Ep.51 - Young Coin Dealer Bryce Bergstrom of GenAlphaCoins #coin #numismatics #collecting
Hey folks, welcome back to the Cabbage Coins Podcast. My name is Tony Grukevich. I am the owner and operator of Cabbage Coins. And today we have a real delight for you, a real treat for you guys. Just coming back from the fun show, it was an amazing show.
Tony Gryckiewicz:And I brought a lot of my new purchases here today and we're gonna do a little interview and maybe some kind of coin dealing, live negotiation with my friend here, Bergstrom. Bryce is the owner and the president of GenAlphaCoins. If you guys have been to any coin tours recently, you've seen probably you've seen Bryce and his father Rob walking around, and Bryce always wears the cowboy hat, and he's the he's I don't wanna say kid. I mean, you're you're a young man and you're you're you're what are you? 12 years old, I think, getting soon to turn 13, getting into this hobby, but you've probably seen this guy walking the floor.
Tony Gryckiewicz:So Bryce, why don't you introduce yourself and just tell folks out there how you got started in Coins and maybe tell us what your favorite series is to to deal in or to collect.
Bryce Bergstrom:Okay. My name is Bryce and I started collecting about two years ago. I really got into it by my dad. He collected when he was a kid, and he tried to get me and my siblings into it. He never really got us deeply into it, But he made a cherry pick online and I realized, oh, you can make money and there's all this cool history and all these cool varieties.
Bryce Bergstrom:And so that's really how he got me into it. And my favorite type of coinage is bust and seeded coinage.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Okay. Nice. So I've got I've got a few of those to show you in a second. So what has been your favorite coin show to attend so far? Which one did you have the most fun at?
Tony Gryckiewicz:Which one did you do the best as a as as a dealer? What's been kind of like the the the history for you and your father going to shows? What's been your favorite experiences?
Bryce Bergstrom:There's a few shows that I like a lot. I like Central States, both funds. Those are probably my highlights. And I also go to places like Long Beach and the ANA. The ANA was my first national show.
Bryce Bergstrom:And I think my most successful show is the most recent one, The Fun Show. We've just been doing a lot more and getting better.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Wow. Okay. So any highlights of something that you purchased at The Fun Show?
Bryce Bergstrom:We got a Mormon $5 that my dad got.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Alright. Nice. Very nice. Very nice. So for those who don't when we're talking about Mormon Gold, there was an episode on Pioneer Gold with David McCarthy.
Tony Gryckiewicz:I can't remember what the episode number was, but we're talking about, I think it's California Gold, I think. And these are really rare, exceptionally rare, exceedingly, I mean, very valuable coins. And did you guys get that and then you ended up like regrading it or something? What was kind of the story with that coin? Yeah.
Bryce Bergstrom:Well, we bought it in a PCS holder. We think it's undergraded, so we're gonna reholder that.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Okay. Very cool. Exciting. I definitely wanted to see this coin. I would love to.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Bryce sold me a Clark Gruber 2 and a half dollar gold at the Central State Show. That was a beautiful coin. I had that on my website for all of like three days maybe and then, you know, it was quickly, quickly sold. I actually, I ended up crossing that myself. I think you sold it to me in the NGC 58 holder.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Crossed it down to a PCGS 55 because I really wanted it in the PCGS holder and it was more valuable, I think at the time, you know, in that holder. So it's a great coin and I really appreciate you working with me on that. All right, man. So what I thought we'd do is I've got some coins to show you and we can go through all of my purchases or some of them at least, my pickups from from fun. Alright, Bryce.
Tony Gryckiewicz:So the first coin I want to chat with you about real quick is this 1,800 bus dollar. I know this is up your guys' alley. This is sort of your cup of tea. You like the bus coinage. This is a PCGS good o $61,800 with the CAC sticker and that's what the reverse looks like.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yeah. I'm just curious what you thought. I mean, my my price of this coin is gonna be $29.50. You can feel free to make me an offer if you'd like because I know you guys, you know, buy the resell. So but tell me what you think about it.
Bryce Bergstrom:Yeah. I mean, it's a great collector coin. Overall, it's pretty original. It's worn, but you can still see a lot of the important details in my opinion. You can see her hair, the date Mhmm.
Bryce Bergstrom:Liberty, and just all the details and, like, all the big design elements you can see. And so it's just a great collector coin.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yeah. What do you think of this 1,800 date? Isn't it one of the better ones?
Bryce Bergstrom:It's not super rare, but it's still I mean, it's still a rare coin. It's a Dreip Bust dollar, which is rare. Yeah. And that was two hundred twenty six years ago.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Sure.
Bryce Bergstrom:Very old coin.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yeah. I mean, it comes to these, I know the $17.99 is the most common. Mhmm. I wanna say the $17.98 is pretty close to that. Yeah.
Tony Gryckiewicz:I believe 1,800, I think is slightly better. I think it's slightly better, but still fairly in terms of the years, it's it's an available coin. They're out there. Yeah. What do you think about these marks kind of around the star?
Tony Gryckiewicz:Do you do do you are you concerned at all about them?
Bryce Bergstrom:No. It's a good six. It circulated a lot. I can imagine those are just a lot of dings that happened throughout its circulation. Some people might have dropped it.
Bryce Bergstrom:It might have banged around with other coins in their pocket. Other stuff could have happened, but it must have circulated for a while to get a good six, and I can imagine that happening. And I would I like to look at the coin as a whole and not those small imperfections.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yeah. That makes sense. That makes sense. Alright. Moving on to another piece of bust coinage.
