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World's Most Expensive M&M--$1,500; Flown in Space. Buy Flown in Space M&Ms and other food from J Daniel Rare Coins

Posted Aug-05-07 17:39:02 PDT
Happy Sunday to you,

I read with great interest a story about the world's most expensive M&M.  An M&M sold for $1,500 because it's been to space and back. 

Read all about it here:

http://most-expensive.net/m-and-m

And now you can buy your own flown space M&Ms on eBay from J Daniel Rare Coins Ltd.



M&Ms Flown in Space on Shuttle Mission STS 40


 

JDaniel Rare Coins Ltd
San Francisco, CA and London, UK
Since 1985
ANA Life Member 3841
"Raritycannot be manufactured."
 

And now for something completely different...

I am (at least) asecond-generation collector, both of my parents sharing a love forhoarding/collecting interesting things.

There are some rather interesting pieces coming out of the archives,looking for new appreciative owners.
I do hope you enjoy them.

SPACE FOOD & MEMORABILIA:

FLOWN FOOD FROM SPACE SHUTTLE MISSIONS STS-28 (1989) AND STS-40 (1991)

THIS FOOD HAS BEEN TO SPACE AND BACK!




You are bidding on items from my Space Shuttle collection.

A relative of mine was a NASA Space Shuttle ground crew memberfor many years.  His job was to install payload, includingcrew, crew quarters, provisions, experiments, etc.

When weather was prohibitive on the East Coast, the Shuttle would landat Edwards AFB in California.  This collection is from two different touchdowns of the shuttle--
  • Mission STS 28 R in August,1989
  • Mission STS 40 in June, 1991.

My relative retrieved rations from the flights after they landed and gave them to me as souvenirs.
These artifacts have all flown in space, and as such, are extremely rare.  
I have not been able to locate any other flown Shuttle-era space meals anywhere.
One-of-a kind Space History: once it's gone, there is no more.


STS 28 Landing  at Edwards AFB, August 11, 1989




STS 40 Landing at Edwards AFB,  June 14, 1991

Extensive MissionInformation available from the NASA Archives and astronautix.com:

STS 28:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/archives/sts-28.html
http://www.friends-partners.org/partners/mwade/flights/sts28.htm

STS 40:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/archives/sts-40.html
http://www.friends-partners.org/partners/mwade/details/sts40.htm
President Clinton and Space M&M s
PresidentClinton & Sen John Glenn.  Note the Space M&Msin the Prez's hand.


Flown Food in Space

"Richard A. Searfoss, STS-90 mission commander, sorts out food on the mid deck of the Earth-orbiting Space Shuttle Columbia. Searfoss uses velcro to attach the food packets to the trays mounted on the outside of mid deck stowage lockers."

Note thegranola bars, trail mix and M&Ms.


M&Ms and Edwards AFB Gate Pass from STS-40

Space Shuttle Flown Food M&Ms
    You are bidding on:
  • One (1) M&Ms Snack from Space Shuttle Mission STS 40.
  • One (1) Gate Pass from STS 40
    • The items you will receive are the exact ones pictured here.

    This meal flew on Mission STS 40 on the Space Shuttle Columbia, and was in orbit from June 5 to 14, 1991.  

    Note:
  • The label fell off this package and has been lost
  • The M&Ms are not as perfectly preserved as the freeze-dried foods.  I blame Mars, the manufacturer, not the planet 
  • Velcro circle on the back of the space meal to affix it to the galley and serving tray.

    This meal is original and still sealed, in the same pristine condition as it was when it flew in space.

    The Gate Pass is what I was given to drive onto Edwards Air Force Base to witness the landing.  It was a thrilling experience, as you heard two huge sonic booms, back to back and saw a tiny speck in the sky.  About 90 seconds later, the Columbia gently floated to the runway.  It must've descended about 20,000 feet in a minute and a half.

    My relative is in the ground crew, who open the door of the Shuttle and meet the astronauts as they descend back to Terra Firma.  He says that the Shuttle is still crackling loudly from static electricity when they approach it.

    As this lot is not documented with the hand-written flight information that the STS 28 meals are, I have bundled the items with the mission-specific ephemera that I received.

    A one-time opportunity to own a piece of space history.  
    Be the only one on your block with food that's been to space and back.

J Daniel Rare Coins Ltd
236 West Portal Ave. #303
San Francisco, CA 94127
Phone & Fax: 877 590 9690
Email: jd@jdanielrarecoins.com

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1984 W $10 Gold Olympics Commemorative in NGC UC 70 and eBay Make an Offers

Posted Jul-29-07 09:28:48 PDT Updated Jul-30-07 16:16:48 PDT
Sometimes I get questions like this to start a sunny Sunday morning:

Regarding my Buy it Now with a Make an Offer Listing of 20 1984 W $10 Gold Olympics Commemorative graded by  NGC Ultra Cameo 70:

"Are you trying to be funny or do you really not know that this material is worth?
If you need help, let me know.

