Thursday At Long Beach

[Elcontador]

In a nutshell, though I did not buy anything (couldn't even find the book I wanted), I enjoyed the show. I did not see a single '83 No Cent Liberty NIckel in PC 6 on the floor.

 

A few surprises. I saw six or seven Liberty Nickels in PC MS 66 & a lot more NGC coins of the same series in the same grade. Lots of proof Liberty Nickels and Barber coinage in grades up to PF 67. Most of these coins were type.

 

I saw a surprising number of scarce, high grade Seated Dollars. Thanks to Legend Steve and Bill Stein of U.S. Coins for letting me look at them, even though there was no way I could afford any of them. Also, thanks to Steve for letting me see probably the nicest Bust $ I will probably ever lay my eyes on.

 

Another surprise is that I saw more high end early copper than ever before at Long Beach. It was not hard to find Braided Hair Large Cents in 4 & 5 in all color designations. Even found a few Half Cents in 4 BN & RD and one in 5 RB, evenly split between Classic Head and Braided Hair types. RB & RD IHCs were plentiful in MS 64-5, and high end SLQs were also readily available.

 

One dealer had about 50 Capped Bust Halves in his / her case in grades ranging from mid-grade AU to mid-grade Unc.

 

Gold was very popular and I saw more dealer to dealer transactions than from collectors like me.

 

The thing that made the show for me was seeing a bunch of familiar faces. Saw Nucklehead & his girlfriend (or is she his wife?), Greg Margulies (and thanks for looking at my moderns), JOM, Tom Killian, Carl and Braddick. I saw Greg when he was maybe six feet from David Hall, but alas, they did not stop to 'chat' with one another.

 

A number of other dealers were happy to show me some material which was way out of my league because they also knew that I'd appreciate these coins. I found it educational to compare a FH 6 SLQ I have with the same date & grade of one in a dealer's case. There are several tiers re grading FH standers, and if you are considering buying any of them, you should learn about this first.

 

I also want to thank Harry Laibstein for letting me look at a few of his Large Cents. He had a PC 5 RD 1850 and a PC 4 RD 1853 which I compared. As to be expected, the 1850 had a better strike. Both coins were similar re marks, carbon, etc. However, the 1850's color was beginning to mellow, and IMO the color on the 1853 was superior. Bottom line, I thought the 4 was a nicer coin. This is one reason I'm glad I collect, and not deal coins.

 

 

 

[michael]

an excellent report

 

where the proof lib nicks you saw and the barber proofs

 

where any really eye appealling??

michael

 

 

 

[Elcontador]

Michael - I wasn't looking for any of this material, so I just noticed it was there and plentiful. FWIW, more of these slabs now have the CAM & Deep / Ultra CAM designations.

 

Some dealers who had a lot of it were:

 

U.S. Coins

John Schuch

Legend

 

I saw five or six of these coins in at least 5 other dealer's cases.

 

 

[JamminJ]

Nice to see you again, Elcontador, glad you enjoyed the show!

 

-JamminJ

[jom]

Had a great time today having lunch with Greg, tjkillian, JamminJ, Truthteller and Braddick.

 

I found the show rather dull for what I'm looking for. But things picked up when, late in the day, I snagged a 26-D Buffalo in one of those NGC 63 "star" holders. Neat rainbow on each side, fully struck obverse but the reverse is a pretty bad strike. In fact, I'll guess the die didn't much longer after it struck this coin. Hence the 63 grade. Pretty color makes up for it though. .

 

The Heritage auction was pretty bad. I did buy a coin tonight so it isn't a total loss. An AU50 23-S Buffalo. Pretty damn nice for an AU50. To me it's an AU58 all day long. Oh well, cheaper for me.

 

Gold was, as usual, scarce. However, one dealer had in his table:

 

1920-S Eagle (MS63)

1911-D Eagle (MS64)

TWO 1911-D Half Eagles (MS63)

And almost all the better Indian half eagles in MS63 more higher (sans the 09-O).

 

Too bad he didn't have any nice lower grade (ie lower price) material. I'd be buyin'

 

jom

[MikeKing]

Nice report. Thanks. wish I was there. BTW, Harry Laibstain's a nice guy, I've dealt with him in the past. haven't heard anyone mention him before.