Tony Gryckiewicz:This is an $18.00 6 half. This is a another draped bust half. This is a higher grade VEF 25 CAC sticker. This is an NGC holder this time. And what do you think of what do you think of this thing?
Tony Gryckiewicz:Do you like the look of it?
Bryce Bergstrom:It's I like it. It's also pretty original, and it has what I like to call circulated cameo.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Mhmm.
Bryce Bergstrom:It's pretty great. You can see a lot more details than the previous coin, but at the same time, it'll probably be a similar price. Maybe more or
Tony Gryckiewicz:less. Actually, this coin, I'm looking for $1,600 for this coin.
Bryce Bergstrom:Really? Wow. Mhmm. That is a great coin. Can I see the reverse again?
Bryce Bergstrom:Sure. Yeah. There's some cool die cracks below the left claw and the eagle and the of the Owen, the of of states of America. I love dicrocs. Yeah.
Bryce Bergstrom:That can help you attribute the variety.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Oh, yeah? Okay. Go for it.
Bryce Bergstrom:So how much did you say you wanted for that one?
Tony Gryckiewicz:1,600.
Bryce Bergstrom:1,600, and that's an $18.00 6?
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yeah. I think this is a well, we have the stem. Right? We got the pointed six and the stem, I believe. VF 25.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Let me see what the gray sheet is real quick on it.
Bryce Bergstrom:Wow. There's no recent comps.
Tony Gryckiewicz:The latest comp was
Bryce Bergstrom:$20.20. Yeah.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yeah. $20.20 for $4,000, but the coin was clearly undergraded, but go ahead.
Bryce Bergstrom:Yeah. And the most recent comp for the accurately graded one is $900, which is inaccurate. The market has exploded since then, so it's gonna be quite a lot more.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Mhmm. Mhmm.
Bryce Bergstrom:So it's just hard to price that kind of thing, but I think what you're asking is fair.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yeah. Thanks. Yeah. I mean, I I think, know, I I I Gracie bid on these coins, I think was somewhere around $900 or something. So it's $9.80 actually, which is, in my opinion, a bit outdated for where the market is on any type of bust material like this with a CAC sticker specifically.
Tony Gryckiewicz:So
Bryce Bergstrom:Yeah.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Mhmm.
Bryce Bergstrom:I think it just too low. Some of that stuff hasn't caught up yet, and that's '20 20 pricing. That's six years ago. Yeah. Very different market.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Alright. So anyways, moving on to my $18.29. This is a 50ยข piece. This is a CAC AU $50.55. This is this one of these Witterbricks signed by Seth here on the reverse.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Nice, I think, nice original coin. I don't feel this coin has ever seen any kind of real cleaning it at all.
Bryce Bergstrom:Yeah. Nothing like no brushes or anything. They're just dirty, crusty, original, some luster. It just means it's circulated very little and not messed with really.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yeah. Yeah. This coin's gonna be on my website for $8,800, which I think is right in line. It's pretty fair for for a CAC Mhmm. You know, '55 common date.
Tony Gryckiewicz:But for a coin like this, that's where it's gonna go.
Bryce Bergstrom:And some people actually collect woodabrick. There's a woodabrick registry actually. And so some people like to get that stuff.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Interesting. Okay. I did not know that with a brick registries. Alright. So moving on to we have an 1857 flying eagle scent in MS 62.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Pretty straightforward coin. I would say pretty, you know, for a 62, it's kinda chattery. You got some not too sure about the planch, maybe right here.
Bryce Bergstrom:Yeah.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Nothing phenomenal in terms of luster, but it is a 62 k.
Bryce Bergstrom:It's a pretty good coin. Yeah. I mean, it's uncirculated, and it's on more affordable on the end of uncirculated. And it has all the design elements and detail. What I like is what I like.
Bryce Bergstrom:I love that reverse. The, is it tobacco wreath?
Tony Gryckiewicz:It's a good good question. I actually do not know. Are these is this because I feel like isn't that cotton? Isn't this cotton up here or or am I wrong completely? I have no idea.
Bryce Bergstrom:I don't know.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yeah. I love the flying eagle scent. I feel like that's one of the most popular designs. It's so short lived. Right?
Bryce Bergstrom:Yeah. I mean, it only lasted for two, technically three years. It's the first small scent that they had. So similar size to, like, the Lincoln scent, but that is the first small scent that they made after the large scents. They ended the large scents and half scents in 1857 and started those.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yeah. I I believe I was reading that James Longacre, I think he's one who designed this obverse, but this was the first occurrence where for a circulating coin, they chose to a non commemorative circulating coin. They chose to kind of move away from the image of the allegorical liberty, know, kind of female kind of a liberty that they put on most of the coins, like on our bus coinage or whatever. Moved away from that into a non liberty image, which is with this Eagle.
Bryce Bergstrom:Yep. That is a nice coin. So how much were you asking for that?
Tony Gryckiewicz:This coin is 1,200 on my website.
Bryce Bergstrom:1,200? Oh. Wanna check that out?
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yeah. 1,200.
Bryce Bergstrom:Yeah. It's pretty fair pricing. It's a nice coin.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Mhmm. Mhmm.
Bryce Bergstrom:Thanks for showing me that one.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Okay. So moving on to one of my favorite coins. Yeah. Yeah. We have seeded seeded liberty dollar or liberty seeded dollar depending on how you wanna I guess wanna say What do you like by the way?
