Weekly Market Report: Long Beach is Rousing Success as Early Type, Dollars and Dated Coins Continue to Sizzle

By Bruce Amspacher - June 5, 2001

Nicely toned commemoratives are in demand

The rare coin market continues to flex its muscles in many different areas. The just completed Long Beach Coin & Collectibles Exposition (May 30-June 3, 2001) was regarded as a rousing success by dealers and collectors alike, with the only drawback being a lack of enough material to satisfy the numismatic appetites of silver dollar aficionados, early type specialists and rare date collectors.

"Rare date 20th century material is really getting tough to locate," said Mike Printz of Larry Whitlow, Ltd., in Oak Brook Terrace, Illinois. "We came home from the show with less than a double row box of new purchases, and that's really unusual for us. Early type coins are non-existent on the bourse floors, but they're the easiest things in the world to sell if you can locate them."

Well, what was selling at the show that you could locate? "We were selling a lot of commemoratives," Printz continued. "Anything with color is gone in an instant. Another item that is selling extremely well is short set Walking Liberty half dollars." The term "short set" refers to the last 20 dates of the Walking Liberty set, issued from 1941 through 1947.

Deep Mirror Prooflike (DMPL) dollars sell fast and furious at LB.

It was only two years ago that deep mirror prooflike dollars were sluggish in sales and generating little interest. This market has done a 180-degree turn and is now headed due north. "There was tremendous interest in DMPL dollars at the show," said Mike DeFalco of DeFalco Numismatic Consulting in Laguna Niguel, California. "Two of the biggest dollar dealers in the country didn't have a single piece in stock when I checked with them. An 1885-P dollar in PCGS MS65DMPL, which is supposedly a $500 to $600 coin, went for well over $2,000 in one of the auctions. It had wild color on it, but that's still a strong price. The kicker to this story is that I paid the man who bought a nice profit for it. There's no question that coins with great eye appeal are liable to bring prices that have nothing to do with so-called wholesale or retail."

Excuse me, sir, how much is that silver dollar?

Walking around the bourse floor of Long Beach led me to the table of David Akers Numismatics of Stuart, Florida. No, this isn't the field goal kicker for the Philadelphia Eagles, but the other David Akers, the man who catalogued the John J. Pittman collection, among many other numismatic accomplishments.

On display in his case was an incredible group of silver dollars. It was a date set from 1794 through 1804, and it was attracting a crowd of numismatic luminaries.

Two of the coins of interest (the bookends of the collection, so to speak) were the 1794 in PCGS MS66 from the Lord St. Oswald estate and the 1804 in PCGS Proof 64 from the Dexter and Dunham collections.

Who said there weren't any early dollars on the floor?!

What about gold and type? Read on!

There is no question that early type coins are on the march, but what about the later type coins, such as Liberty Seated material and Barber coins? "Seated and Barber coins are definitely warming up," says John Dannreuther of JDRC, Inc., in Memphis Tennessee. Mr. Dannreuther is interviewed about twice a month for this column because he deals in everything in the Red Book. "So far the action in those coins is limited to the larger coins, meaning the quarters and half dollars. The dimes, half dimes, and three cent silver coins are still relatively slow."

What about other areas of the market? "Nice silver dollars are selling like crazy. Dated gold is hot in some areas and medium in others. It depends on what it is. If it's not too pricey, it sells."

It's Kingswood time! Auction action on the net.

Kingswood Coin Auctions presents the "Durham" sale this week (June 7) and Internet bidding is already at an all-time high for a Kingswood sale. "Lot viewing at Long Beach was fantastically busy," says Cassi East, Kingswood auction representative. "The bids are pouring in on the Internet. This is our most enthusiastically received sale in history. Not only is there a great selection of coins in this sale, but the market is the best that I've ever seen it."

The 576-lot sale features everything from Colonial coins through Mint errors. There is an excellent selection of high quality US type coins, silver dollars and US gold as well. 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).