Roadrunner Sets Pace for Upcoming Superior Auctionby Greg Reynolds for CoinLinkOn May 26 and 27, Superior Galleries of Beverly Hills will auction a variety of numismatic items, mostly U.S. coins, plus some patterns, many British and other European coins, tokens and medals, and paper money. The topic here is the 'Roadrunner' collection of 133 items, a vast majority of which are U.S. coins.
A significant percentage of the Roadrunner collection consists of coins from the shipwreck of the S.S. Republic, including a startling sixteen Liberty
Seated half dollars. An extensive run of Liberty Head Double Eagles ($20 coins) is newsworthy. The collector known as 'Roadrunner' has gold coins of all denominations dating from the middle of the 19th century. Most of his gold coins were produced at Branch Mints, though he has several Philadelphia Mint gold coins.
The most valuable coin in the Roadrunner collection is an 1879 Flowing Hair Stella ($4 gold coin). It is NGC certified Proof-67 Cameo. He purchased it privately from Superior Galleries.
Overall, this collection is particular strong in the series of Liberty Head Eagles ($10 gold coins). Eagles dated 1860-S are extremely rare, and Roadrunner has one of the highest graded ones, an NGC certified MS-61 1860-S from the S.S. Republic. It is one of only two that the NGC has graded above MS-60; the other, which is graded MS-61 was also from the S.S. Republic. The PCGS has not graded any of these above AU-55. It seems likely that fewer than fifty 1860-S Eagles are known.
The 1858-S Eagle is very rare. There are certainly less than 135 pieces known. Roadrunner's 1858-S, NGC graded AU-55, may be one of the best. Jeff Garrett & Ron Guth write that the 1858-S "is nearly as rare as the more highly regarded 1858 Eagle, but unlike the 1858,
no mint State examples of the 1858-S are known" (Encyclopedia of U.S. Gold Coins, 2006, p. 337).
Read Full StoryAll Recent News 
Posted 05/16/2008 12:47 pm