Tony Gryckiewicz:Liberty seeded dollar or seeded liberty dollar?
Bryce Bergstrom:Seeded liberty dollar. That's more natural for me. Wow. That coin is just and it's New Orleans. I mean, it's one of the more common years, but still, New Orleans in MS 63, that is kinda where uncirculateds get really lustrous usually from when I
Tony Gryckiewicz:see them.
Bryce Bergstrom:And I don't see ceded dollars in that grade much.
Tony Gryckiewicz:This is true. Yeah. Yep. Yep. So for folks out there that like if you wanted to get a very lustrous kind of an MS seated dollar, they're really tough in a lot of the dates, but the eighteen fifty nine O and the eighteen sixty O, a lot of those I believe were kind of all found in large kind of treasury bags.
Tony Gryckiewicz:So there's a lot of high grade mid state examples that you can find as you can find them that look, you know, nice and lustrous and white like this one and so forth. Yeah. I'm
Bryce Bergstrom:They used to be pretty rare.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yeah. I mean, it is. I I don't know if this this coin would ever CAC.
Bryce Bergstrom:I'm actually asking for very nice coin. It looks not too far from what it probably looked like when it came off the press. Just few scratches and stuff scuffs from the bag, but otherwise, it has all that luster. It hasn't been, like, heavily toned or anything.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Mhmm. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's kinda got it all. I just I don't I I don't know.
Tony Gryckiewicz:I have debated about this with CAC, but I don't I probably I don't I don't think so. I think I'm just gonna sell it as is. I kind of have a pretty high number on this kind of just throwing it out there because again, you don't see a whole lot of these in the marketplace right now, especially in a grade of MS63. So I'm asking 5,800 on my website and kind of just throwing it out there and seeing kind of what happens. Because you know, when you price stuff, you kind of have to test out and see where the market kind of is, especially when the market's growing the way that it is right now.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Coins go to auction and they keep kind of getting higher and higher prices when they go to auction. So but anyways, that's that's kind of where I'm I'm gonna be at on on this coin, I believe, and you can tell me what you what you think about it. Do do you think these are good investments for people?
Bryce Bergstrom:Yeah. Seeded and trade dollars, they've just been going up. They're popular, and they're pretty easy to sell. I have not lost money on a seeded or trade dollar before. They are
Tony Gryckiewicz:just Mhmm.
Bryce Bergstrom:They just keep going up. Yeah. Sometimes slower, sometimes faster, but across all grades, I've seen them getting more popular.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yeah. Yeah. I would agree. It's one of my favorite coins, frankly. It really is.
Tony Gryckiewicz:So many people collect Morgan dollars, but then realize this is kind of like the This is just the older, wiser uncle of the trade seed of the Morgan dollar. So, yeah, that's that's what that one is. So, alright. So moving on to I I guess, I don't know. It's it's also an MS 63.
Tony Gryckiewicz:This is a this time a ceded quarter. What can you tell me about the date? Why do you why do you think this one is might be popular?
Bryce Bergstrom:It's a civil war day, which is popular. And on the half dollar, they have like the CSA variety, like CSA offers reverse, that kind of stuff. And Mhmm. That is really expensive from what I've seen. But the quarters seem to be more affordable, and that's what I like about them.
Bryce Bergstrom:But it's really nice coin.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yeah. This is nice. The reason I bought it was because it was white. It was it just faces up very, very nicely. I did not think this coin with CAC, you just have too much kind of I don't recall it.
Tony Gryckiewicz:I don't wanna call friction or or kind of rub
Bryce Bergstrom:per se,
Tony Gryckiewicz:but there's just a bit of stacking friction. Yeah. Very light. It's it's debatable about whether or not the coin it kind of is in that that slider, you know, line, I think.
Bryce Bergstrom:I mean, I think it's just like a lot of grouped up small chatter that looks like that. Are those dye polish lines?
Tony Gryckiewicz:I was just gonna mention those. Yeah. I I I have to look at the closer. I wanna say this is more of like roller marks than the plan shit. Mhmm.
Tony Gryckiewicz:But because the for example, if you look at states here, you just look at the essence states. Oh. Do you notice how those lines go through the s?
Bryce Bergstrom:Yeah.
Tony Gryckiewicz:So if it was if it was dye polish, I believe it'll go straight up to the edge, but not over. So I want to say some I want to say those lines have to do with the the planchet and with kind of like a roller mark where there was part of the alloy or whatever it it was as as as making up the composition of the metal got rolled out. You still have leftover remnants, you know, of that. And this is a coin that's I'm selling for a thousand bucks. So
Bryce Bergstrom:Yeah.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yeah.
Bryce Bergstrom:I mean, that's a nice uncirculated seeded example, civil war date.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yeah.
Bryce Bergstrom:I mean, that's much more affordable than the seeded dollar, but at the same time, seeded dollars are nice.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Sure. Sure. So check this out. We talked about trade dollars. So what can you tell me about this thing?
Bryce Bergstrom:It is quite chalk marked. And so trade dollars, they were, it's in their name. They were made to trade, I think, in Asia. And they have more silver than Morgan dollars, I believe, 420 grains. Mhmm.
Bryce Bergstrom:And so in Asia, they got shop marked to, like, basically prove their authenticity. Mhmm. So people could trust it. So that I think they'd bring it to people to authenticate them and then just stamp them. And PCS, I believe, used to put them in details holders if they had them, but now they see it just happens to a lot of them.
