A duo of 1834 Classic Head, Plain 4 gold $5 half eagles offered at Heritage on Feb. 9 were especially handsome representatives of Prooflike coins.

The grading services' Prooflike designation to recognize Mint State coins that have clear reflections in the fields was first used on Morgan dollars, like this PCGS MS-60 Prooflike 1879-CC example.

Auctions before and after the first 2023 Long Beach Expo featured quality Proof U.S. gold coins that drew plenty of attention and spirited bidding for the rare and highly desired issues.

This PCGS Proof 64 brown 1849 Braided Hair, Small Date, First Restrike half cent has “brilliant blue and violet toning on the obverse, with blue and emerald toning on the reverse,” well-beyond brown.

On this 1867 Coronet $20 double eagle pattern struck in copper graded NGC Proof 63 brown, the coloring is an even, rich, “deep mahogany-brown,” and the piece sold for $12,000 Jan. 11.

While lacking original mint red color, this 1877 Indian Head cent graded PCGS Proof 65 brown featured plenty of other colors, including steely silver, blue and magenta.

One of the highlights of the Stewart Blay collection of Lincoln cents was a 1969-S Doubled Die Obverse coin, the finest graded by PCGS, which sold for more than $600,000 in the GreatCollections sale.

Stewart Blay's Lincoln cent collection sold by GreatCollections in January included one of the highest quality 1955 Lincoln, Doubled Die Obverse examples, which sold for more than $285,000.

Legend Rare Coin Auctions' Regency 57 sale in Las Vegas Feb. 23 offers an opportunity for collectors to land several high quality key date coins from the early 20th century.

Two coins from the 1790s that had the distinction of being first-year issues for their denominations were offered in Heritage Auctions' FUN sale of the Schwenk Family 100 Greatest Coins Collection.