February 2006 Long Beach Show Report II

The Long Beach show is in full swing and I expect that this will be the busiest of the four days of the convention. Here are a few observations I have made:

Where are all the PCGS coins? With the exception of generic gold and modern coins (plus some Morgan Dollars) there are almost no PCGS coins in dealer’s cases. This means one of three things: PCGS is grading so tightly these days that no one is sending coins there; PCGS coins are so liquid that no one has to display them—they just sell themselves or all the notable PCGS coins wind-up in auction. I’m not sure if I know exactly what the right answer is, but the current disparity between PCGS and NGC product on the market is nothing short of remarkable.

Baltimore is the new Long Beach. As recently as five years ago, Long Beach was a show that I wouldn’t have missed even if I were on my death bed. Today, the show just seems to lack the sizzle it once had. The Baltimore show (which is coming up in March, by the way) seems to have that old electric feeling and I would now rate it as the #3 show of the year, after FUN and Summer ANA.

I had a chance to look at the gold coin lots in the Heritage sale and was thoroughly unimpressed. I personally bid on less than twenty coins and was aggressive on only a handful. There were a few Three Dollar gold pieces I liked and the NGC MS62 1799 Small Stars Eagle was lovely. I also liked the NGC MS60 1844-O eagle and some of the lower valued Saints were attractive.

I spent some time at the ANR table and looked at highlights from their upcoming March sale in Baltimore. Yow!! There are some amazing coins in this sale and I will be discussing them in greater detail in the coming weeks in a series of Raregoldcoins.com Market Reports.