IT WILL TAKE A WHILE TO RECOVER FROM THIS SHOW
First, Legend Numismatics would like to thank everyone who came by to say hello. We are surprised so many people actually read this report. We hope we do not disappoint you!
Sorry, we’re not into detailing our travels, wine consumption, or dining locations. We’ll just talk about the show itself. We strongly feel dealers who venture to discuss the other stuff are not really die-hard bourse floor dealers. Just an opinion.
We arrived Saturday early afternoon. We had two huge appointments scheduled. Neither disappointed us. In fact, both bought coins we never imagined they would. Price certainly was not an object. One dealer almost cleaned us out of the Collection of a Lifetime proof sets. We held one back to offer later on to our customers. So we had six non-stop hours of selling. We never ate dinner Saturday.
Sunday, we were already beat from the traveling and the business we did the day before. We had an 8 AM appointment. We did not expect much from them, but they performed just fine. The next two appointments we nervously had high hopes for. Neither let us down. In fact, one bought a $45,000.00 Bust Dime we never dreamed of selling to a dealer. By the end of the last appointment, Jose (who keeps track of the sales) said, “We can really go home now.” We made a substantial number of sales for him to say that.
Since the selling side was too easy, we needed coins. We had two world-class buyers in our room. One said to the other, “There is nothing out there.” I had to buy coins I normally would not have”. That was a scary and powerful statement. Legend tried to acquire coins before the show. Because we don’t buy soup to nuts, sometimes we don’t get an early shot and miss a coin or two. However, we do have 2-3 buyers who find coins for us. In this show, they found zilch! That made us ultra nervous about what we’d find on the floor.
Monday was PNG day or something. I think you all know how we feel about the PNG. Anyway, we ran right to a bigger dealer who is expensive but usually has cool coins. It took us a half hour to negotiate for a $175,000.00 coin. How can you buy when the other side knows and says, “Coins like this are going up in value; there are none around” We just bought what we could from him (including the big one). At our second stop we got plain lucky. This dealer is very friendly with us and sold us some amazing fresh coins he had in his safe. After that, we pounded the floor repeatedly. Yeah, there were some interesting coins, but they were either priced way too high or just didn’t suit our tastes. We want people to know that just because a coin is PCGS CAC does not mean we will like it.
Tuesday was for full dealer setup, and early birds could come in. We were surprised at how many collectors showed up. We did little on Tuesday, save for a few modest sales. The big surprise was that a dealer found a pop 1 coin; they knew the half dime was needed. That was great.
Wednesday was a huge day. We sold well into six figures to collectors. Like last year’s ANA show, we did not expect that. What did we sell? A 5C Pattern to the $10 1900 PCGS PR66 Cameo. Soup to nuts basically. We expected many collectors to visit us—and they did! THANK YOU! The one thing that shocked us: no one offered us coins for sale. On Wednesday afternoon Laura was inducted into the PCGS Hall of Fame. What an honor!
This was not a show where collectors came to chat with each other. They were really buying. By the end of Thursday, Legend had total sales of OVER $1 million. We do NOT include coins sold back home in that amount.
We just could not fulfill our customers’ want lists, though. That’s going to be very bad news for people bidding in the upcoming auctions. We clearly see prices in many areas (especially gold) are seriously up. We witnessed a high-relief PCGS MS66+ that recently sold for $235,000.00 and resold for $250,000.00! That was crazy! We want every collector doing a project with us; we are working our tails off to find you coins. We did not forget about you. We will not buy grossly overpriced or shoddy coins.
WHERE IS THE MARKET AT?
Well, most (BUT NOT ALL) of the coin market is hot. We saw so many Morgans trade hands that it was scary. And the coins did not even have to be high quality. These apps and eBay are bringing in so many uneducated buyers; it’s fueling a feeding frenzy on dreck coins. We are gravely concerned that these people who seem to love coins will be burnt and not return after they try to sell what they own.
Coins UNDER $5,000.00 are, for the most part, screaming hot. It’s funny that MS+Proof Seated Dimes are not strong, nor are all 3-cent pieces (silver and nickel). Coppers are hit or miss.
If it’s gold, it’s sold! That is our motto—and the rest of the world agrees. We need generic PCGS CAC MS65 Saints. We walked the floor many times. Our score: TWO. And we bought them in the hotel room when a vest-pocket dealer was showing us.
Collectors and dealers had an unusual taste for six-figure coins too. We rarely see that at a show.
We cannot stress enough: do NOT think too long about a coin. In this market, if it’s really nice, it will sell. We have seen that happen so many times.
THE PRICING PROBLEMS
With the market so strong, the big topic among the dealers is the price guides. They are simply horrible and way behind. ONLY PCGS tries. The CDN thinks it does, but it does not. So be warned: if you use AI to try and figure out your coins, AI has no reliable sources other than maybe auction pricing. Even using auctions, you need to know if the coin sold was low-end or high-end. You really need to be working with a good dealer these days. And a good dealer is not just a salesman/marketer who flips coins. Do NOT be fooled by these guys with nice web sites.
There is no immediate answer on how to fix this problem. Dealers are using their gut instincts pretty much. If you do not buy the coin today, there is no tomorrow. We had a slightly higher-priced dollar that two dealers wanted. Both were posturing over it. One finally knew he had to step up. He did, and he sold the coin right away.
If you plan on bidding in the upcoming sales, RAISE your buy prices by 20% or more. If a coin is really nice, fresh, and seldom seen, it will not fall through the cracks—especially when there are no coins on the bourse floor.
NEWPS
Oh, we are weak! This is all we could find. Gone are the days when a bad ANA show would yield us $500,000.00 in NEWPS. OMG how times have changed. You will NOT be disappointed in the quality we offer.
Next week we will have a gorgeous 1872 Proof set for the Collection of a Lifetime (we held it back). More will be ready by the end of September.
Work with us! We will find coins. We are not cheap buyers. Things come to us outside of shows too. Remember, we have 40 years of selling to collectors.
So stay tuned.
IF YOU SEE ANY COINS OF INTEREST OR HAVE QUESTIONS, EMAIL US: WE WILL NOT CHECK PHONE MESSAGES UNTIL 10 AM MONDAY.
