FUN Convention Report
The 2018 FUN show was a good one for me and others I talked to,
both collectors and dealers.
A highlight of the show for me had to be the JRCS Regional
Meeting. Dr. Glenn Peterson, our Program Chairman had Jeff Friedman,
noted half dollar and half dime collector, presenting on cuds starting with
historical definitions of cuds from various sources. The presentation
included slides of many neat late die state coins, good questions, and much
discussion at the end of the presentation. I didn’t count the members and
guests attending, but the room was packed, and it seemed like there were 40 to
50 in attendance! If you weren’t there you missed a good one!
Brad Karoeff, JRCS President and Editor, and I handed out a
couple dozen copies of the John Reich Journal at the show.
Early U.S. Silver Dollars, a specialty of mine, were notably in
demand at the show. I usually have one of the largest inventories of
early dollars at shows, and wish I’d had more this time! I sold 7 early
dollars (all that I had outside the Miller Collection that Andy Lustig and I
purchased) at the show and was only able to acquire one new Dollar while
there.
One happy collector picked up the ex. Newman-Col. Green 1795
B-1, BB-21 Two Leaves Dollar graded PCGS AU-58 CAC in a private
transaction.
Andy Lustig and I are down to only 11 of the 169 early dollars
that we purchased from collector and JRCS member Warren Miller. The
beautiful and very late die state 1798 B-33, BB-117 in PCGS VF35, an R-8 with
three examples known to me, found a good home in December in an early dollar
collector’s collection. It might have been a Christmas Present to
himself…. Another collector added on Saturday morning (at FUN) the neat
ex. Miller 1798 B-11, BB-111 VLDS Dollar in PCGS XF45, with the neat double die
break through Liberty to the 13th Star
on the obverse.
A pretty amazing price was realized for one 1795 Flowing Hair
Dollar Lot in particular in the Heritage Platinum Night Sale. This was
Lot 4892, titled “1795 Flowing Hair Dollar, XF45 / Rare B-12, BB-26 Variety
/ The Thomas L. Elder/M.H. Bolender Coin” and was graded PCGS XF45 CAC.
I’ve seen many of the Bolender Collection 1795 FH Dollars over the years, but
had not seen this one “in person” prior to the auction lot viewing. The obverse
of this specimen was plated in Bolender’s The
Early United States Silver Dollars from 1794 to 1803 (1950). I would have loved to
have this coin for inventory and wish I was still a collector on this one (as
you can stretch even more!) – most of the price guides show XF 1795 FH Dollars
in the $12-15K range, and I’ve sold some particularly attractive and choice
examples in the middle to high teens. This 1795 Dollar realized
$32,400! Was it the deep, old, original color, the pedigree, the
fact that it was a Plate Coin in the Bolender book, the strong lustre mostly
visible at the edges, it being in the Condition Census for this die marriage,
or??? I know two disappointed collectors on this lot, and add myself to
the list as I’d have loved to acquire it. If the winner of this lot will
contact me I’ll share more on the pedigree, a good one.
Here is a link to this 1795 FH Dollar and Lot: https://coins.ha.com/itm/early-dollars/silver-and-related-dollars/1795-1-flowing-hair-three-leaves-b-12-bb-26-r6-xf45-pcgs-cac/a/1271-4892.s?ic4=ListView-ShortDescription-071515
I also heard on Saturday that I’d missed some great, high grade
Capped Bust Quarters on the bourse. The well-known JRCS member who
told me this did not miss them!
Lastly, I received numerous JRCS membership dues payments at the
show. We picked up a couple of new members along with a couple of members
that had not been active the last couple of years. Notices for dues
for Volume 28 of the John
Reich Journal were sent with
the last issue, Volume 27, Issue 3. Payments should be sent to me (as
Treasurer) at JRCS, c/o W. David Perkins / P.O. Box 3039 / Centennial, CO
80161-3039. Also, don’t forget to send your Reiver Award ballots to me at
this same P.O. Box address.
Great show! Happy New Year to everyone.
W. David Perkins
Centennial, CO
