Ok now my turn to try a video...

A real life CACG graded coin spotted in the wild at FUN!

Sometimes the rare coin market puzzles me. We can obsess over the smallest detail or blemish and come up with a million reasons not to buy a coin. And then there's moments like this: https://www.scoins.com/lot.aspx?a=30&l=840 Key date 21-S Walker. But a terrible holder and grade -- NGC 61. Coin failed CAC (the entire auction was sent and anything without a sticker didn't make it). And yet, a dealer paid $30,385 for the coin -- nearly full PCGS retail ($31k), >25% more than the last NGC 61 to sell a few months ago ($24k), and more than a PCGS 62 that sold back in March ($29k). I asked him why he bid and bought it (did I miss something about the market or the coin?) and he said, quite simply, "eh...it looks nicer than a 61". Didn't care about the hairlines in the fields, the rub on the high points, the comps, didn't care about the NGC holder, didn't care that it failed CAC. Did he have someone for the coin? Nope. Just liked it. I figured ok, well, I guess he's gonna own that guy for a while. And then, 2 hours after he picked it up....he sold it to a wholesaler for $33,000. I asked HIM why he paid so much: "Eh...it looks nicer than a 61" (again, not a care in the world about any of the reasons that it's actually in a 61 holder). And he'll sell it for $35k+. Just goes to show you how far "it looks nice" can get you.

My hands-down favorite addition to inventory from summer FUN, a very special [DeplorableDan] x [numismattack] collab. This stunning piece of CAC early gold (with a very numismaticslly-auspicious date) also emphasizes a very important point I’ve learned: MS61 on a Morgan dollar typically means a pretty terrible coin. But MS61 on early gold means a true mint state coin with original surfaces that’s seen just a touch of action (but that’s still, relatively speaking, affordable!). Come see it in person at ANA in a few weeks!

Ok ok I should probably post some of the cool coins I saw at FUN too, eh?

En route home from an exhausting, exhilarating, and successful FUN show. Saw some EPIC coins, had some great meals with a superb group of fellow coin nerds. Back home to recharge for a few days, then off to the MNS show in St. Louis and then ANA in Pittsburgh!