December 31st, 2025: The Year in Review
Aah yes, as we rocket toward the end of another exciting numismatic year here at CRO it is time for us to once again look back and reflect on all the new coin friends we made in 2025, the cool numismatic items we bought and sold, the super-fun experiences we had, the delicious meals we enjoyed, the wonderful (or sometimes disgusting) grades we received, the thrilling travel escapades we survived and the slew of other events which, in total, combined to make 2025 another banner year for us.
And so, without further ado, let us begin:
Coolest Item Handled
We had the pleasure of handling plenty of absolutely epic coins, medals and currency in 2025, including some wicked colonials, fabulous US type, fantastic early dollars, awe-inspiring, gold-stickered, old holdered, early gold and more than our fair share of superb world coins, many of which could have rightly been given this honor.
But since we have to boil it down to just one for the purposes of this article, we are going to go with this beautiful, original, colorfully toned and downright exceptional silver Libertas Americana Medal in PCGS AU58+ CAC we sold in May:
However, and as we always say, coolest does not = most popular, that honor would go to this super-deluxe, gold-stickered, proof Walking Liberty Half Dollar in an ancient PCGS slab:
There were 13 orders for that coin before all was said and done, but only one lucky buyer since as we all know everything we list is unique in our inventory and sold on a first come, first served basis.
Greatest Salad
As has been well-documented on this site, your author really, really enjoys a caesar salad, ordering at least one at pretty much every show in 2025. But only one of them was super spicy, namely the one at the Cheever’s Cafe in Oklahoma City in August:
If it wasn’t so spectacularly inconvenient for us to get there, I’d seriously consider flying back right now just to have another one.
The 2025 Columbo Award
This year’s clear winner was the customer to whom we shipped an important coin in September via a well-known overnight delivery service with Adult Signature required, and which showed received and signed for by the buyer the next day. That’s the good news.
The bad news is that he never actually got it. Upon further investigation the delivery company insisted that the package was delivered (wrong), and did not require a signature (utterly false, demonstrably so using their own online tracking system). So we sickeningly presumed it to be either stolen or mis-delivered and then got no help or explanation from the shipper (despite my dialing the top secret phone number, speaking to some high level employee tasked with helping in these kind of situations, and opening a case).
While I was doing that and getting exactly nowhere, our customer leapt into Lieutenant Columbo mode:
Which entailed driving around his town the next day looking for the delivery truck, finding it, explaining the situation to the 2 employees on board and having them look at the tracking number. At which time they insisted they had delivered the package as indicated. So the customer convinced the drivers to come to his house and show him where they left it, but upon arrival they said this was not the house they had delivered it to. So the customer further convinced them to drive around the neighborhood with him to try find the house where they did leave it, eventually located said house, found the box sitting in the bushes where they dumped it the previous day, picked it up and handed it to the customer with a figurative “ta-da”.
Which of course would never, ever have happened if he had not done such excellent detective work. So kudos to you detective customer, kudos!
Best Kept Secret Coin
We sell a lot of coins on this website. A lot a lot. But we also sell plenty that never actually get listed, the coolest of which was probably this absolute stone cold gem Nova Constellatio copper:
That was sold to a long time customer at Bistro du Midi in Boston in March.
Most Unfriendly Uber Ride
We enjoyed many wonderful cab, Uber and Lyft rides in 2025, including a bunch with chatty drivers delighted to share information about the city, their wonderful family (with photos included), where to stay when you visit Albania, etc.
Our ride back from dinner in Schaumburg in April was not exactly one of them, however, as another driver pulled up alongside us, kept gesturing menacingly, asked our driver to roll down his window and then threatened to kill him. And then, just when I was thinking we may seriously be in the wrong place at the wrong time, the menacer drove off, and we continued on to our hotel in stony silence.
Best Broadway Show
I’m going to say it was the Book of Mormon we went to see in January during the NYINC for two reasons:
- It was the only Broadway Show we attended in 2025, and
- It was during that show that I was able to zip out during intermission, fight through the crowd, make my way out onto the sidewalk, finally get a WiFi signal on my phone and then execute a bid with literally seconds to spare, allowing me to snag this epic British coin in a European auction:
And then return to my seat just in time for Act II.
Greatest Repetition Expedition
That would be the large collection of Conder Tokens I was offered at the Baltimore show in March which I had been told contained a bunch of potentially interesting CRO-style items. So I was of course disappointed to learn that it was actually a collection containing a huge number of examples of the exact same token. Let me repeat that: The exact same token.
As noted at the time, we love cool coins, but we do not need a multi-decade supply of any of them.
Most Frightening CRO Hat Picture
While the photo taken in Maui above the clouds was slightly acrophobic, this year’s winner was without question this shot taken of a khaki and hunter green number on a numismatist’s head in front of a cobra in Jemaa el-Fnaa Square in Marrakesh in February:
Wow, that is one angry-lookin’ snake.
The USOAD Award
This year’s Unlikeliest Source of a Deal was a collector of colonial coins, ancient coins and primitive money (you know, like Yap Stones and such) who in January somehow came up with a long off the market, colorfully toned, old holdered, quite choice Liberty Nickel set which included things like this:
Apparently he had obtained that deal unstickered in a random coin shop in the midwest on a whim.
Worst Appraisal / Best Ball Marker
We have a clear winner this year, when a local-ish customer asked us to appraise some potentially valuable world coins. So of course I took my standard first step of asking for a few images of the most exciting, interesting or potentially valuable coins the customer had to help me gauge what we were dealing with here.
At which time I was surprised to receive pictures of some modern English coins worth face value which are literally the same type I keep in my golf bag and use to mark my ball on the green. Bummer.
The Coin We Wish We’d Kept
Sooooo many to choose from, but the one I wish I’d kept was this amazing, old toned, incredibly eye appealing, utterly irreplaceable 1751 Bolivia Cob 8 Reales:
Most of those look horrendous, but this one was fantastic. And relatively affordable to boot.
We don’t feel too bad about that though, as that sale and all others contributed to our best ever year here at CRO for which we are extremely grateful to our many numismatic friends, coin colleagues and loyal customers who make every single thing we do possible.
All the Best in 2026!
John & MaryAnn
