Imagine a week that includes major coin auctions, rising gold prices, one of the three Long Beach shows of the year and is wrapped up on Sunday with the Super Bowl! Well, believe it or not, that week is here, and if you can find a way to shoehorn yourself into the Long Beach Convention Center it promises to be a numismatic treat to remember.
The crowds are already growing even though the Long Beach Coin & Collectibles Exposition doesn't open to the public until Thursday. There's a swarm of activity in the hotel lobby next door to the Convention Center and everyone has a single question to ask: "Do you have any coins that I can look at?"
Gold coins of all denominations are selling well, even though they've slowed from the fever-pitched pace of two weeks ago. Gold bullion fell about $20 from its recent peak before heading north once again today (Tuesday). Silver dollars are in tremendous demand, full red copper is red-hot once again and 20th century issues are selling as fast as dealers can get them posted on their web sites.
Morgans and Walkers are market leaders once more.
"Morgan dollars are probably the number-one seller for us," says Dale Larsen of Spectrum Numismatics in Irvine, California. "Key dates in MS63 and better and premium quality better dates in MS65 and MS66 are in special demand. Peace dollars are finally coming around, too, even though they're not selling nearly as well as Morgans, at least so far."
What else is especially hot? "Walking Liberty half dollars have been raging for a long time and nothing has changed. The early dates are really drying up as the dealers and collectors compete for the best pieces.
"The larger denominations are outselling the smaller issues by a substantial margin. People continue to like bigger coins. We are extremely optimistic that this great market will continue for a long time."
"Auction pressure" has spilled over onto bourse floor.
"The market is really kicking," says John Dannreuther, a veteran dealer from Cordova, Tennessee. "I'm already hearing some major numbers from the auction that was just completed. What's different is that the bourse floor action is just as strong as the auctions."
How is that different from before? "For a while the only way to sell coins for way over bid was through auction. On the bourse floor people were more cautious. Now the auction pressure has spilled over onto the bourse floor and if someone really likes the coin then he'll step right up to the plate regardless of the bid levels."
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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