Bryce Bergstrom:And so they grade them. And I think it's just additional history on that, which is pretty great. And that's a nice example with some luster.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I I really fell in love with this coin when I saw it initially. I've I've been debating just keeping this for myself because I don't own a Chop Mark coin.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Do you do you like these personally? Do do you are you kind of fond of them when you've whenever you've seen them or yeah.
Bryce Bergstrom:Yeah. I bought a nice raw seventy four s, I believe. That would that had like two chop marks on the offers, and it was a nice coin. I just think chop marks are just amazing. They have them on other types of coins too.
Bryce Bergstrom:And Mhmm. They're just a whole another genre almost.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yeah. I had Taylor leverage on the program way back. He wrote an incredible book. It's called By Weight, Not By Coin, and it's available on Amazon, full color photos. It is a very thorough handling of the whole topic of chop marks and a lot of people might be surprised to know that chop marks are not just on trade dollars, but there's a number of ceded dollars that have trademarks the chop, sorry, chop marks.
Tony Gryckiewicz:There's also a variety of silver coinage from around the world.
Bryce Bergstrom:Like 8 realis.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yeah. 8 realis. Mhmm. Even some rubles from Russia have been known to have Yeah. Chop
Bryce Bergstrom:I didn't know that. That's cool.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yeah. There are some amazing examples that are on that program. Think, you know, say go back and watch that one with, know, I'll have a link to it in the video here with Taylor Leverage. She did a fantastic job and he's got a great book on the chop marks.
Bryce Bergstrom:Yeah. You know, they actually have on gray sheet, they have a different category for a chop marked and non chop marked. And sometimes they can bring pretty good premiums, which is cool. I mean, I just love marks. Some people just collect chop marks and nothing else.
Bryce Bergstrom:I just love to see them.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Alright. So switching gears. I don't know if you guys do Morgans, but what do we got here?
Bryce Bergstrom:We do Morgans, and that is a nice original coin.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Wow. Mhmm.
Bryce Bergstrom:And in that grade, that's kind of crazy. It's a Carson City Mint 1889 that I think is the best year of Carson City's on Morgans. Wow. And there's just a good amount of detail. I don't usually see that one ones in the high grade.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Mhmm.
Bryce Bergstrom:Could I see the reverse?
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yeah.
Bryce Bergstrom:Wow. And it kinda has that crusty original look.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Mhmm. Mhmm. Yeah. There's there's a lot of dirt and I I it's possible you can kinda consider this to be a little bit of environmental kind of something or another.
Bryce Bergstrom:Yeah. I I don't think it's too bad. Yeah. It's it's not like it's eating the corn. Some things like actually dig into the coin and damage it.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yeah. No. No. This is just a nice overall honest original. I I love the carcassity stuff that is circulated in my opinion.
Tony Gryckiewicz:I I think it's some of the best stuff.
Bryce Bergstrom:Me too. And I just it's a pretty good grade, x f 40.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Mhmm. What do you find is easier to sell? Lower lower grade 89 cc or kind of a higher grade 89 cc?
Bryce Bergstrom:Usually lower grade ones, people want just one. Either they're doing like a date set or people just like type stuff. I find stuff in the good to VF range usually sells pretty good. And if you're going to XF, that is the next level. That means you're really going for the nice coin of that series.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yeah. Now this coin does not have a CAC sticker. Do you feel that this coin should is still a good option or a choice for a person's collection at this level with even without the CAC sticker?
Bryce Bergstrom:Yeah. I mean, it's just an original coin all around. I feel like they would have no trouble selling it later on. I mean, I've seen way worse in holders.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yeah.
Bryce Bergstrom:Way way worse. And so that is great.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yeah.
Bryce Bergstrom:So I think that's a great option.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yeah. I agree with you. I mean, there's a number of coins that for whatever reason, you know, John, I know this coin was submitted at CAC. For whatever reason, they didn't stick or choose a sticker in this particular example. But you know, you're right for XF40s, you see so many that are pretty heavily polished and clean.
Tony Gryckiewicz:They look pretty They don't look that great at all. And this one has this nice original kind of look and it's exactly what I would want my my coin to to look like. So I think this one's going on the website for 5,200. But anyways, go ahead.
Bryce Bergstrom:Yeah. I see, like, a lot of polished bright 40, like, XFAU ones. I mean, it's it's a really good year. I can understand why they'd put it in a holder, but I prefer the crusty original look that that one has. And it's just great for collectors.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yep. Alright. So switching gears a ton. We are gonna go over to this thing. Now this is a commemorative coin.
Tony Gryckiewicz:What does this commemorate?
Bryce Bergstrom:Louisiana Purchase.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Louisiana Purchase by Thomas Jefferson?
Bryce Bergstrom:Yep. Oh, and I love that little, like, wreath thing on the back and the little branch, And it's a 100 year.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yeah. So it's a 100 year, I guess, anniversary. Eighteen o three, the Louisiana Purchase. Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis.
Bryce Bergstrom:Really? I didn't
Tony Gryckiewicz:even know.
