http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/060719/20060719005463.html?.v=1
Escala Group Reports Aggregate Sales of $3.7 Million From Bowers and Merena Auction
Wednesday July 19, 10:00 am ET
First Auction of Fiscal 2007 Sees Strong Demand from On-site, Internet and Telephone Bidders
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 19, 2006--Escala Group (Nasdaq: ESCL - News), a global collectibles company in stamps, coins, and art and antiques, today announced the aggregate sales results for its first auction conducted in fiscal 2007. Bowers and Merena Auctions, part of Escala's Spectrum Numismatics division, achieved over $3.7 million, including the buyer's premium, at its sale conducted July 13 and 14, 2006, as the official auctioneer of the Baltimore, Maryland Coin and Currency Convention.
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The sale featured 1490 auction lots of rare and high-grade United States coins, many from pedigreed collections. Highlights of the sale included an Indian Head/Buffalo nickel struck in 1926 at the San Francisco Mint (graded MS-65 by Professional Coin Grading Service) that brought $116,150, and a 1930 San Francisco Mint Double Eagle ($20 denomination) gold coin (graded MS-65 by PCGS) featuring a famous early 20th century design by renowned sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens that sold for $201,250.
Steve Deeds, President of Bowers and Merena said: "With active bidding coming from on-site, Internet and telephone collectors, the Baltimore auction continued to demonstrate the growing demand across the entire market for collectible and rare coins. Numerous consignors from this sale have expressed their excitement about the success of Bowers and Merena's auction at the Coin and Currency Convention."
Mr. Deeds concluded, "Also in the first quarter of Fiscal 2007, Bowers and Merena, as the official auctioneer at the World's Fair of Money® sponsored by the American Numismatic Association, will host five sessions in Denver, Colorado, starting August 16 and running through August 19, 2006. We anticipate that collectively the five individual sessions at the World's Fair of Money® will generate Bowers and Merena's largest auction since the company was acquired by Escala Group and Spectrum Numismatics in February 2004."
Complete results of the July Baltimore auction are available at www.BowersandMerena.com by individual lot, including full descriptions, estimates and photographs. A fully illustrated, color printed catalog was produced for the sale; copies are still available for sale upon request.
About Escala Group, Inc.
Escala Group is a global network of leading companies in the collectibles market with operations in North America, Europe and Asia as well as on the Internet. The company operates through a number of subsidiaries that specialize in various sectors of the collectibles markets, and is comprised of three business areas: auctions, merchant/dealer operations and trading.
Escala Group's North American auction and retail operations include Greg Manning Auctions division, Ivy & Manning Philatelic Auctions, Greg Manning Galleries, Greg Martin Auctions, Teletrade, Nutmeg Stamp Sales, Superior Sports, Bowers and Merena Auctions, North American Certified Trading, and H.R. Harmer. In Europe, the leading auction houses affiliated with the network are Auctentia Subastas of Madrid, Spain; Corinphila Auktionen of Zurich, Switzerland; and the Koehler group of auction companies of Berlin and Wiesbaden, Germany. In Asia, Escala Group's auction operations are conducted through John Bull Stamp Auctions, Ltd, the oldest philatelic auction house in Hong Kong.
Merchant/dealer activities are conducted through Spectrum Numismatics International, one of the largest wholesalers of rare coins in the U.S.
The trading activities of Escala Group are conducted through A-Mark Precious Metals, one of the largest private sellers of bullion coins and bullion gold, silver and platinum to the wholesale marketplace.
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