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The Binion
Collection |
| BINION COLLECTION |
COIN
MARKET CONTRIBUTION |
OLD
WEST HISTORY |
SILVER DOLLARS |
Ordering Information |
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Ted Binion was the son of Lester "Benny" Binion, founder of the world-famous Binion's Horseshoe hotel and casino in Las Vegas. A collector and big believer in the long-term importance of owning silver assets, Binion acquired most of his coins at face value in the 1950s and early 1960s. He added them to the coins he inherited from his parents. After being protected in a secret desert vault, Binion's hoard of more than 100,000 silver dollars plus other silver coins and assets was purchased late last year for more than $3 million. Goldline International Inc. of Santa Monica, California (Goldline.com or 1-877-376-2646), is the exclusive marketing agent for the Binion cartwheels. A limited number of the coins will be offered at a public auction. The majority of the Morgan and Peace dollars were examined, authenticated and certified by the Numismatic Guaranty Corporation of America (NGC). Based in Sarasota, Florida, the company sealed Binion's silver dollars in tamper-proof holders bearing unique green labels that depict three cowboys from the Old West. The labels also bear the inscriptions "Binion Collection" and "BinionCollection.com." these provide collectors with a pedigree and guide them to a Web site with additional information about the Binion coins. After careful inspection by NGC's grading experts, many of the coins were certified as Mint State-65, MS-66, MS-67 - and even MS-68 in some cases. Among the first Morgan dollars available from the Binion Hoard are high-grade examples of the 1878-P (8-tail-feather variety), 1878-S, 1883-O, 1885-P, 1885-O, 1886-P, 1887-P, 1888-P and 1904-O. The first two Peace dollar dates were struck at the Philadelphia Mint in 1922 and 1923. Additional dates may be available in the near future. Mark Albarian, president and CEO of Goldline, said the Binion Hoard coins "offer both novices and sophisticated collectors the opportunity to acquire coins for their collections," adding: "Many of the coins are available for less than $50, with the most expensive coins running around $10,000." "Opportunities like this are quite rare," Albarian continued. "The last one took place about 30 years ago with the sale of LaVere Redfield's huge silver dollar holding." Redfield's 402,000 silver dollars were found in the millionaire's home outside of Reno. Their sudden availability helped stimulate interest in silver dollars by both collectors and investors. Goldline International also has a connection to the Redfield silver dollars. A-Mark Coins, the company that grew into Goldline's current corporate parent, purchased the Redfield coins from his estate. At $7.2 million, that purchase set a new record as the single largest numismatic transaction ever carried out. Who was Ted Binion? Binion was born in 1943, about four years before his father decided to move west. The elder Binion made his living running gambling games in Dallas, which were "tolerated" by local law-enforcement agencies. His customers were said to include two gamblers who would later be among the world's richest men industrialist-playboy Howard Hughes and oilman H.L. Hunt. In 1947, when a reform administration was elected in Dallas, Benny Binion moved his family to Las Vegas. Said to be among the items making the move were suitcases stuffed with $2 million in cash. Binion arrived at a crucial time in the Nevada city's history. That same month, colorful mobster Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel opened the Flamingo Hotel and Casino. In 1951, Benny opened Binion's Horseshoe, a casino (and later a hotel) on Fremont Avenue that catered to average working Americans - and still does. Thanks to the combination of Benny's marketing skills and the growing number of tourist visiting Las Vegas, the Horseshoe flourished. In the right place with the right idea at the right time, the Binion family prospered. Ted Binion, whose real first name was Lonnie, grew up in the hotel and casino business in the 1950s and 1960s. That meant he was constantly surrounded by cash. Cash was used on the poker tables, craps tables and blackjack tables. Cash was used in all of the casino's games and in all of its slot machines. The cash could be paper money or it could be silver coins, both of which were plentiful. When Ted worked in the cashier's room at the casino, he received and paid out silver coins that ranged from tiny Mercury and Roosevelt dimes to large Morgan and Peace dollars. Like so many Americans of that era, he often came across scarcer-date coins worth more than their face value and added them to his collection. This experience helped him learn the importance of a circulated coin's grade or an uncirculated coin's state of preservation. Like every casino in the state, Binion's Horseshoe hotel and casino ordered and received a constant flow of silver dollars from its bank. Ted was in an advantageous position to inspect the 1,000-coin bags as they arrived. When a superior-quality bag was delivered he purchased it for himself. Ted Binion filled his secret underground vault in the Nevada desert with a spectacular accumulation of silver bars and silver dollar bags. As a wealthy man's son and part owner of a successful Las Vegas casino, he could afford to add bags of silver dollars to his holdings. After all, they could always be brought back to the casino if they were needed. But the silver dollars in Binion's secret vault also met another need. Like so many other Americans, he did not completely trust the government in Washington, D.C., or the money it issued. He knew about paper money's lengthy history of losing purchasing power. To help protect the purchasing power of his savings from inflation, he set aside silver dollars and other silver coins, and silver bars. Ted Binion really loved silver. After all, he did live in Nevada - the "Silver State." Rumors of his silver holdings were heard in and around Nevada for decades. But until late last year, the coins remained securely protected in his hidden desert vault. Their emergence was hastened by the colorful collector's untimely death. Ted Binion met 23-year old Sandy Murphy in 1995 at the age of 52 and was smitten with her beauty. Shortly thereafter, she moved into his 8,000-square-foot home and he rewrote his will, stipulating that upon his death she would receive the house, its contents, $300,000 in cash and a $90,000 Mercedes. In 1998, Binion paid Rick Tabish $40,000 to
construct a concrete and steel vault in the desert and entrusted him
with the door's combination. Secretly, Murphy and Tabish became
lovers. Later that year, Ted Binion died in his home under
mysterious circumstances. Two years later, after a sensational
trial intimately covered by major newspapers, national magazines and
"Court TV," a Nevada jury convicted Murphy and Tabish of murdering
the millionaire casino boss. A second collection, tentatively called "The Nevada Silver Collection," also surfaced in Nevada at almost the same time as Binion's hoard. Mark Salzberg, president of NGC, has seen the Nevada Silver Collection - and though sworn to secrecy about its origin and exact contents, Salzberg declared: "This is the finest group of 20th-Century silver coins I have ever examined." Additional information on this collection will be available later this year. Goldline International will be the exclusive representative in this case, as well. Two factors account for the generally high
quality of the Binion silver dollars. Second, Binion's cartwheels were carefully preserved. Unlike most silver dollar bags held by banks and the government, they were not moved back and forth for inventory purposes. They were not sent through counting machines or otherwise constantly handled. Binion's careful storage averted most of the serious scrapes, cuts and bruises frequently seen on U.S. silver dollars. Market-watchers are hoping the Binion Hoard will provide a major boost for silver dollars in the marketplace, just as the Redfield Hoard did a generation ago. Some expressed concern at that time that the infusion of so many coins would depress prices, but it had just the opposite effect, creating new interest in Morgan and Peace dollars. And the Binion Hoard, while not matching the massive quantity of the Redfield Hoard, appears to have higher quality overall. For additional information on the Binion Hoard,
visit www.BinionCollection.com on the Internet,
or read Murder in Sin City by Jeff German (Avon Books, 2001) or Quicksilver,
The Ted Binion Murder Case by John L. Smith, with photographs by
Jeff Scheid (Huntington Press, 2001). To see pictures of the photo shoot when Marcy Gibbel, Managing Editor of COINage, visited Goldline International, Inc., please click here.
Binion
Collection - Binion
History - Coin
Market Contribution © 2010 Goldline International, Inc. |