Bryce Bergstrom:That is cool. And it has like some nice orange toning and then this flowy original luster.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yeah. Yeah. One of the things we learned at the grading course, and and I know you were wanting to attend and you know, you end up having, I think you broke your ankle, think it was, or
Bryce Bergstrom:something. Part of my ankle Yeah, and my
Tony Gryckiewicz:we missed you, for sure. Had a great advanced grading class with Keith Moon and some of the other guys and your dad was in the class. One of the things we learned, which I did not know, is sometimes you look at coins and the luster pattern is a little bit odd, you know, it's not just a circular kind of cartwheel luster, you kind of have this strange sort of shape in the luster here you see. And what we learned was that's actually a reflection of the other side of the coin.
Bryce Bergstrom:So it's like clashing?
Tony Gryckiewicz:Not clashing, but it's like the existence of the other side or the design for the other side somehow affects how the luster flows on the other side of the coin. So, you know, you can just see this. Hot. You can see
Bryce Bergstrom:Jefferson's head. Yeah. That's kinda like the head outline. And you also see that on like cat bus dollars in front of their face. The wing is very strong, so you can kinda see like a it's kinda like a little oval type of thing.
Bryce Bergstrom:Like
Tony Gryckiewicz:a Yeah. In the lustre specifically.
Bryce Bergstrom:Yeah. Like, in just like a almost like a fluctuation in it.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yeah.
Bryce Bergstrom:Yeah. That's a nice lustre coin.
Tony Gryckiewicz:So this coin let me just see here exactly let you know. $19.00 3 I'm forgetting now where I got this coin. One second here. $19.00 3. Okay.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Gotcha. This coin is gonna be $1,100. I feel like it should fit somebody's collection. There's a lot of people who hunt for these gold commemoratives. CAC example.
Bryce Bergstrom:Yeah. I love I love the gold commemoratives. I always do well on them. People just love the gold type. I mean, it's gold.
Bryce Bergstrom:It's I mean, there's not many gold commemoratives. There's just a few gold dollars, and then there's the pen packs.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Mhmm. Yep.
Bryce Bergstrom:And I think that's a pretty nice example.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yeah. I agree. I agree. Alright. So switching gears, this is another coin that I picked up at the fun show.
Tony Gryckiewicz:This is one of these things that kinda walk up to the table. Somebody comes to bring buy coins to sell. And this case, this gentleman only had one coin and he pulled out this $19.00 7 Saint in MS 65. So it's a it's a it's a better coin. It's it's just it's not a common gold, especially in these in a higher grade like MS 65.
Tony Gryckiewicz:So I I've been debating whether the Smith is the CAC. What what do you think what do you think about this coin?
Bryce Bergstrom:I mean, it's nice. I mean, that's the first year that they made those.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Mhmm.
Bryce Bergstrom:I see like a little bit of disturbances in the field, but otherwise, the luster is just great. Mhmm. The strike isn't that bad. What about the new Would
Tony Gryckiewicz:you send this to CAC or no?
Bryce Bergstrom:I'd have to see the reverse again.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Oh, yeah. I haven't shown it to you yet. Let me there there you go.
Bryce Bergstrom:Yeah.
Tony Gryckiewicz:You're not gonna break my heart if you say no. Don't worry.
Bryce Bergstrom:Yeah. I mean, I see, like, a lot of chatter around there. I don't wanna micrograde Not of them. But blow the eagle's leg right there.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yeah. There's a bit of chatter for
Bryce Bergstrom:sure. That. And then above the eagle's head, but I mean, if you zoom out, like, just to the regular size of the coin, that isn't that much. It's just pretty small stuff, so I think it's worth a shot. How much are you asking for it?
Tony Gryckiewicz:This coin is going to be on the website for 6,500, I believe. Yeah. It's gonna be on the website for 6,500.
Bryce Bergstrom:And what's the jump for CAC? Like, not huge jump.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Oh. I mean, if it was CAC, it would be well over 75, $7,800 I think because I believe there's been a number of non CAC examples that have been selling for 72 to 75 I've seen recently. This one, that's just what I think is a fair number for for this. I'll be honest with you, Bryce, I'm not submitting this to CAC and the lesson on this one is I think the the strike is good and the the level of chatter and and marks in the coin, I I don't think are too severe in any ways. I don't think this this coin has the luster and the pop.
Tony Gryckiewicz:It actually looks good. It does face up well. It's got nice color. There's no
Bryce Bergstrom:Just not like flashy.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Films. It's no films, but it's not flashy. Yeah. A lot of CAC gold is usually got a real pop to it. So I'm not going to submit it.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yeah.
Bryce Bergstrom:Alright. That's fair.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yeah. Alright. So what do we have here? We've got another piece of gold. This is a 19O82 and a half MS 64, Witterbrick, and this is a MS 64 cact.
Tony Gryckiewicz:What do you what do you do you what do you think of these? Like the 2 and a half or the $5 golds? Do you like them?
Bryce Bergstrom:I do. And I also like the history behind them. I believe that actually the student of Saint Gaudens, Bella Lime Pratt, designed those.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yeah.
Bryce Bergstrom:Which I always
Tony Gryckiewicz:find cool. Yeah. Do you know what what's the key focal area of these? What the for grading them?
Bryce Bergstrom:Isn't it like the fields because they're inversed?
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yeah. Yeah. The I think it's like the field
Bryce Bergstrom:in between some letters or something. Or
Tony Gryckiewicz:So the so you're right in terms of when you grade these particular coins, you look at the fields and you look at the luster, how much luster is kind of existing and present within the fields. The marks on the face and the design are important and if there's any wear elements within that, I think that definitely factors into the grade. But the main thing, and I know the key focal area is actually behind the head of the eagle.
Bryce Bergstrom:Yeah.
