Julian Leidman: "I attended the Pryor & Brown collection auctions last week. Both of the sales were specialized sales in that they dealt with defined collections. They just weren't miscellaneous coins. Consequently, the specialists in those series were either there or represented at the sales.

"The James Bennett Pryor collection was a collection of half dollars put together by a Kentucky business man over many, many years. He is from Mayfield, Kentucky and he worked on his collection for a long, long time, close to 30 years, I think. He first started out with the modern half dollars, the Walking Liberties and the Franklins, and he worked on those and kept refining them and getting them better and better. Then he added the Barber Half dollars and started doing the same with that. Then he added the Seated Liberty Half dollars and started doing the same with that. And finally he added the Early Half Dollars and continued with that. If he had lived - unfortunately he passed away in 1991 - but if he had lived, he would be doing it today and continuing with the collection and it would have become even a finer collection. But as it was, it was probably the finest collection of half dollars to have been auctioned. It had magnificent coins in it, and the coins for the most part did very, very well.

"I worked very closely with this collection, provided the family with some appraisals a couple of different times. So I was very familiar with the coins, and some of the coins realized far in excess in what I had put down as a retail appraisal for them. Some of them realized less. Overall, the collection brought a very good price. People came from all over the country to bid on the coins, and both the buyers and the sellers were happy.

"I also attended the Robinson Brown collection sale held by Superior. Incidentally, the first sale was held by Bowers & Merena, but this sale was held by Superior Galleries on Saturday [January 27, 1996]. And this was a specialized collection of large cents from 1793 through 1839. And Mr. Brown, who is also from Kentucky incidentally, collected these really over the last 10 years . He had been a large cent collector and previously sold a collection of large cents 10 years ago. Since then, he decided to do it again, and he went out and bought some coins - some which were in his first collection, because they are so rare. He built up an extremely fine collection of large cents, including numerous great rarities. There are less than half a dozen of several of the coins. So it was a fabulous collection.

"The coins and the prices realized were greater than most people expected. I had an opportunity to talk with Mr. Brown and his son, and I came away with the feeling that those coins brought at least 20% over what anybody was expecting, which illustrated the great following that the large cents have. They are collecting them by die varieties, by die states, by condition, and there is a true love of these copper coins by the collectors. I was only successful in buying a few coins for a client there, and other clients I was unsuccessful buying coins for. For the most part the prices were very aggressive at that sale and shows a real health in the specialized collecting area. Both of these sales, I think, illustrated that buying collections well cared for, well timed, and really collected - which means the person puts themselves into their collection, rather than just buying coins."

Chuck D'Ambra: "How did the prices in this Robinson Brown sale compare to the first one?"

JL: "I am sure they were higher. I'm sure there are some that were lower, but I 'm also sure that most of them were higher."

CD: "Do you think that the higher prices that were seen in these two auctions are likely to carry over beyond those sales?"

JL: "I think that they will clearly drive the market in both of those fields, in that they are reflective of the desirability of those coins."

CD: "What is the next major upcoming copper auction?"

JL: "The next one is going to be the Eliasberg Collection. That is going to be held in May. These coins haven't been on the market for mostly fifty years or more. There is virtually nobody living who has had an opportunity to participate in these coins."

CD: "Do you think that Robby Brown will build another collection to auction?"

JL: "He is collecting now late date large cents from 1840 to 1857, and I know he is actively collecting those. I don't think he is going to go back and build a number one and build the Sheldons and the early Newcombs, the middle dates. I don't think he is going to participate in that .but I do know he is quite interested in the late dates and enjoys them immensely ."