Monday, March 25, 2002 | 8:17 a.m.
During the murder trial of casino executive Ted Binion, crime buffs, trial junkies, curious locals and tourists descended on the Clark County Courthouse to get a closer look at the highly publicized trial.
Others interested in the proceedings sat before television sets, programmed VCRs and hoarded newspaper clippings of the unfolding story.
Binion, who had a history of drug problems, was found dead in September 1998 of an overdose of Xanax and heroin. Binion's girlfriend Sandra Murphy and her lover, Rick Tabish, were charged in connection with the death. Because of the story's rich plot, the trial drew national attention.
When the trial ended and Murphy and Tabish were convicted in May 2000 for the murder and for attempting to steal Binion's stash of silver bars and coins from an underground vault in Pahrump, books about the investigation were snapped up by diehard trial fans and many filed newspaper clippings neatly away.
Now there is another memento of Binion and the trial that fans are pursuing: coins from Binion's hoard.
Spectrum Numismatics International of Irvine, Calif., bought the Binion coins dated from 1878-1935 from the Binion estate in October for $3 million. About 50,000 of the coins had never been circulated, and some were still in their original mint bags.
Since they were placed on the market in January, tens of thousands of the coins have already been sold, said Mark Albarian, president and CEO of Goldline International Inc., the Santa Monica, Calif., company that is marketing the Binion hoard.
The Morgan Silver Dollar and Peace Silver Dollar coins are priced as low as $40 and as high as nearly $13,000.
The sealed coins are being sold with a pedigree label assigned by Numismatic Guaranty Corp. of America, a coin-grading company in Sarasota, Fla.
The label features a green-and-white Old West scenario of three cowboys on horses, the year, the mint of issue and grade.
"It's been one of the most popular offerings we've ever made," Albarian said. It's a situation where the story behind the collection of coins and the coins' quality have come together, he said.
Known as a pack rat, Binion stashed away the coins, many of which were uncirculated and in their original mint state. Additionally, silver coins used by visitors at Binion's Horseshoe casino were set aside by Binion family members. The coins were stored in a walk-in freezer below the casino as well as in Binion's vault.
Mark Salzberg, CEO of Numismatic, graded the collection last fall and said, "The quality was outstanding across the board."
Both the quantity and quality of the collection, he said, were magnificent.
Though the Binion collection did not include many rare dates, Salzberg said the preservation was high and the coins have some of the most outstanding toning that he has seen on silver dollars.
Some coins feature rainbow colors created by oxidation of the silver from the sulfur off the original canvas bags, Salzberg said.
"That color is very desirable to collectors," he said. "It shows that it's original, that it's never been played with."
Sentimental value
Las Vegas resident Lee Spence said he purchased coins from the Binion hoard for the investment value and the pedigree.
"It's quite a collection," Spence, who has been collecting coins on and off since the late 1970s, said. "I just jumped all over it."
A Nevada resident for 25 years, Spence said he knew Benny Binion, Ted Binion's father, through doing business with the Horseshoe. Spence's parents would stay at the hotel when they came to town.
"He was quite an old character," Spence said, referring to Benny Binion, whom he remembers always being amid the action on the casino floor. "He's from the old school. The old history of the West."
Goldline International said that a large volume of calls for the coins are coming from Nevada.
"We're getting people that want to have a piece of Nevada history, that knew about the trial," Robert Fazio, vice president of Goldline International, said. "The detectives who worked on the trial, they bought coins from us. The people who did landscaping on his house, they bought coins from us."
Sheila Ayers, a 44-year-old Las Vegas resident, bought 40 coins in February. Ayers, whose aunt worked at the casino cage and remembers the family well, watched the trial on television nearly every day.
By owning the coins, Ayers said, "The legacy will live on."
Las Vegan Janice Tursi, a stamp and coin collector, also wanted a memento. Tursi bought three of the coins last week as a souvenir from the trial and plans to put them on display in her home along with her collection of sports memorabilia.
"My girlfriends and I, we did not miss one minute of that trial," Tursi said. "Everybody sort of knew Ted. When you live in Las Vegas that's a big thing. You know who the casino owners are."
Buyer beware
However, there is some grumbling among coin collectors on Internet chat sites and elsewhere that the coins are overgraded and overpriced -- actually worth less than half of the selling price.
Some claim that the price was raised so high because of the salacious Binion story. In years to come, they say, the story will fade from memory and people will have a coin that may only be worth the face value of the coin.
"People are buying the coin because of the label," Phil Carlino, owner of three Las Vegas coin shops, said. "But that's not why you invest in the coin.
"If you buy the hype you're going to end up in the hole."
Chances are, Carlino said, when the story fades the coin's price will drop. That's the time to get a better deal on the coin.
Larry Lochridge, president of the Las Vegas Numismatic Society, a local nonprofit organization of coin collectors, doesn't plan on ever purchasing a coin from the Binion collection.
Serious collectors won't buy the Binion coins, Lochridge said. "Down the line it really doesn't mean anything."
But Bob Todd, a coin collector from Chelmsford, Mass., doesn't care about the coins' value.
In addition to coins, Todd collects Las Vegas memorabilia and follows crime stories. He read about the Binion trial online and purchased some of the coins on the Internet auction site eBay.
"It's a piece of Las Vegas history," Todd said. "That's all part of the Las Vegas history, the Las Vegas mystique, the story behind the scenes. For a died-in-the-wool crime fanatic, he's got a chance to get a piece of Ted Binion.
"Did I overpay? Yes. Do I care? No. Because I bought them for me I like casino stuff. When you went to Vegas you had to go to the Horseshoe and the Nugget."
Todd said that other collectors have scoffed at the coins.
"I've got Morgan silver dollars in better condition than these," he said referring to the Binion coins. "It's a terrible investment. But it's fun to have."
Isabelle Riggs, a mystery buff and early retiree who likes to write short stories, said that she's going to frame the coins she plans to purchase from Goldline and hang them on the wall.
"I want part of the history," Riggs said, "but it's a teeny bit more than that. I wanted justice for this man.
"My son and I were there almost every day. I taped every single one of the trials."
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