Tony Gryckiewicz:So this area right here. And I've I always look at this area. I always make sure this this area is clean and free of marks. And I always look at the luster quality right in this area. I feel like that's really important for Yeah.
Bryce Bergstrom:And you can see luster there.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yeah. Yeah.
Bryce Bergstrom:And the obverse if there's gonna be a wear, you can see it on the diamonds.
Tony Gryckiewicz:On the adverse sorry.
Bryce Bergstrom:Yeah. If you look at the diamond things, like the triangles The stars? Headband. Oh, you mean these things? Things.
Bryce Bergstrom:Yeah. Oh, wait. To the left of that. Yeah. Those.
Tony Gryckiewicz:This this right here.
Bryce Bergstrom:That's usually where I see their first wear. Like Interesting. Okay. I always look there and if it's worn, then I immediately know it's worn. Otherwise, I just go to the fields.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yep. Yep. Makes makes sense. Alright. So switching gears very much.
Tony Gryckiewicz:So we go back over into some copper. Got a couple copper pieces here to show you. Starting with the '19 o eight s. What what's special about the o eight s?
Bryce Bergstrom:Through the Indian Head series, there's only two years that they made those at branchments, the o eight s and the o nine s. Mhmm. Throughout the whole rest of the series, no other branchments, no Denver, anything like that. And only those two years, and that has, like, a decent amount of red in it. But do they even do that for Indian Headsense?
Bryce Bergstrom:The red
Tony Gryckiewicz:or red brown a mint.
Bryce Bergstrom:Oh, it's Yeah.
Tony Gryckiewicz:I think 58. It's 58.
Bryce Bergstrom:Yeah. But it does, like, have that reddish look to
Tony Gryckiewicz:it. Mhmm.
Bryce Bergstrom:And it's quite lustrous, and it's a great collector grade.
Tony Gryckiewicz:58 is my favorite grade for sure. You get a lot of bang for your buck, and I know that gonna have Tony Littlejohn back on the program again to talk about his AU58 plus CAC collection. But this is
Bryce Bergstrom:Those are so hard to get your hands on.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yeah. Yeah. They're tough.
Bryce Bergstrom:The 58 plus CACs are just so tough.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yeah. This is a coin that is surprisingly not super available. I mean, I cannot find a whole lot of 58 CACs in the n o nine s for whatever reason. It's only $450. I feel like this is gonna work for somebody for sure.
Bryce Bergstrom:Yeah. Affordable collector coins like that are just great.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Alright. And so speaking of collector coins, this is, you know, one of the most famous coins there is in US coins is the $0.09 s v d b. Yep. We have a here in 62. What do you think?
Tony Gryckiewicz:What do you think of the IPL of this coin? What's your thoughts?
Bryce Bergstrom:I personally like it a bit. Some people hate it. Some people love it. It's interesting. Like, I don't see that very often.
Bryce Bergstrom:It's an interesting kinda streaky kinda crossover in between the light and the dark.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Mhmm.
Bryce Bergstrom:And and the right half above the date, is that something with the planchet?
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yeah. This right here is kinda just kinda the planchet lamination or how this thing is. Yep.
Bryce Bergstrom:Yeah. That's cool. That's cool. But I think it's just very unique, and some people would just love to have that look.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yeah. This is what the reverse looks like and so you can kinda see the
Bryce Bergstrom:Kinda similar.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Kinda similar. Yeah. Mhmm. The sort of alloy or the kind of the plant should make up sort of I think has some impact there. I like it when there's kind of different shades of color on a coin that are in line some way with the design elements.
Tony Gryckiewicz:So so in the sense of like you have Lincoln's head kinda and shoulders sort of Yeah. In this kinda same diagonal as the color shift.
Bryce Bergstrom:Yeah. It's kinda just like a crossover. It's like kinda half and half.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yeah. Yep. Yeah. The OIS VDB let me just see here. This coin is $2,700.
Tony Gryckiewicz:These coins are, you know, every coin dealer should have one and so so on. There's actually a good you know, there's a lot of lot of them out there, believe it or not. You like YNS VDBs?
Bryce Bergstrom:Do. I love them. It's just a great year. I love Lincolns. I love 14 d's, 22 no d's, o nine s, d b's, 55 d d o's, just all that stuff.
Tony Gryckiewicz:I picked up a nice 55 d d o, which is doubled diopters. Picked up a nice one as well at the fun show. I don't have pictures of that one here to show, but that will be on the website. So switching gears again a little bit. We got a coin that has some copper in it.
Tony Gryckiewicz:This is a 17 d Buffalo nickel MS 64 CAC. So the Buffalo nickels, I feel like this is a bit of an undervalued series for collecting, especially the tougher dates. What do you what do you think?
Bryce Bergstrom:Yeah. I mean, like a lot of the dates in the teens. I mean, that series started 1913, but in the teens and the twenties, some of those dates are super rare and they might have lower vintages than some coins of other series, but at the same time, be less, which I always find cool. And that's just a nice coin overall. And they they all they always have that, like, dye stuff in you see in front of his mouth that, like Yeah.
Bryce Bergstrom:Mine stuff, it kinda looks like dye rust. They it seems they always have that from what I've seen.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Well, yeah. I don't know if it's any dye erosion or dye rust. I mean, to me, I I look at this and I think of this as metal flow. I feel like this is kind of part of the striking, but
Bryce Bergstrom:I'm seeing it like looks like dye rust from what I see.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yeah. What I see is dye rust is kinda like, do you see here this around the neck Yeah. Below the braids or around that to me definitely feels like this dye was maybe a bit older in some way. The nickel's a hard metal. It's a hard metal to to to strike.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yeah. You look at the reverse, the the strike was not very good on this coin.
