Weekly Market Report: It's Long Beach Week Once Again! Rare Coin Market is on F-I-R-E!
Bruce Amspacher
- September 24, 2002
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Nuclear Nickel: This 1918/7-D Buffalo (PCGS MS64) sold for $109,250!
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It's Long Beach week once again and the stampede is on! A stampede of buffaloes, that is, as price records were smashed to smithereens for the ultra-popular nickel series at the Bowers & Merena Galleries "Rarities Sale" that was held in Beverly Hills, California, on September 22.
Long Beach "week" is usually extended to about ten days as dealers and collectors from around the country flock to the coastal city for bourse action, auctions and after-hours wheeling and dealing. The Long Beach Coin & Collectibles Exposition officially begins Thursday, September 26 and runs through Sunday, with a dealer set-up day on the 25th. If the Bowers & Merena sale is any indication of the activity ahead, this is certain to be one of the great Long Beach shows ever.
Buffalo nickels go nuclear!
Here are some of the prices from the just-completed "Rarities Sale."
| 1856 Flying Eagle Cent | PCGS PR64 | $12,650 |
| 1909-S V.D.B. Lincoln Cent | PCGS MS66RD | $8,625 |
| 1927-S Lincoln Cent | PCGS MS65RD | $9,200 |
| 1913-D Type One Buffalo 5c | PCGS MS67 | $7,475 |
| 1913-S Type Two Buffalo 5c | PCGS MS66 | $9,200 |
| 1916 Buffalo Nickel | PCGS MS67 | $11,500 |
| 1917 Buffalo Nickel | PCGS MS67 | $12,650 |
| 1918 Buffalo Nickel | PCGS MS67 | $20,700 |
| 1918/7-D Buffalo Nickel | PCGS MS64 | $109,250 |
| 1918-S Buffalo Nickel | PCGS MS65 | $31,050 |
| 1920-S Buffalo Nickel | PCGS MS65 | $32,200 |
| 1925-S Buffalo Nickel | PCGS MS65 | $43,700 |
| 1927-S Buffalo Nickel | PCGS MS65 | $21,850 |
| 1934 Buffalo Nickel | PCGS MS67 | $5,250 |
| 1935-S Buffalo Nickel | PCGS MS67 | $5,060 |
| 1803 Draped Bust Dime | PCGS AU58 | $48,300 |
| 1804 Draped Bust Dime | PCGS XF45 | $25,300 |
| 1796 Draped Bust, SE Quarter | PCGS MS63 | $36,800 |
| 1804 Draped Bust, LE Quarter | PCGS AU58 | $32,200 |
| 1890 Liberty Seated Quarter | PCGS PR67DCAM | $8,970 |
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"The sale was absolutely amazing," said John Rothans of David Hall Rare Coins in Newport Beach, California. "If a coin opened at $5,000 and I had a $7,000 bid to place on it, the bidding would be at $9,000 before I could raise my paddle and at $12,000 before I could put it down again. These coins were being bought by collectors, with tremendous activity on the floor and on the phones."
Kingswood "Kearsarge" sale closes October 3.
We're up to the letter "K" in the Kingswood Coin Auctions alphabet series, and "K" is for Kearsarge. The 1,108-lot sale is now online, and bidding will remain open until October 3. This highly diverse sale features PCGS-certified coins exclusively, plus a nice offering of US currency.
"We expect to have more bidders than ever in this sale," said Raeleen Endo, an auction representative for Collectors Universe. "The focus is on highly affordable coins in popular series, plus some spectacular rarities that Kingswood sales are famous for."
Kingswood lots may be viewed at the Long Beach Coin & Collectibles Exposition or by appointment. To peruse the lots and/or to bid online, click here.
Bruce Amspacher has been a professional writer since the 1950s and a professional numismatist since the 1960s. He won the OIPA sportswriting award in 1958 and again in 1959, then spent eight years in college studying American Literature. This background somehow led him to become a professional numismatist in 1968. Since then he has published hundreds of articles on rare coins in dozens of publications as well as publishing his own newsletter, the “Bruce Amspacher Investment Report,” for more than a decade. His areas of expertise include Liberty Seated dollars, Morgan and Peace dollars, United States gold coins, sports trivia, Western history, modern literature and the poetry of Emily Dickinson. In 1986 he was a co-founder of the Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS).
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| This 1909-S V.D.B. Lincoln Cent (PCGS MS66RD) went for $8,625. |
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| The final price of this 1803 Draped Bust Dime (PCGS AU58) was $48,300. |
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