Donald"

I welcome opportunities like this to educate buyers like Donald (and all of you who are reading this blog) to relative rarity and pricing.  At J Daniel Rare Coins, our motto is' "Tomorrow's Rarities Today".  We specialize in Modern US Coinage that has very high relative rarity.  Amongst traditional coin dealers and some collectors as well, there is a lack of appreciation, dare I say disdain for this part of the market.  It's new stuff and not worth the same as the old stuff.

What is abundantly clear is that there is not enough of the old stuff to go around.  Demand far outstrips supply, as witnessed by how the coins on the PCGS Rarities List perform year in and year out. 
(Up 2480 per cent since 1970 and 32 per cent over the last three years.)  There is always price support for classic numismatic rarities.

PCGS Rarities and Key Date Index:
http://www.pcgs.com/prices/frame.chtml?type=coinindex&filename=keys

But the same is happening with the moderns as well.  In the rarest issues like the $1 1995 W, there is the recognition and the price support.  Through the efforts of the US Mint, numismatics is in full bloom again and there are literally millions of new collectors.  They start with the Statehood Quarters, move onto Silver Eagles, then as they educate, start buying certified coins.  Over the years, they become more sophisticated as collectors and realize that this stuff might be worth a lot someday.  They find classic rarities too expensive for them to get into, but find modern coins with a relative rarity as great or greater that some of the older coins and they buy them.

Here's my answer to Donald:

PCGS Price Guide on this coin is $4,500 per coin, for a retail value of $90,000 for twenty pieces.

This commemorative is similar in population numbers to the 1926 $2.50 Sesquicentennial Gold. NGC has graded 749 pieces in MS65; the PCGS Price Guide for the coin is $6,000.

Perhaps you're not familiar with eBay's Make an Offer feature. I list items at my retail pricing, in this case, $1499.50 per coin. You get to click on the 'Make Offer' button and do just that. If you make an acceptable offer, you've named your own price for the coins. Alternatively, you can go to auction 150144397919 for another lot of 20 if the same coins. Opening bid is $13,990.

Thank you and happy bidding.

In terms of relative rarity, we feel the $10 Olympics Commemorative coin is similar to the 1926 $2.50 Gold Sesquicentennial Commemorative in MS65:  Both are low-mintage Gold Commemoratives with similar population numbers.  The biggest difference is that the $10 Olympics is an Ultra Cameo 70, finest known, and as such has an added appeal to NGC Registry Set collectors.

COIN
NGC
 PCGS
1926 $2.50 Sesquicentennial MS 65 749 1,324

The 1926 $2.50 Sesquicentennial in MS65 is $6,000.00 in the PCGS Price Guide.
Two more points: eBay Make an Offers and PCGS Price Guide
  • I think there's confusion in the eBay world about Buy it Now with Make and Offer.  We list our items at retail pricing, but eBay is not a retail marketplace.  Make us an offer, any reasonable offer, and we're happy to either accept it, or counter with something in the middle.  It's a great way to add back in the 'horse trading' element into the relative impersonality of ecommerce.
  • A word about the PCGS Price Guide:  It is just that--a guide.  On classic coins, the pricing tends to be a little more realistic.  On the modern stuff, it is generally high.  The $4,500 retail price for the $10 Gold Olympics is exorbitant.  That being said, my retail price of $1,495 for the NGC, which is six times more rare in relation to the PCGS, is quite good.   And then , you can always make me an offer...
 
Happy Sunday!

JD


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1993 $1 ASE Silver Eagle in NGC First Strike MS69: 37,000 times Rarer that the 1995 W $1 ASE Silver Eagle Proof 69

Posted Jul-28-07 09:56:01 PDT Updated Nov-07-07 17:37:40 PST
I got a great question from a potential buyer the other day about the 1993 $1 American Silver Eagle in NGC First Strike MS69.  This is the rarest of all business strike Silver Eagles.  There has been a lot of misinformation about First Strikes in general, from overzealous telemarketers and from those course correcting in the other direction.  Here is my opinion:

Q:  Why should the 1993 First Strike command a premium then say the 2006 Early Release A.S.E.?  There is a Total Population of 1757 here.  This is a population less than the total population of the 1995W and the 2006W to name a few yet you can purchase it for about $25.00 as a designation.  It also has less population than many MS 70 and First Strikes of other A.S.E.Dates.  So who knows if the 1993 First Strike will continue to command a premium?

Thanks, Charles

 Jul-23-07
A:  Thank you for your questions. The 1993 First Strikes have the highest relative rarity of any of the Silver Eagles.

For starters, they were a business strike with a mintage figure of over 6.7 million. Out of that group, only 462 were graded as First Strike, or less than 7/10,000 of 1 percent (1 out of every 14, 535 coins)!