Bryce Bergstrom:Yeah. I mean, normally, it has more detail, but I mean, you can still see the full horn on it. The horn is very defined.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yeah.
Bryce Bergstrom:And, hopefully, they do, like, the full horn designation or something. That would be cool.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yeah. This coin I can't remember here. Got this at the show. There it is. This coin is $1,800.
Tony Gryckiewicz:And actually, believe it or not, this coin itself has a comp, I believe that's even above that. So I think it should be a good deal for somebody out there.
Bryce Bergstrom:What's the mintage on it?
Tony Gryckiewicz:Oh, it's a good good question. Let me let me look that up.
Bryce Bergstrom:Okay. Mintage is 9,900,000, but I bet oh, there's only, like, 7,000 left. And in uncirculated, there's only 1,400. So that's a low number. That's not very many.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Gracie bid on this coin is $11.75. But this coin, it's coin itself sold for $25.20 a heritage in February 2025, this exact coin.
Tony Gryckiewicz:So Wow. I've got it for sale considerably less than than the heritage comp.
Bryce Bergstrom:Really? That's cool.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yeah. Yeah. It's just I mean, these are things sometimes you get offered and you have an opportunity to purchase at shows and and so forth. It was it was a phenomenal price when it was offered to me. So yeah.
Tony Gryckiewicz:I had to I had to pick it up and it's It's nice. Should be should work for somebody out there. Alright. So we got this '18 18 I'm sorry. 19 18 s walker.
Tony Gryckiewicz:When you when you grade walkers, you look for walkers, what do you look at in order to figure out in your opinion, like the quality of the of of the piece and whether you should, you know, collect or deal on it?
Bryce Bergstrom:I usually like to look at the sun on it because that's usually one of the focal points.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Mhmm. Mhmm.
Bryce Bergstrom:And when I think about strike, I always look at her hand. Her hand is always either super weak or strong. And, I mean, it's you can almost never see the fingers unless it's a proof coin.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yeah.
Bryce Bergstrom:And I also look in the field. Just look at the coin as a whole. See the luster. See anything like that. And what I love is when they they have that kinda like blue toning.
Bryce Bergstrom:It's like a good kind of PVC, especially if see it on proofs.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yeah. One of the things we learned at that grading course is that blue, that really light translucent, almost iridescent blue comes from the roll. Are usually remnants of the roll that a lot of these coins sat in, toning the coins a little bit and that's one of the things they look for for originality is that bluish hue that's on some of those
Bryce Bergstrom:waters. It's kind hazy blue. Especially Yeah. You can see it on a lot of proof examples of dimes, mercury dimes, and walkers. That looks like it might have some in some of those areas, Like, below the Union United and on the wing.
Bryce Bergstrom:Yeah. I think that's it. There's, like, little streaks of it all around.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yeah. It's not a bad coin. Yeah. This is a coin that I picked I got at the Fun Show. I picked this I got this as a trade actually.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Of the things that I do a lot, I had another $19.18 s and a 64 CAC OGH. Was on my website and this gentleman came up and wanted to do a trade. He took my 64 CAC with the 0 g h and he traded me this instead and I'm happy to do that all the time with folks out there or at shows or whatever. Work out some good trade deals if if it works for works for people. So Mhmm.
Tony Gryckiewicz:And I got two more coins to show you. We're we're gonna we're a little late and longer time, but it's okay. We have a $19.13 $19.37 d. This is another buffalo nickel. This is the old three legs, and this is a three legged buffalo, an $80.53 CAC.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Oh, I feel like I see a lot of these. I feel like these are almost sometimes a dime a dozen. I see a lot of them up there.
Bryce Bergstrom:Yeah. But this one is pretty exceptional. The strike isn't terrible. I mean, you can see a decent amount of detail. If you look at the horn, it's very detailed.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yep.
Bryce Bergstrom:Yep. And it has a decent amount, like, luster, I think.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Mhmm. Yeah.
Bryce Bergstrom:And just for an AU, it's it's pretty good grade.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yeah. Overall, this is, I would say, a pretty pretty solid example for the stated grade for sure. I think it should be nice premium coin for somebody. You know, it's one of those things you need to have in your case. You got to have a v a one as vdb, you have a three legged nickel, you have a 16 d dime if you can get one.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yeah.
Bryce Bergstrom:How'd she want for that one?
Tony Gryckiewicz:This coin this coin is
Bryce Bergstrom:There are no recent comps. Wow. The most recent one was
Tony Gryckiewicz:surprising because I feel like this coin is pretty Yeah.
Bryce Bergstrom:And 53 is not that common of a grade. 50 what? Yeah.
Tony Gryckiewicz:This coin is $2,100.
Bryce Bergstrom:I I think that's pretty accurate. I mean, the most recent comps are in '55. There's a 2640 comp in '55, but no comps in '53. So I think that's pretty fair.
