The 45th annual New York International Numismatic Convention is in the books, with nearly $39 million worth of sales across eight days of auctions. Senior editor Jeff Starck discusses the highlights from the 2017 show.

Full Video Transcript:

Good morning. Welcome to the Monday Morning Brief. I’m Jeff Starck of Coin World.

I am back in the office and finally settled in after attending the 45th annual edition of the New York International Numismatic Convention. 

Thousands of lots crossed the block during eight days of auctions at the show, and a preliminary total suggests around $39 million worth of sales in the auctions combined. 

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Now auction action drew buyers from around the world and kept them in the auction room until the early-morning hours, to capture rarities spanning centuries and the globe. 

But the highlight of all the auctions, the top selling lot among thousands of pieces, was the Year 1 prototype silver shekel from the Jewish War.  

This coin is a pattern for the first Jewish coinage in the world, struck under duress as the Romans began their final attempt at the conquest of the Jewish people.

Classical Numismatic Group sold the coin for a hammer price of $600,000 U.S. The firm grades the coin Extremely Fine, reporting that it is the finest known of all three examples. 

The highest selling multi-coin lot was for the 1839 Proof set from Britain. This features the beloved and beautiful Una and the Lion gold £5 coin.

What a whopper.

Each coin in this set is graded by Numismatic Guaranty Corporation, and the star of the set, that £5 coin, grades Proof-63 Ultra Cameo.

Russian and ancient coins also found strong buyers when the material was choice, and we’ll have more news from the sales coming soon.

The auctions may garner most of the headlines from the show, but it's interesting to note that nearly 2,000 people attended, including 326 booth holders, and 150 early bird attendees were willing to pay $125 to browse the bourse before the general public.

The 2017 show was the final one at the Waldorf-Astoria, and show organizers and attendees are already looking forward to the next edition, to be held at the Grand Hyatt near Grand Central Terminal.

If you stopped by to say hello at the show, thank you. And if you didn’t, be sure to catch us at the next big gathering. 

In the meantime, be sure to follow us on Twitter, find us at Facebook, online at CoinWorld.com, and of course, in print in your mailbox. For Coin World, I’m Jeff Starck. 

Happy collecting!