Standing room only

After my activities at the ANA show itself (see my previous journal), I went back to my car and ate a snack. It was about 4:30, and that was the first food I had since 5:30 that morning. I walked back to the convention center and found the room where Stack's-Bowers was doing the auction floor sessions. I wanted to get a good seat for the 6:00 session, and was not the first one there.

Fortunately, some food was provided, starting close to the session start time. Having had my snack, I waited to partake until an hour into the session.

The room was perhaps the largest I've seen for a coin auction. By the time things started, almost every chair was taken, and many people were standing. (In contrast, I once participated in a Heritage session in Baltimore and was the only non-company person in the room for part of the time.) After 15 minutes of introductory remarks and nearly two hours of actual auction, numismatic history had been made.

That first portion of the Rarities Night session featured the Battle Born Collection of Carson City coins. It was only the second complete (by date & denomination) collection of CC coins ever assembled. The average grade of the coins was superior to that of the earlier one, the famous Eliasberg Collection. And this was the first time a complete CC collection was sold in a single event.

The highlight of the sale was the unique 1873-CC no arrows dime. The same law that eliminated my beloved half dimes from production, also changed the weight of other silver denominations. Arrows were added at the date to indicate the weight change, as had been done from early 1853 through 1855. Although many 1873-CC no arrows dimes were minted, all but a few were melted for recoining when the new law was enacted. The few survivors were sent to Philadelphia for testing, as usual. One was destructively tested, and apparently all of the rest were also destroyed - except this one.

It fetched $1.84 million.

When the 111 lots of the Battle Born Collection had been sold, I and a number of others left. It was 8PM, and I needed to drive home. While walking out, I was behind Christine Karstedt (Exec VP of Consignments for Stack's-Bowers) and the young lady who did the calling for the silver lots (sorry, I didn't catch her name). The boss asked her how it felt. I believe "it" referred to selling a million-plus dollar coin for the first time. The response was that it was pretty cool. Indeed. But I think it would be cooler to buy such a coin. We can dream.

Because I had already spent too much, I did not even register to bid. But I did have the chance to bid: Where I sat, someone at an earlier session had left a bidder card behind. The naughty boy in me thought of having some fun with that. But of course I would never actually surprise some poor (or maybe about to be poorer!) guy (or gal) with an unexpected auction bill. Besides, several people in the room know me, and cameras were rolling...

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