Tony Gryckiewicz:The only thing my only gripe about this is I wish that they do you see where it says up here, PCGS AU fifty three three. Like, I wish that they centered this a little bit better somehow, like maybe a little bit more to the left a little bit because
Bryce Bergstrom:Yeah. The sticker cover cover three That's too bad.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Alright. So my last coin yeah. My last coin here to show you is this 53 Franklin half proof. We have a CAC proof 67 Cameo. Really nice coin.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Really nice coin. And again, this is a Witterbrick signed by Seth over at Witter Coin. Do you do you buy Prince Franklins?
Bryce Bergstrom:Not too much. I mean, they sell not that badly. There's a decent market out there for them. And Mhmm. That's just such a nice one.
Bryce Bergstrom:It must have it probably looked very similar to that right off the press. And, I mean, that was, what, seventy three years ago that that was made? And the fact that it's still in that condition is amazing to me. And with Cameo, was pretty great. Could I see the reverse?
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yep. Sure. One second here.
Bryce Bergstrom:Yeah. You all I think you always have the full bell lines on the proof pretty much.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yeah. Pretty much. Very well made. Yeah. It's very well made.
Bryce Bergstrom:Yeah. And on the top of the bell, that's just so lustrous and, like, very lustrous, and you can really see that contrast between the luster and the proof. Yeah. Are those polished lines there, like, under the bell?
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yeah. These are polished lines. These are these are dye polished lines.
Bryce Bergstrom:Yep. And Yeah. It's pretty great coin.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yeah. For folks out there, if you ever come across lines like this and you're wondering whether that's cleaning or dye polish well, I'll turn it over, Bryce. Do you know what the way is to be able to tell that on a coin?
Bryce Bergstrom:I mean, if it doesn't go over the devices, I mean, you see it go into the devices and then you see it come out on the other side, that is a big tell for me, but I don't really see it here. But this, it's very even straight. It doesn't look messy. Usually, when you see something that's been brushed, if you circle it around, kind of angle it in different ways, you see kind of waffled brushing, like
Tony Gryckiewicz:Mhmm.
Bryce Bergstrom:In different directions and not in just one direction.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yeah. Yeah. The only thing I would add to that is that the lines for cleaning are gonna be etched inside into the coin because it's it's something being applied to the surface to kind of scrape away metal and to etch into the coin. For dye polishing that the the etching so to speak where the kind of the lines are in the dye. So that means that they're gonna be raised on like, can be raised on the coin.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yeah.
Bryce Bergstrom:Yeah.
Tony Gryckiewicz:So
Bryce Bergstrom:The one problem is sometimes it's not raised that high, it's difficult to see. But in some cases, you can see it.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yes. Yes. That is that is entirely accurate. So that that one's gonna be $800 on the site. And that finishes up my CAC I'm sorry.
Tony Gryckiewicz:My my fun pickups. So Mhmm. But before I let you go, I do I would love to know what your plans are for the yourself in in in your business. You're obviously you're going through school, and and I don't know if you're interested in a particular area of study or when you plan to go, you know, full time, hopefully one day in Coins. But what at this point, what what do you think it lies for you in the future?
Bryce Bergstrom:I just wanna do more business and I wanna get into better coins. My problem is most of my business right now, maybe two thirds of my business right now is wholesale. So I can't get into the really nice coins, like stuff that you have. I love it. I usually make a pretty good amount of money on it.
Bryce Bergstrom:It just takes me a bit longer to sell. And so I like to get into higher quality coins over a good amount of time. Like, Charlotte Gold, I've been trying to get into that. Dre bust coins, I've been trying to get more into those. I mean, I used to do a lot more of them back before the market exploded.
Bryce Bergstrom:And Yeah. Yeah.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Cool. Alright. What's the next big show you guys are gonna go to?
Bryce Bergstrom:I think Pittsburgh ANA.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Okay. Yep. Me too.
Bryce Bergstrom:I mean, that's my second week of school.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Well, yeah, that's a bit of a challenge, but, yeah, hopefully you guys are able to to come out to the show at least for a few days. That'd be really that'd be really cool. So I know the ANA is a little bit late in August this year. I don't know why they used to be at the beginning of the month. Now that it's almost towards the end of the month.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yeah. But that's when they're doing it. Last question, and that is, what one piece of advice would you give out there for anybody who is aspiring to become a coin dealer?
Bryce Bergstrom:I'd say be honest and keep your integrity. That is one of the most important things in the business. Because if people trust you, there's so many more things you can do. And getting to know people just stay that way. Be honest.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Nice. What piece of advice would you give to a collector? Because that that was great. I feel like you're gonna have another good one here. What what about for collectors?
Tony Gryckiewicz:What would be one piece of advice for them?
Bryce Bergstrom:Don't buy a good don't buy a bad coin if it's a good price. Buy the best coin. I find if I buy a coin from my personal collection, I'm like, oh, I paid so much for that. I regret I don't regret it usually because I can sell it for that because somebody appreciates it as much. But bad coins, even if it's a good price, I usually have trouble selling those.
Bryce Bergstrom:And
Tony Gryckiewicz:Yep.
Bryce Bergstrom:Just go for the nicer ones. Whatever one speaks to you.
Tony Gryckiewicz:Nice. Well, thanks a lot for doing this, Bryce. It's really great. And I know it was in short notice and you guys worked it out to be able to do this recording with me. So I really appreciate that quite a bit.
Tony Gryckiewicz:People, please leave some comments below questions for this Wunderkind that we have with us today Bryce Bergstrom of GenAlphaCoins. Thanks a lot for being here, man, and I'll see you at the ANA.
Bryce Bergstrom:Yep. Thanks. I'll see you at the ANA. Bye.
