Sacramento ANA Attracts Record Crowd

Thursday, March 18, 1999

        The ANA's National Money Show was a big success this past week. Beginning with opening day on Friday, attendance was the highest reported in many years with at least 10,000 visitors touring the bourse area through Sunday. The dealers who rely on retail business were more than satisfied with the final results. Many wholesale dealers (the ones who deal only with other dealers) left the show early and the remaining dealers were thankful. The dealers we spoke with about Sunday's trading, in particular, were quite pleased with the amount of coins they sold. A couple mentioned they purchased sizable accumulations that they may not have seen if they were brought earlier to the show. Much of the success can be traced to the large amount of advertising as television spots and the local news shows filled the airwaves. Watching one news program, Donn Pearlman spent almost ten minutes with a news team discussing the show and rare coins, including the $100,000 bills brought for display purposes.

        Collector coins continue to lead the way as numismatists try to fill specific needs. Rick Snow and Brian Wagner from Eagle Eye, report strong continued interest in Indian Head Cents. Activity is just as brisk in other series like Morgan and Peace Dollars, Walking Halves, Mercury Dimes, and Lincoln Cents. One area that has picked up recently is the Commem market as buyers are beginning to eye quality issues at current levels. Lest we forget, the Gold market is right up there with any series. The Y2K programs continue to push all gold coins to higher levels. Even the buyers who want low premium coins are likely to purchase a few gold pieces that are attractive and have added collector value. If just 10% of these people get hooked on coin collecting, it will add to the ever-growing collector base and serve to improve the overall state of numismatics. There is a general feeling among the coin dealer community that we are entering an era of increasing respect for the knowledgeable numismatic dealer. The new wave of collectors want to be educated much more so than the buyers of the late 70s and early 80s. The previous group was made up of speculators more than collectors; today, the buyers want to know more about the history and past achievements of the coins they are buying.

        Many dealers are off to the Suburban Washington Baltimore Show this week. This is one of, if not the best shows on the East Coast. They are centrally located and attract dealers and collectors who drive as much as 8-10 hours to attend. Many of these people never get to the West Coast, so there are bound to be fresh new deals for everyone to peruse. Auctions by Bowers & Merena, Inc. will conduct a major sale, March 18-20, in conjunction with this show. There are well over 2000 lots of very interesting items from Type coins, to Gold, to Silver Dollars, Patterns, Currency, and Medals. There should be some very lively bidding as the competition by those on the floor goes against some strong mail bids.

        Heritage Numismatic Auctions, Inc. hosted the Sacramento ANA National Money Sale of over 1800 lots. The total sale brought nearly $4 million. Gold coins stood out and bidders made the sale rather spirited. An 1861 Double Eagle in MS64 brought $28,750; a 1927 S $20 Saint Gaudens realized $20,700; an 1813 $5 Gold in PCGS MS64 topped $19,607; an 1885 CC $20 Liberty, which has an original mintage of just 9,450 pieces, brought $23,000; and an 1888 $20 Liberty in NGC PR65 Cameo sold for $49,450. We included below a partial list of highlights for your review and you should also find a complete list on the Heritage web site at www.heritagecoin.com.

Denomination	Grade	Price Realized
1858 Flying Eagle Sm. Letters	PCGS PR 64	$8,337
1859 Indian Cent	PCGS PR 65	$5,175
1862 Indian Cent	NGC MS67	$3,105
1955/55 Lincoln Cent	PCGS MS64 RD	$7,475
1855 Three Cent Silver	NGC PR 66	$15,525
1865 Three Cent Nickel	PCGS PR 66	$8,625
1837 No Stars Dime	NGC MS66	$6,670
1903 O Barber Dime	PCGS MS65	$3,680
1875 Twenty Cent	NGC PR 65	$6,555
1868 S Seated Quarter	NGC MS66	$11,270
1919 S Standing Lib Quarter	NGC MS65 FH	$12,937
1853 A&R Seated Half	NGC MS65	$13,800
1919 D Walking Liberty Half	PCGS MS64	$14,375
1876 CC Trade Dollar	NGC MS64	$16,387
1878 7/8 TF Morgan Dollar	PCGS MS64 DMPL	$2,242
1881 CC Morgan Dollar	PCGS MS66 DMPL	$2,185
1883 S Morgan Dollar	PCGS MS64	$4,140
1884 S Morgan Dollar	NGC MS63	$13,225
1921 Alabama Commem	NGC MS66	$3,680
1935/34 D Boone Commem	PCGS MS68	$5,750
1925 S California Commem	PCGS MS67	$3,795
1937 Roanoke Commem	PCGS MS68	$3,680