Most people want nothing to do with tyrants. After all, they are cruel and oppressive rulers. In the world of coin collecting and numismatics, that isn’t the case. The Long Beach Expo is one of the world’s top events when it comes to collectibles. The show is being held February 17-19, 2022 and part of “The Tyrant Collection” with more than 400 historic coins is going to be on display at the Expo.

The exhibit at the Expo is titled U.S. Type Coins from The Tyrant Collection. The significance of The Tyrant Collection is that this is the world’s most valuable coin collection that is in private hands. Part of this collection was displayed to the public with its first appearance at the 2021 Chicago World’s Fair of Money. Please note that images used herein are from the official PCSG press release about the Expo and the exhibit.

Collectors Dashboard evaluates high-end collectibles as an alternative asset class. That means that the same capital that could have gone into stocks or bonds is going into these high-end collectibles. To be honest in this particular case, “high-end” is an understatement when it comes to the full value of The Tyrant Collection.

These historic coins coming to display range from the years 1793 to 1964 and are considered to be the finest known examples of their kind. The centerpiece of the exhibit will be the legendary King of Siam proof set (see below). It is historic as this set of coins was originally presented by the U.S. State Department way back in 1836 to the King of Siam, now Thailand, as a gift on behalf of President Andrew Jackson.

Having a $100 million coin exhibit is one thing, but the press release for the event contains perhaps the biggest mystery of the show — The Tyrant Collection owner still wants to remain anonymous. It is a man because the release says “he has been displaying portions of his ancient, world and U.S. coins for their educational value, one segment at a time, in a continuing series of themed exhibits that began at the Long Beach Expo in 2018.”

Ira Goldberg, who is CEO of Goldberg Coins and Collectibles, Inc. in Los Angeles, California, is among those who have assisted The Tyrant Collection’s owner to build the collection of U.S. world and ancient coins. Goldberg has described the collection as the world’s most valuable rare coin collection in private hands, and he said the collection which will be on exhibit is insured for $100 million. Goldberg also said:

“The display will cover all U.S. types and sub-types, circulation strikes and proofs, from 1793 Liberty Cap Half Cents through the 1907 Saint-Gaudens Ultra High Relief Double Eagle and everything in between to 1964. It made its first appearance to tremendous acclaim at the 2021 Chicago World’s Fair of Money, and now will be seen for the first time on the West Coast.”

These are just some of the coins that will be on display:

• 1793 S-1 Flowing Hair “Chain AMERI” Large Cent, graded PCGS SP65

• 1796 JR-1 Draped Bust, Small Eagle Dime, PCGS SP67 ex. Simpson Collection
• 1797 O-101a Draped Bust, Small Eagle Half Dollar, PCGS MS66 ex. Pogue Collection
• 1795 Draped Bust, Small Eagle Dollar, PCGS SP66, ex. Garrett, Hayes, and Pogue Collections
• 1796 BD-2 Draped Bust, No Star Quarter Eagle, PCGS MS65 ex. Jung Collection
• 1804 Draped Bust Dollar Class I, PCGS PR67, in the King of Siam set
• 1907 Ultra High Relief Double Eagle, PCGS PR68, ex. Augustus Saint-Gaudens estate

The Long Beach Expo is hosted by Expos Unlimited, a division of Collectors Universe and a sister company of Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS), Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA), Certified Coin Exchange (CCE), Collectors Corner and Coinflation. PCGS President Stephanie Sabin noted in the release:

“There are few cabinets as magnificent as the Tyrant Collection, a set of unmatched depth and quality. What a treat it will be for attendees to tour this U.S. type set collection. The last exhibit from the Tyrant Collection at the Long Beach Expo was two years ago, a magnificent $50 million display of U.S. gold Eagles, and it was easily one of the most popular collections ever exhibited at the show.”

More details are available at TheTyrantCollection.com for other collections held within it, as well as physical books that display each group’s coin collection. One of those is The Tyrants of the Seine. This collection is coins of France from the Visigoths, Merovingians, Carolingians, Capetians, Bourbons, and the Napoleonic empire. The Tyrants of the Tiber collection is described as follows:

Roman tyrants from Sulla (82BC) to Romulus Augustus (including the 12 Caesars in gold) to the earliest Roman Republic portrait coins over 2,200 years ago through the Imperatorial and Empire Periods, and ending with the fall of Rome and the invading tribes. In addition, since the Vatican practically sits on the Tiber River, this amazing exhibit will include the coinage of the Popes.

The website also shows three other collections made up of coins that date back centuries and the coins featured on this website are a museum in and of their own right:

• Tyrants of the Thames,
• Tyrants of the Tigris and Euphrates,
• and Tyrants of the Tyrrhenian & Adriatic Seas.

If you want to know what a past exhibition of The Tyrant Collection looks like, the news portion of its own website puts it into perspective.