Belle Collection of Carson City Coins Realizes Disappointing Results in Heritage Sale

Click on the link below to view the prices realized for the sale of the Belle collection of Carson City coins. Heritage conducted the auction in Baltimore on March 28 and 29, 2009.

Please note: after you click this link, you'll go to mediafire.com and you'll have to deal with a couple annoying pop-ups. Just select the Belle Collection link, the "Click here to start download" link, and then click on "Open file." You'll need an Adobe Acrobat reader (always free) to view these pdf files (you can easily close the advertizing pop-ups).

Belle Collection of CC Coins

Unfortunately, the owner of this collection didn't exercise discretion in the selection of many of the coins. Thus, many of the coins were sub-par for their grades. Moreover, the collector assembled the set in haste, over a short period of time, and for whatever reason, decided to sell after owning most of the coins for less than six months. This usually results in disappointing returns. It didn't help that the collection was sold in the midst of a severe recession.

As you'll see, most of the prices are low in comparison to the rarity and desirability of the coins. This provided a great buying opportunity in many cases for shrewd collectors.

Probably the most disappointing news to the owner of this 56-piece group of coins was that the two classic rarities in the collection, the 1876-CC 20-center in NGC MS-64, and the 1870-CC $20 gold piece in NGC XF-45, didn't sell (they failed to meet their reserves).

I'm sure that this whole experience was a bitter pill for the owner of the Belle collection to swallow: and hopefully was a valuable lesson as well.

1874-CC 10c AU 55 PCGS

With cool and calm Rusty on the phone doing the bidding at the January 14, Stack's "Americana" auction, I was thrilled and very fortunate to acquire the 1874-CC AU 55 PCGS dime which had recently returned to the US from Europe. The coin is original in every way and is amazingly free of abrasions. I plan to share more about the coin with my C4OA members in the next issue of Curry's Chronicle.

But for now, I would like to tap the very considerable experience found amongst the club members. The subject 1874-CC dime displays the rough or porous surfaces, a relatively common characteristic of Carson City dimes. The most common theory for the cause of the pourous surface is die rust or decay due to conditions inside the mint building at the time.

Does anyone have any other ideas as to what could have caused this on some Carson City coins and not on others? Conversely, does anyone have definitive information that would verify the die rust or decay theory? Any and all opinions or information would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks...Belay Off

1876-CC twenty cent piece up for auction

This one is NGC MS-64. It is included in the Heritage Baltimore auction and is part of the Belle Collection of Carson City Coinage.

http://coins.ha.com/common/view_item.php?Sale_No=1126&Lot_No=983&type=collect-coinnews-tem030609&ic=


Here is the list of the Belle Collection:

http://coins.ha.com/common/search_results.php?N=51+793+794+791+1577+4294956929+4294956294&type=collect-coinnews-tem030609

Thanks for the heads up, Maya!

Curry's Chronicle Spring Edition - cover to cover

The spring edition was terrific. As a "hungry for knowledge" Carson City coin collector who is north of beginner and south of intermediate, Curry's Chronicle is an absolute oasis in both amount and breadth of information. For me, one of the most important aspects of the publication is that even the most experienced and sophisticate contributors write their articles so that all the members, not just the old grizzled pros, can appreciate what is being shared.

Thanks C4OA !

Belay Off