The Long and Short of It – My short (but productive) stay at Long Beach means that my Long Beach report is going to be short (but productive). I didn’t arrive at Long Beach until Thursday afternoon and I was severely jet-lagged after having just returned from Japan. I had originally intended to totally skip Long Beach but a lack of coins meant that I had to try my best to quickly and efficiently restock.   
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As I left for Long Beach last week, I wondered if this edition would be different from the last few Long Beach shows I have attended. The answer—and some random observations about the market—are included below. Unlike some of my competitors, I have made the decision not to attend the various and sundry pre-Long Beach auctions.   
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I had very little in the way of expectations for the third and final version of this year’s Long Beach coin show. In my opinion, the show was slightly above average, primarily due to interest caused by the surge in metals price. I thought that set-up (on Wednesday) was a bit perkier than usual for a Long Beach.   
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In their recent pre-Long Beach Elite Auction, Superior sold a nice set of Carson City half eagles and eagles. These coins were interesting due to the fact that they were in old green label PCGS holders and, as one might expect, a number of coins appeared to have considerable upgrade potential. The half eagles were led by an 1870-CC graded EF40 by PCGS.   
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With few exceptions, coin shows are, for me, places to buy. So I typically judge my success at a coin show on how much I am able to purchase and if my new coins are interesting. On both fronts, I would have to say that the recent Long Beach show was a strong success. The funny thing is, the show itself seemed pretty slow.   
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nother Long Beach week has come and gone and this February’s version provided some interesting insights into the current state of the rare coin market. For me, the week began with attending the Goldberg auction in Beverly Hills. This sale contained quite a bit of rare gold coinage, including extensive runs of early half eagles, numerous high grade Charlotte and Dahlonega gold coinage and some impressive double eagles.   
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