DESERT MOON NEWSLETTER, ISSUE 26, SEPTEMBER 7, 2026
Updated: Sep 8
Post-ANA Report - Bourse Activity and Auctions
Hi Folks,
Okay here we are post-ANA in Pittsburgh. You've probably read all of the reports talking about hot activity. Well, yes, and, maybe? Frankly, each year, my sales seem to be better at Winter FUN and Central States. Shorter conventions, yet each year they surpass ANA WFOM for sales. So I went to this convention with no expectations for buying and selling, happy to have whatever comes my way. What I will say for both is that the results were very good. My sales were better by about 30% than they were last year in Oklahoma City. I managed to buy 19 coins on the floor and had 17 delivered to me at the beginning of the show. All in all in terms of buy/sell, my sales pretty much matched my costs for the newps bought at the show. So all very good. But, both FUN and CSNS buys and sells were not matched. So I won't call this show nuclear like I did those 2. I look forward to Rosemont ANA WFOM next year for comparison to this year and to last year at OKC. Pittsburgh downtown was very pleasant. Bars and restaurants at all price points were excellent. The Pittsburgh residents were very friendly. There were also alot of 20-30 somethings around, and some of them told me they were living downtown. So just a great vibe.
You can read my PCGS Message Boards Show Reports by following these links:
Day 1 and 2:
Day 3:
Day 4 and Final Thoughts:
So what can we say about the Very Good results at ANA? Does it mean the market is slowing down? Well, on the buying side, some of the dealers I buy from told me I had already 'cleaned' them out of their coolest early bust coins at CSNS and just had not replenished those yet (they are after all, always difficult to find) so I did not have as much access to the best coins in this area at ANA WFOM. I see a different crowd at ANA (I think). At FUN, the crowd, at least Wednesday through Friday, appear to be the committed collectors there to buy and looking for the right example for their collections. At CSNS, I think dealer activity is greater so a balance of 50/50 between dealer/collector sales. At ANA, everyone who can make it is there, but alot of collectors from distant locations have to take 2 flights at least to get to the venue. I suspect that waters down the collector base of the so-called first or second biggest show each year. So I would think that having it next year at Rosemont, where the majority of folks from all around the US have a direct flight to O'Hare or Midway, will greatly increase committed collector attendance next year. We will see how that goes and whether our activity at WFOM will match FUN and CSNS next year.
Another reason that I don't believe the market is slowing down for the A and A+ coins within a grade for most of the pre-1933 series is the following. The latest auction records still show that for these kinds of coins, the market is going gang busters. Let me give you 2 examples of auctions I participated in last week.
First let's look at auction results for the Jim Matthews Bust Dime collection that was offered by David Perkins (click to expand). Here are the examples I bid aggressively on that were all super cool coins:
Above is right out of my spreadsheet, you can see that the columns have self-explanatory headings. Note for each, PCGS Retail and CPG (Retail CAC) are listed, as are to the left of these columns, the Prices in the next higher grades for P-PCGS, and C-CAC. Then to the right of this are the Sell Price(s) with 15% added buyers premium. And then I show the X CPG which is simply Sell Price/CPG. Every single one of these went from 1.3 to 3.07 times CPG with an average for all 6 of 1.84 times CPG. And me, I got none of them, nada, zip, zilch, zero, yikes!
Second let's look at the 5 coins I was bidding on at the Heritage ANA auction:
An interesting range of early US types, all A to A+ for the grade. Note that one of these is an AU58+ so I list the PCGS AU58+ price for this one (neon green shade), where the CPG is for AU58 (no 58+ prices for CPG). We could discuss the nuances that dictate value and price for each of these in both auctions, but the bottom line is that in both, all of the sell prices were above stated CPG and alot of them by alot, and both acutions, at least for the coins I was bidding on, gave similar results in terms of average and variable X CPG. I was underbidder on a couple of these lots in the 2 auctions but didn't win a single one. For Heritage, I never bid on their live auction. That is dangerous when one is getting them for resale as auction exuberance can take over and then one is buried. But each of these went for way over what I would pay and still sell on the DM website.
What I conclude out of this is that the market for A and A+ coins for the grade is still red hot. I don't think it is going to change as we have many more serious collectors of all ages than we did only a decade ago, and demand is very strong. If the econonmy crashes, this could change, but no matter what has been thrown at it for the past 6 or so years, irrespective of controlling party for our government, it just chugs along. So at least for the near future, collecting these kinds of coins, and holding them for a few years, I just don't think one can do wrong in terms of if one has to sell them after that period. Even when paying the high premiums that seem to be the norm at these auctions. And until then, we can all enjoy these wonderful pieces of history and art in our cabinets (I still collect within a narrow range - see my ANA show report for my collection newps).
In either case, below we present 10 of the newps we obtained at ANA or just before. I will be releasing many additional examples over the coming months in at least 5 Cool Coin Showcases with themed groups of very cool coins. So keep an eye out for that. Also, I will be at the Great American Collectibles Convention at Rosemont in late September to early October. I won't have a table but walking the floor where I can spend all of my time hunting out cool newps. If you are there and want to connect, let me know.
As usual, you can click on the images below to take you to the listings on the inventory page of each newp. And, you can email us about any of our coins you may have an interest in.
Thanks for reading and enjoy your Labor Day!
Best, DM
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