The overall graded population is less than the 1995 W, a proof coin with a mintage of 30,125. Out of that group, 867 were graded by NGC alone, 787 in 69 and 80 in 70. Relative rarity of the 69s is 2.6% (1 out of every 38 coins).

That makes the 1993 First Strike in MS69 37,790 times more rare than the 1995 W in 69, which is the key priced date in the series.

The 2006 First Strike is an anomaly, as the First Strike designation was changed during 2006. The reason the prices are so low is that you get the real indication of relative rarity by combining First Strike and Early Release numbers together: 61,844 pieces.

So the 1993 has the lowest pop numbers of any Silver Eagle and an incredibly high relative rarity. Due to a change of designation, these pop numbers will never change. The collector (not mass market-driven) demand for First Strikes has always been high, and the price support has not diminished.

Collectors have always looked for an advantage, something that differentiates their coins. I believe that the demand will continue for First Strikes and as the years pass, they will be even more appreciated.

I think First Strikes are in a way comparable to First Day Covers in philately. I just sold the 1993 First Strike in MS70 to an astute collector for considerably more that what a 1995 W in 70 commands, because it is 1 of 1 and always will be.

Charles responded:
I appreciate your honesty and your evaluation.  I have First Strikes including the 1988 in MS69 except 1993, 1999.  Yours is the first real answer.

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$1.9 Million Dime travels in jeans pocket from San Jose to New York; 1894 S Barber Dime is transported by John Feigenbaum to new buyer in New York

Posted Jul-28-07 09:42:48 PDT Updated Jul-28-07 09:43:35 PDT
This item caught my eye today:

From the San Francisco Chronicle:

"John Feigenbaum flew out of San Jose this week in first class with flip-flops on his feet, a T-shirt on his back and a dime worth $1.9 million in his pocket.

It was the most expensive dime ever to pass through San Jose. That's because it is the most expensive dime in the history of dimes.

'All the way across the country, I didn't sleep,'' Feigenbaum said. "I didn't eat, and I didn't sleep. You wouldn't, either.'

Feigenbaum is a rare-coin dealer, and the dime he was carrying across the country, from San Jose to New York, is an 1894-S dime, one of only nine known to exist and one of only 24 known to be coined that year in San Francisco."

You can read the rest of the story at:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/07/27/MNG9GR85OG1.DTL

First, it's a great human interest story about my city, San Francisco.  Second, it's a striking example (pun intended) that brings relative rarity into laymen's terms.  It's not a particularly pretty coin.  But it occupies the pantheon of US Holy Grail Coins alongside the 1804 Dollar, like the 1913 Liberty Head V nickel and the 1933 $20 St. Gaudens, the most expensive US coins.

I've never transported a single nearly-$2 million coin, but I have carried valuable briefcases on planes.  John did things differently that I would've.  I would've brought along a partner:  there's strength in numbers.  You need someone to hold the kitty when you go to the toilet.  I would've definitely had a drink to take the edge off.  I would've bought the first-class seat in the first place so you're first out of the plane(and his commission was $60,000!)  I DEFINITELY wouldn't have flown into Newark.  I don't care if it's closer to Manhattan, you just don 't go to Newark, especially when transporting a $2 million coin.

But I would've skipped that movie as well. 
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Welcome to J Daniel Rare Coins Ltd. US Rare Coin Blog

Posted Jul-28-07 09:14:35 PDT Updated Jul-28-07 09:19:13 PDT
I have been a professional numismatist to the trade since 1985, specializing in institutional investors and wholesalers. In addition, our company manages portfolios for a select few (anonymous) long-term collector/investors.

Due to increased demand from our clients to liquidate their holdings of older and modern rarities, we are selling via the Internet for the first time.

Our philosophy:
Most of our inventory are coins from, in our opinion, the only reputable Independent Grading Services: PCGS, NGC, ICG and ANACS. We have always insisted on grade-guaranteed coins of the strictest standards for our clients: when spending millions on coins as investments, they need as many assurances as possible that the grades will always be recognized.

These four services alone are acknowledged as legitimate throughout the industry and coins in their holders can be traded as commodities.

Tomorrow’s Rarities Today
We sell high-grade, low population rarities, which we believe have the greatest upside potential for long-term appreciation. Our specialty is identifying coins with high Relative Rarity Index (RRI) that can be purchased for far less than ‘classic’ rarities today.

Straight advice and Candor
I've started this blog to share my insights into the inner workings of the coin business, to correct misconceptions and to educate the coin collecting community on eBay.  A well-educated coin buyer is a good buyer.  Too often in this business, it's once-bitten, twice shy, and some of the misrepresentations I see and hear about from my clients are egregious.

Please look at my feedback; my customers are satisfied and loyal.  I hear often that I am a refreshing voice in the wilderness as I explain intricacies of the coin business in ways they've not understood before.

I'll share my opinions on all the hot-topic issues in coins, collecting and investing.  Feel free to suggest topics or to comment:  jd@jdanielrarecoins.com.  Happy reading!
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