December 31, 2024: The Year in Review

I can’t hardly believe that it is the end of the year already, since it seems like just yesterday your author was indiscriminately shoving clothes into a suitcase for the trip down to the FUN show in January of 2024. But it is, and I did, mostly because I tend to be an impatient packer. But the instant that suitcase was zipped shut, we spent the following 364 days buying, selling, grading, trading, CACing, photographing, sorting, collating and stacking just under 5,000 coins (including the last one of the year about 20 minutes ago).

With many of them appearing on this very website, and others at various auction houses here and abroad, consigning others to dealers specializing in said material, listing hundreds on Ebay, and on Instagram, and selling one coin to a guy at my golf club sort of accidentally.

A rich trove of activity from which we have extracted the following highlights for this year’s TYIR article, starting with this one:

Coolest Coin Handled
There are many criteria we could use in an effort to determine which single item was coolest this past year, but if we are going to go by the number of likes received on our Instagram feed, the answer is quite clear – it has to be this epic 1652 Pine Tree Shilling in MS64+ traced to the Garrett Collection:

But while that coin was undeniably popular, it was not the MOST popular if we are going to go by the number of orders we received. By that criteria, it would be this crazy toned MS67 PCGS CAC 1943 Walking Liberty Half Dollar which was ordered by 11 people off our November 19th Early Bird list:

Alas, that coin like every other one we sold in 2024 was one of a kind in our inventory and sold on a first come first served basis.

The 2024 Reverse Vesuvius Award
Not surprisingly, this year’s winner is the ham, egg and cheese crepe rolled into the shape of an ice cream cone served in a pointy paper cup by the Crepery stand on the bourse floor at the FUN show in Orlando. And while that was delicious, be warned: You have precisely 43 seconds to eat it before it melts the cup and the whole thing starts to erupt out the bottom like an upside down high school science project run amok:

Northernmost Hat
No question that this year’s winner was this Navy and Yellow number being worn by a good customer during a National Geographic Lindblad Expedition at Camp Barentz, Svlabard, Norway (latitude 81.25 degrees north):

As the crow (not CRO) flies, that’s 3,327 miles from our offices here in Weston, MA:

But of course direct flights can be hard to find.

Marathon Man, the Sequel
No, not a revival of that disturbing movie in which Dustin Hoffman runs from a deranged Nazi dentist, I am referring instead to our 5 shows in 6 weeks Devens to Philadelphia to Colorado to Baltimore to New Hampshire marathon in February and March. Hey, I love coins shows as much as anyone, but I’m pretty sure I’m too old to be doing that.

Most Delicious Chocolate Coin
This was a tough choice. We were going to go with the 1852-dated gold foil-wrapped version offered by Candyland confections in St. Paul, MN, but then decided the 1843 Half Cent being auctioned by Jones & Horan in October and looking so pristine it simply had to be chocolate was even tastier:

Oldest Old Holder Handled
In a year in which we handled a bunch of coins in mid-1980s PCGS Rattler slabs, and a similar vintage NGC Black holder you’d think one of those must have qualified as oldest, right? That would be a good guess, but it would be incorrect, as the oldest holder was actually this circa 1950s vintage National Coin Album by Wayte Raymond filled with early half dollars we acquired at the ANA World’s Fair of Money in Rosemont in August:

Best Local Show Find
We had a pretty good run at the local events this year and bought well more than our fair share of cool coins, but if we had to narrow it down to just one deal it would have to be this fantastic 6-coin gold group we snagged at the beginning of the New Hampshire show in October:

Greatest Confusion Profusion
Certainly a lot of confusing things happened to us in 2024, but none more so than the guy who came to our table at the Baltimore show in November and asked me if the PCGS graded, CAC verified $20 gold piece in our case was “gold-gold”, or “half-gold”, and then asked if the secret service would confiscate it.

If anyone has any idea what any of that meant please send us a note and let us know.

Best Kept Secret Coin
While many of our coins were introduced via our Early Birds, featured on Instagram and cycled through the website, a few never saw the light of day in 2024. Including this epic Fugio Copper with more bells and whistles than any other one we’ve seen which we sold midyear using a telephone:

Most Unfortunate Misplaced Digit
I speak of course of our experience at the CSNS Show in April when another dealer proudly showed us the Jefferson Nickel which he had just purchased for $7,000 based on our advice that it was worth $10,000. And that would have been really great except that for the fact we had actually told him (in writing, mind you) that it was worth only $1,000. Bummer.

The Coin we Wish we’d Kept
We handled so many great things during this year, including all of the coins shown above. But there was one that I seriously considered keeping for myself – this super original, colorfully toned, old holdered, relatively affordable 1826 Capped Bust 50¢:

But of course that sale contributed to an excellent 2024 for which we owe our sincere thanks to all of our many numismatic friends, customers and colleagues who make this all possible.

All the best in 2025!

Team CRO