Back To Business: The “New” Long Beach Expo Report - February 2026
mattniss
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It was just about one year ago, almost to the day, that the Long Beach Expo was seemingly dead. With its illustrious history as the West Coast’s oldest and largest coin show in operation since 1964, it seemed to go out with a whimper as dealers and collectors alike all wondered what would happen, with the future of the show in question. Would it be continued by Collectors Universe but just on a smaller or different scale? Would a group coalesce to put on their version for the demanding West Coast collectors who were suddenly faced without a large-scale show for the first time in over 60 years?
As we now know, Stack’s Bowers came in and with a flash, here I was one year later, back on the bourse for Thursday’s Day 2 of the new show schedule. While I don't think anyone would say that the new Long Beach show is better than ever, the SB edition was a very solid and well-run event that did a great job of injecting a sense of optimism for those in attendance, especially given the very interesting times in our hobby today. With collectors excited to have the show back, buoyed by the general public traffic coming in driven by the rise in precious metals, there was a moderately steady flow of floor traffic all day that never came close to reaching the point of being overwhelmingly busy. If you wanted to get face time with a given dealer, you were generally able to over the course of the day without having to bully your way in to get someone's attention.
It was apparent that there was consistently more table action over with the bullion dealers versus the dealers in the front of the bourse with big boy coins. Bullion items were king for the general public for sure. Silver was selling like hotcakes. Gold perhaps a bit less, but there was plenty of bullion changing hands left and right. However, in a numismatic observation, there appeared to be relatively low volume of higher quality material overall in dealer cases. This might have been a sign of the times with precious metals prices and the semblance of market uncertainty for dealers not to bring the good stuff. It also could maybe have been the fact that I didn’t make it until Day 2 and all the good stuff got picked already, I guess.
In any direction, it seemed like one of the lowest turnouts for CAC stickered coins throughout cases at any Long Beach I can remember in several years. It’s not that there weren’t CAC coins at the show, but they weren’t in abundance. For those who enjoy the sticker hunt, I believe I only saw 3 total gold CAC coins for sale throughout the entire bourse – a $3 princess in NGC over with Paradime, an IHC in PCGS MS63RB with a dealer from Arizona, and an OGH Morgan in PCGS MS63 from a dealer from Sacramento. While there were 2 coins I was close on but just couldn’t get a deal done (one notably was a gorgeous 1882-CC $5 AU55 PCGS CAC), I was able to break the ice with a nice new addition to my Morgan collection.
1904-O $1 PCGS MS66+ CAC
As is sometimes the case, astute eyes were still able to cherry pick from the collector coin dealers, including myself. Towards the back, you had some dealers who had a mix of bullion and slabbed coins, and I never hesitate to check the cases for anything overlooked. As someone who enjoys the hunt for old, rare, or sample slabs, I noticed a little flashy Mercury dime in a Gen 4.X PCGS holder in the very bottom of one case amongst several other common widgets. Upon closer inspection, I saw it was a 109 serial number that must have been reholdered at some point in the mid-2000’s. After asking for a price and offering a modest counter, I was able to secure the coin for an extremely attractive price.
1944-S 10C PCGS MS65FB
Other quick observations – 90% was available at 55x face, common silver dollars were selling for $60, and there were a ton of rattlers abound (usual common widgets, no 108's or 109's but several 111, 112, and 113's). There was a plethora of mostly common slabbed gold, and the usual expected volume of toners, type, ancients, and moderns as well. Lines were consistently long at the PCGS booth for grading, though notably less busy for NGC and ANACS. Heard a grumble or two about the prices for the concession stands ($8 bottles of water! $14 hot dogs! $16 pizza!). The sports card dealers were gone, with only 1 or 2 dealers even showing a few cards along with bullion and coins. Otherwise, security was there and visible, and everything seemed to go off without a hitch.
Here’s a few other cool numismatic treasures I got to enjoy seeing in person during my day on the floor:
1921-P $1 ANACS MS64 Zerbe Dies
1921-D $1 PCGS Regency Presentation Piece - 9th Minted
Justh & Hunter 22.83oz Ingot PCGS
1852 $50 Assay 887 PCGS AU58 CAC
1983-S 10C PCGS PR70DCAM “No S”
It was very exciting for me to be back at the Long Beach Expo, and I’m very much looking forward to the next one in September 2026. I absolutely encourage anyone who is on the fence about attending to make the trip!
Comments
Nice report. Happy to hear that Long Beach lives !
Nice report, sorry to have missed the show!
One note, this is not a re-holdered 109 serial number rattler. The rattlers had 7 digit cert numbers and this is 8 digits. Just a coincidence.
chopmarkedtradedollars.com
Love the Regency slab
Excellent report Matt! Looks like you had a good show; sorry we missed one another!
Ken
“The thrill of the hunt never gets old”
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You’re totally right @lermish! Glad the price was right either way.
Wow, what a fun read. I almost feel like was there. Thanks for the detailed report! Long live Long Beach.
Dave
Nice report. Thanks.
Thanks for the show report!
"She comes out of the sun in a silk dress,
running like a water color in the rain...."
Great report, thanks!
A most complete recap.
Thanks for the report. If I separate the bullion and numismatic parts of it out, it sounds like if bullion weren't super hot right now, the show would have been a dud. Good that you found stuff to buy and other stuff to ogle.
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution
That's an interesting way to think about it! I don't know if the show would have been a dud necessarily, but the hot bullion market definitely made it easier for collectors and the general public alike to have some more cash to spend, including myself. Seems to be a similar story to other recent shows like Winter FUN. Hot PM prices = more bullion selling = more cash to be spent on the floor.
Great update...nice to see one of the big national shows which had showed a bit of decline reverse that trend.