Weekly Market Report: Soaring and Roaring! Baltimore Show is Smashing Success in the Auction Room and on the Bourse Floor

By Bruce Amspacher - November 12, 2002

1850 Baldwin $10 ''Horseman,'' PCGS MS64 - sold for $155,250.

"The rumors of my death are exaggerated," said Mark Twain after it was erroneously reported that he had met his demise. It is also true that the reports of a significant market slowdown were exaggerated, as the just-completed Baltimore Coin & Currency Show proved to any and all in attendance.

"The market is still headed north," said John Dannreuther of JDRC, Inc., in Cordova, Tennessee. "The wholesale end of the market is amazingly strong. I bought a fresh deal at the Baltimore show and sold it to the first dealer that looked at it. The prices were over blue sheet, over gray sheet and over everything else, but that didn't stop the sale. The market is ravenous for nice coins." [Note: The terms "blue sheet" and "gray sheet" refer to The Certified Coin Dealer Newsletter and The Coin Dealer Newsletter, publications that list the "wholesale" price estimates of United States coins.]

Gold, Liberty Seated type shine in Baltimore.

"Both the buying and the selling were extremely active in Baltimore," said Dale Larsen of Spectrum Numismatics in Irvine, California. "Everyone was non-stop busy for all the time we were there. Gold coins were especially hot, but there was plenty of action in the other areas, too."

Such as? "Carson City dollars were especially hot. There were a lot of requests for Liberty Seated type coins in both Mint State and Proof. Barber Proofs were also in demand. I guess that you could say that everything was selling as long as it met the quality requirements. The market continues to be extremely quality conscious," Larsen concluded.

"Horseman" $10 brings $155,000+ in B&M auction.

The auction of The Collections of Russell J. Logan & Gilbert G. Steinberg and Part III of the Jay Roe Collection by Bowers and Merena Galleries proved to be as big as its name. The November 6-9 sale in Baltimore offered more than 5,000 lots to eager buyers and the classic coins were major winners in the star-studded lineup. Here are a few highlights from this landmark sale:

1776 "Jumbo" Continental Dollar, PCGS MS62 - $52,900
1793 Wreath Cent (Breen plate coin), PCGS MS64BN - $36,800
1918/7-S Standing Liberty Quarter, PCGS MS62 - $17,250
1874 $3 Gold (Bass Collection), PCGS PR65 - $36,800
1879 $4 Stella Flowing Hair, PCGS PR63DCAM - $86,250
1806 $5 Gold "Knobbed 6", PCGS MS64 - $27,600
1872-CC $5 Liberty, PCGS AU50 - $17,250
1797 $10 Small Eagle, PCGS AU55 - $73,600
1868 $10 Liberty, PCGS PR60 - $25,300
1931 $20 St. Gaudens, PCGS MS64 - $28,750
1850 Baldwin $10 "Horseman," PCGS MS64 - $155,250
Judd-1701 1882 "Earring" 50C, PCGS PR66RB - $25,300

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).