Coins We Love: Life on the Road

Life on the road continued this week with a jaunt to Salt Lake City, Utah. I had the privilege of sorting multiple sets of coins and finalizing the primary sets in the D.L. Hansen Collection. We’ve sold quite a few triplicate issues in the past and many upgrades have been made over the past few years, so a regular visit was necessary to sort out the best of the best. This was a thrilling, yet daunting, project as some of the duplicates are incredibly stellar. It makes it hard to say, “This coin just isn’t as nice as the higher grade one...” In some cases, I saw the duplicate before I even knew that it wasn’t the coin in the primary set - That’s when an audible “wow” would eject from my mouth.

Sometimes the enormity of what we’re working on with this collection is difficult to understand. I had the privilege of giving a brief explanation of the collection and the concept of collecting one of EVERY regular issue US coin from 1792-present to a small group of people. After my presentation, there were a few audible comments that really made me think. While the Smithsonian has a similar collection, the quality is nowhere near the quality of this collection. One of the little-known facts is that over 40% of the coins in the primary D.L. Hansen Collection are either the finest known or tied for the finest graded at PCGS!

So, while the quantity of coins in the collection is daunting, when you dig deeper it is even more fascinating to comprehend numismatically. Suffice it to say, sorting through a complete set of $5 Gold Liberty Half Eagles and an almost complete set of duplicates is mind-blowing. Of course, there’s more work to do here in the future, but three full days of organizing the greatest collection of US coins ever assembled is an incredible honor (and a lot of fun!).

In the office, we JUST launched the last selection of the Helen’s Quarter Collection that will be ending in March. For those of you waiting to see the entire set in one viewing, now is your chance! Click here to view the ENTIRE Helen’s Quarter Collection.

The Augusta $5 Gold Collection is featured in this week's Sunday auction closing on February 18th! This fun assortment of $5 gold features 12 high-end pieces. Consisting of Draped Bust, Capped Bust, and Liberty gold selections, these premium pieces are sure to garner intense registry collector attention. Highlights include a near-gem 1800 $5 NGC/CAC MS64, a wonderfully original 1806 $5 PCGS/CAC MS63 (Pointed 6, 8x5 Stars), a popular overdate 1808/7 $5 PCGS/CAC MS63, an impeccably preserved 1810 $5 PCGS/CAC MS64 (Small Date, Large 5), a high-end 1846-D/D $5 PCGS MS64, and a low mintage key date 1861-D $5 PCGS/CAC AU55. Browse and bid now: HERE!

Thankfully, we have a few weeks at home to catch up on things! But, this weekend we’ll be set up at the Virginia Beach Convention Center for the Tidewater Coin Club Show. If you’re in the area (or a few hours away), please don’t hesitate to stop in and say hello. We’d love to see you! If you’re not local, we hope that you’re making plans to come to Colorado Springs for the National Money Show or to Baltimore for the Spring Whitman Expo, both taking place in March. We’ll be displaying some highlights from the upcoming Red Carpet Rarities events!

Thanks again for spending a few minutes with us here today and we hope that you enjoy these Coins We Love!

Numismatically Yours,

John Brush and Your Friends at DLRC

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