One thing that was completely nonexistent-better gold. Maybe a piece or two was around because the dealers were asking too much (every show its the same pieces). We saw NO new GEM 20th Century gold at all. Did not even hear of any being made at the services. Of course we did not find the 27S $20 or the 11D $10 we have needed for 3 years now! We didn’t even think in our wildest dreams we’d ever see any early gold-and that theory proved ever so true. Ditto silver Bust coins.
On Tuesday a long time customer of ours decided he wanted to buy MS66 Saints as the premiums seemed highly attractive. He asked us to get 500-1,000 W/M NO SPOTS Saints (non CAC). Not only did we clean the floor out, we approached all the big market makers and took every coin they had back in their offices too. The result: a mere 73 coins. We’ve been telling you the demand for generic gold far exceeds the supply. None of the big market makers would short us any either.
When EVERYONE finally does get on the same page and realizes that properly graded coins are not around, only then you’ll see EVERYTHING (including some dreck) rise in price. Until then the dreck will rule the pricing as that is what is commonly traded. Only if you have wild and fresh coins will you obtain ‘moon money”. Gradeflation has seriously hurt the average $1 1922S Dollar, commoner Type coin, etc. value.
THE AUCTIONS
The star of the show (and of the auctions) for us was the remarkable Akers/Duckor G $1 collection.
The Akers/Duckor Collection of G $1 was one of the FINEST EVER built. It was one of the few times in recent memory that we viewed a top pop. top grade set and it really was just that. There was no such thing as even a “weak” coin in that collection. We considered EVERY coin to be of “MONSTER” quality and MONSTER eye appeal. The late David Akers really knew his coins. His friendship w/Dr Duckor allowed him to pass on this magnificent set to a custodian who cherished it as much as he did and made sure every addition was well deserved. We had been offered the set by Akers years ago and deeply regretted not buying it. We knew we’d be the people to beat on most of the coins.
Legend for itself and customers bought 22 of the coins. We paid world record prices:
G $1 1849O PCGS MS65+ GOLD CAC**$32,900.00
G $1 1851 PCGS MS68+ ************$94,000.00
G $1 1856 SLANTED PCGS MS68 *****$42,300.00
G $1 1862 PCGS MS67 *************$25,850.00
G $1 1873 CL PCGS MS68 **********$35,250.00
G $1 1876 PCGS MS66+ ************$30,550.00
G $1 1886 PCGS MS67 *************$14,100.00 (of course we had immediate inquiries and sold ours listed for $7,250.00 off the web site in hours)
We had to fight numerous floor and internet bidders to acquire every coin that we did. Collectors did pop up heavily for this sale! The G $1 1863 PCGS MS68 sold for a staggering $193,875.00. Need to mention one more: the G $1 1864 PCGS MS68+ sold for a remarkable $70,500.00. We did not need either (we actually have a MS69 1864 and a MS66 1863). Those coins would have ended up at “beyond solar system” money had we been in the fray.
There was also a SUPERB GEM Walker set being sold. Pent up demand lead to some seriously “beyond moon money” prices. Our favorite two coins-the 1921D PCGS MS66 (which we think is the best ever) brought a staggering $94,000.00 while the 1921S PCGS MS 65 (which we used to own) brought a crazy $117,500.00. We bought the 50C 1917S OBV PCGS MS67 for $152,750.00 (its a gorgeous pop 1). We got blown out on all the other Walkers we bid on as we underestimated the demand. This was a gorgeous set that had been off the market for a while. The prices realized clearly proved the coins were of real top quality.
A new trend has clearly developed. Collectors seem to shy away from single pieces on the floor or at auction (unless they are incredibly special) and really want to buy out of collections. We can tell you, the bourse floor prices for the same Walkers are less (have to now to say were less).
With the Walkers there were multiple players battling it out on each piece.
Anyone who was wondering how the coin market is, would have felt great after that sale!
In Stacks, there was gods gift to Draped Bust Cents. An 1807/6 PCGS MS66 RD CAC. This coin really did look like it was made yesterday. It was as original and GEM Mint Red as you will ever see. We were the under bidders as that sold for $470,000.00. Pardon the pun, but the piece was worth every cent! You can NEVER overpay for a coin like that. We were trying to buy the coin just for stock.
To sum up, all the really better, fresh, and nice coins were in auction. The prices realized more then proved that!
NEWPS
We’re starting off light this time with a smaller listing then normal. Because of security and brinks our more expensive coins won’t be back until mid-week. So we’ll tempt you with some really great coins we worked our butts off to find. We assure you, if we say a coin is SUPER HIGH END, it REALLY IS! These are not average coins we’re posting right now!
Highlights this week include: 5C 1911 PCGS MS67 CAC, a killer 25C 1916 PCGS MS65 FH CAC, $1 1803 PCGS AU55 CAC. Sorry, we do not have the MS + PR Large Cents back or the PR Seated Dollars (which now include and extremely rare $1 J-434 1865 Transitional PCGS PR65 and a $1 1865 PCGS PR65 Cameo to name two!).
Save for the 1795 50C, we did not buy any coins over $50,000.00 at the show. That is highly unusual for us. Again, its not for lack of trying.
ROUND I of the NEWPS are all posted. Don’t forget to check out our regular inventory. If you still don’t see what you like-next week we will have an off the charts MONSTER offering!
LEGEND AUCTIONS
We’re live for our September 4th Regency Sale. Bid NOW! We are proud to say we had an all time record number of people view the lots for our upcoming Sept Auction. We’d like to sincerely thank everyone who came to lot view at our table at ANA. We also had the Coronet Collection of Morgans from our October Sale out as well. These are too are going to set world record prices!
We assure you, our sales have NO dreck and we really do reject coins!
To view the current sale, visit www.legendauctions.com
If you have any questions about the auctions, please contact Julie Abrams at; julie@legendauctions.com
IF YOU WISH TO ORDER OR HAVE ANY QUESTIONS, WE DO NOT CHECK OUR PHONE MESSAGES UNTIL MONDAY 9 AM. WE ADVISE YOU EMAIL US AT: legend@legendcoin.com
