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Just a short story about the Long Beach show I attended last Friday. I went for the single purpose of finding a 1953 Re Engraved Proof Die #1. I have picked a few of the Die # 2 off Ebay, but I still needed a Die 1 for my registry sets. I arrived around 11:30 after a 2-hour drive and found the LA traffic lighter than usual but still thick. PCGS sent Registry participants an email saying to bring the email to the show for free admittance. This was bit unusual as they usually just send an email with a code that allows us to register and print off our entrance badge. But I handed over the email, and was given a “honorary” purple color badge. I asked a few dealer friends inside what was up with this new entrance badge and they said it meant here comes another sucker, or it was a sign to raise the cost of a coin by 20% LOL.
Any way I began my search looking through every 1953 proof set, or individual cent, raw or slabbed I could find. It was not until late in the afternoon and about 2/3 through the show I came upon a dealer who said he had a roll of 1953 proof cents. The first one off the top was Die #2. I set it aside and casually when through the roll when about halfway through - score – out comes Die # 1. I was hoping to find more looking at the remaining coins but no more were to be found. So with a poker face I asked what he wanted for the 2 proof cents. Out came the dealer Gray sheets which I personally despise. After thumbing through the sheets he said $17 each which in fact was a fair price for an ordinary 1953 proof cent so I said nothing, paid up and then walked directly over to the PCGS submission table and submitted the 2 coins under Express grading service. Since I was willing to buy an entire proof set, just to get the coin, I was not going to hold back getting the coins graded ASAP as June 30th is the end of the Registry awards year and this single coin pushed me in to the #1 spot in 4 different proof variety sets. I am not sure how long I will stay in any # 1 set position as everyday it seems folks are adding new coins to their sets, but regardless of the horse race I was very pleased when the coin graded proof 67! Not bad for $17. Unfortunately, a thumb print caused the Die # 2 to only grade PR 64 but since I already have a PR 66 in the set, no worries.
Finally, as I finished the show I came upon a 1953 PR 67 cent at dealer’s case which stood out as It was as the Feb Long Beach Show. Now I almost bought it then for 2 reasons. First it was a lovely deep orange color. Second, it was an unattributed DDO. He was willing to take $100 for the coin which I also took over to the submission table and dropped it off for Regrade service – as it looks spectacular in my opinion and maybe deserving of a bump, variety attribution to designate it’s a DDO, and also a professional “True View” picture. But we will have to wait a month before I find the results and share the picture of that coin with you. So that is my pickers report of the Long Beach show and now here is the coin. That long mark under the date is the re engraved area which resulted from the die being over used and unable to strike up any relief between Lincoln's bust and the field. So the engraver just simply made a crude cut.
WS
Any way I began my search looking through every 1953 proof set, or individual cent, raw or slabbed I could find. It was not until late in the afternoon and about 2/3 through the show I came upon a dealer who said he had a roll of 1953 proof cents. The first one off the top was Die #2. I set it aside and casually when through the roll when about halfway through - score – out comes Die # 1. I was hoping to find more looking at the remaining coins but no more were to be found. So with a poker face I asked what he wanted for the 2 proof cents. Out came the dealer Gray sheets which I personally despise. After thumbing through the sheets he said $17 each which in fact was a fair price for an ordinary 1953 proof cent so I said nothing, paid up and then walked directly over to the PCGS submission table and submitted the 2 coins under Express grading service. Since I was willing to buy an entire proof set, just to get the coin, I was not going to hold back getting the coins graded ASAP as June 30th is the end of the Registry awards year and this single coin pushed me in to the #1 spot in 4 different proof variety sets. I am not sure how long I will stay in any # 1 set position as everyday it seems folks are adding new coins to their sets, but regardless of the horse race I was very pleased when the coin graded proof 67! Not bad for $17. Unfortunately, a thumb print caused the Die # 2 to only grade PR 64 but since I already have a PR 66 in the set, no worries.
Finally, as I finished the show I came upon a 1953 PR 67 cent at dealer’s case which stood out as It was as the Feb Long Beach Show. Now I almost bought it then for 2 reasons. First it was a lovely deep orange color. Second, it was an unattributed DDO. He was willing to take $100 for the coin which I also took over to the submission table and dropped it off for Regrade service – as it looks spectacular in my opinion and maybe deserving of a bump, variety attribution to designate it’s a DDO, and also a professional “True View” picture. But we will have to wait a month before I find the results and share the picture of that coin with you. So that is my pickers report of the Long Beach show and now here is the coin. That long mark under the date is the re engraved area which resulted from the die being over used and unable to strike up any relief between Lincoln's bust and the field. So the engraver just simply made a crude cut.
WS
Be verwy verwy quiet... I'm hunting coins!!! 
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