Greysheet: HERITAGE AUCTION DELIVERS OVER $11 MILLION AT RAINY LONG BEACH

Last week’s Long Beach show was notable for a rare torrential rainstorm on Thursday and Friday which may have dampened attendance, but dealer enthusiasm remained strong as most of those in attendance reported solid activity. Laura Sperber of Legend Numismatics noted on her company blog that a handful of important wholesale buyers skipped the show and “the PCGS Invitationals in Las Vegas actually cannibalize Long Beach,” from a retail perspective. We’ve heard similar comments from other dealers.

The Heritage Long Beach auction, however, performed quite well where U.S. coins realized more than $11 million, with rare colonial pieces and gold leading the way. One cannot overstate the effectiveness of the Heritage internet platform from a bidding perspective. The top lot in this sale was an 1892 proof double eagle, graded PCGS/CAC PR65 Deep Cameo. From an original mintage of just 93 pieces, this gem example realized $146,875. The next four lots were colonial coins: a silver strike of the 1785 Immune Columbia at $129,250, a 1652 Pine Tree shilling at $111,625, a 1785 Inimica Tyrannis Americana copper at $105,750, and the finest known “Running Fox” New Jersey copper at $99,875. March is marked by two major shows and auctions, with the ANA National Money Show in Orlando with an auction by Kagin’s and the first Whitman Baltimore Expo of the year featuring the sale of part five of the Pogue collection by Stack’s Bowers.

THIS WEEK’S MARKET

WEEKLY GREYSHEET

Classic Commemoratives:

We have begun the process of reviewing the better date issues in high grade, starting with a look at better-date Arkansas, Washington-Carver and BTW issues. Similar adjustments are noted in this week’s Bluesheet as well.

QUARTERLY III

Liberty Half Eagles:

This series continues to show a solid following. Original, accurately graded No Motto pieces are in short supply in the current market, particularly with CAC stickers.

Liberty Double Eagles:

There are a lot of updates in this heavily traded and tricky series. Market makers have posted some fresh bids, and along with auction results the trends are pretty clear: the early better dates are popular as ever, but the later dates of the series are experiencing some softness due to oversupply. If you want to follow the market makers in this series, join CDN Exchange.

MONTHLY SUPPLEMENT

Lincoln Cents:

We continue the pricing adjustments started last month to bring numbers closer to actual trading levels, primarily with circulated grades. We have also added three new listings to this series, all modern varieties which readers have requested: the 1983 doubled die reverse, the 1984 “Doubled Ear”, and the 1995 doubled die obverse.

Barber Halves:

We have added coverage of MS66 graded coins for this series, completing that grade level for all three Barber series. Please note that CDN Exchange dealers also have digital access to our MS67 pricing of these series. We also report some new bids for better dates in circulated grade.