We have witnessed near 1980 activity at recent shows and auctions. Some dealers are just making piles of coins and then buying them without a single chisel. What drives us crazy is that most of the coins are NOT CAC.
The market is so strong that for the first time EVER, we had a better February than January. We still cannot believe it. Our numbers in February were off the charts.
Now, our biggest worry that keeps us up at night is that we have run out of coins. How can we phrase that while offering 20 NEWPS? What we are buying has nothing to do with our $20 million-plus want lists. Most of the coins we post aren’t what our core customers typically buy. We feel strongly we need to have some kind of offering. Do know the one thing we will never do: sacrifice on the quality we offer. We fear that March could be a disaster for us on the buying side. We fully expect our inventory to be seriously depleted at the Baltimore Show.
CAC AND CACG
Part of our problems stems from selling only PCGS CAC or CACG to our customers. That worked well for the last several years until the supply went dry. Shame on us for not foreseeing that the supply of these coins is too small to survive on. Now we are about to get clocked because of it.
During the entire time CAC has been around, we (like so many others) have been frustrated by pieces that we feel strongly should have beaned. We regret not keeping those pieces and offering them to collectors. We have actually been buying very cheap non-CAC coins at auction and giving them to our secret seller, who easily sells them at shows. As witnessed at Long Beach, most collectors still do not understand CAC and its pricing, craving cheaper coins instead of paying strong premiums.
Because of all this, you will start to see a NON CAC coin or two pop up in our offerings. Collectors simply cannot complete many sets because there are not enough CAC-beaned keys. If a coin is nice and should have been beaned, we will now offer it. Legend will stand behind non-CAC coins just as it does the CAC ones it sells. We won’t flood our offerings with these coins, but we will start offering them as we find them.
We saw some typical and ridiculous anti-CAC chatter appear in a chatroom. Those yappers are getting boring. There is a difference between CAC coins and NON. In some cases, the issue could be tiny; in most cases, there are problems. If you are offered a NON CAC coin today, ask why it has not been submitted. ANY dealer with a brain will want more money and would have submitted them. Yes, CAC coins ARE worth the premiums they bring. The demand for CAC-beaned coins is unwavering. This has been more than proven over many years. Do not fall victim to the inherent nature of buying cheap. It will come back and hurt you.
A MESSAGE FROM LSS
I want to thank everyone who emailed me about making the PCGS Hall of Fame. I was swamped with calls and emails. THANK YOU ALL! I read every email but have been way too busy to respond. I am sorry. Since you guys all like the story I told, here is one more:
The highlight of my career: buying the Southern Pattern Collection
Mr. Simpson wanted to own every existing pattern in the best possible condition. Naturally, it was our job to find them.
We had just bought the aluminum set of Amazonians for a few hundred thousand dollars. We knew the Southern Collector was trying to complete his patterns too. It was always us vs him. In fact, we had been outbidding him in every auction and were buying everything we could on the floor. I figured, why not buy his entire collection?
I discussed it with Mr. Simpson, who gave me the go-ahead and wished me luck (he did not think the collector would sell). So I arranged a meeting with the collector at the Baltimore Show.
We sat in a small room. I said we would like to buy your collection. He sat back and said, “Laura, do you know how big it is?” I said yes. Then he said, “Laura, do you know what it’s worth?” I replied, “Yes,” and said we would like to buy your collection. Then he said, “Okay, I will figure out the collection’s value and send you a list.”
First we had to sign a non-disclosure agreement. Then the list arrived with prices. After a week of studying and figuring things out, we told Mr. Simpson the deal could be bought. The collector wanted to downsize, so he just added 8% to his costs. The next step was for George and me to fly out to see the deal in person. Needless to say, it was by far the largest and most impressive Pattern Collection ever assembled. We liked what we saw and told Mr. Simpson.
Then we met Mr. Simpson in Fort Worth, and we all flew out on his private jet to see the collection (oh, how we groaned when we had to fly back to Newark commercially). Mr. Simpson cared the most about the eye appeal of the coins. Some coins were unattractive because they were the only known examples. His comment: “I see wonder coins here; I wonder how they got graded.” We thought our goose was cooked and that he did not like the deal. We got nervous. Then he asked us to go hide for a bit so he could talk to the collector.
Mr. Simpson came out of the meeting whistling, as he so often does. He indicated they were close to a deal at $36 million! We were riding high. The following week, our bubble burst. Mr. Simpson’s assistant called, saying the deal was off. Oh, we were bummed out. It was not for us to ask him what happened. We went on and conducted our regular business with Mr. Simpson.
Less than one month later, the assistant called and said, “Done deal.” We were stunned and thrilled. The collector flew the set to him the following week. We flew down to go through the set. At the time, we had no idea Mr. Simpson was buying the entire collection to acquire the gold Amazonian set. To this day, he cherishes the set most out of all the coins he has ever owned. And as an FYI, Mr. Simpson is still a collector and still loves his coins. He still owns many significant patterns.
We finally asked Mr. Simpson why the sale was canceled; he taught us a new term: “southern style negotiating,” he told us. That was a big time guts display by him. But then he spent his life making big deals. Obviously, it worked to everyone’s satisfaction.
That is how I started one of the biggest deals ever in numismatics: $36 million! That has undoubtedly been the ultimate highlight of my career. I am most proud of the initial discussions.
NEWPS
As mentioned before, we have 20 NEWPS. Many of the coins are priced under $10,000.00! The highlights include:
3CS 1853 PCGS MS67+ CAC
$1 1875-S PCGS MS65+ CACG
$1 1881-S PCGS MS66+ DMPL CAC
$5 1806 PT 6 8X5 PCGS MS63 CAC OGH
As with every coin we post, the quality and eye appeal are all there and then some! We want you happy with every purchase.
FAIR WARNING! This is not a sales pitch. We predict we will sell the vast majority of our inventory at the Baltimore show. Based upon Long Beach and ANA, we know dealers are paying really strong prices and badly need coins. So do not think too long! ALL price guides are behind the current market.
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