Exhibit 99.1

             Collectors Universe Exits Retail Coin Sales Business

    NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., Mar. 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Collectors
Universe, Inc. (Nasdaq: CLCT), the leading provider of value-added grading and
authentication services to dealers and collectors of high-end collectibles,
today announced that in line with its strategy to focus strictly on its
grading and authentication business, the Company has terminated its license
agreement to operate David Hall Rare Coins (DHRC) effective March 1, 2004.
    Commenting on the decision, Chief Executive Officer Michael Haynes stated,
"This action, which ends our involvement in the retail coin sales business, is
the next step in the execution of our strategy to reposition the company and
return our focus to our core competency as the leading grader and
authenticator of high-end collectibles.  With this action, we no longer have
any continuing equity interest in any numismatic business that buys or sells
coins, which will enable management to focus completely on our thriving coin
authentication and grading business."
    The license arrangement between the Company and David Hall Rare Coins and
Collectibles (DHRCC), which was formalized in April 2003, has been in effect
since June 2000.  DHRCC had operated that business for more than 20 years
prior to the commencement of that arrangement.  DHRCC is owned by David Hall
and Van Simmons, who are shareholders and directors of Collectors Universe.
Mr. Hall also is President of Collectors Universe.  The decision to terminate
the license agreement was approved by the disinterested members of the
Collectors Universe's Board of Directors.
    Pursuant to that agreement, Collectors Universe had the right to use
customer names, software and trade names owned by DHRCC, in return for a
license fee that was payable by the Company to DHRCC based on DHRC's pretax
income generated from sales of coins to those customers.  The termination of
the license agreement returns the customer names, software and other
intangibles to DHRCC without restriction.  All of DHRC's inventory and
receivables are being retained by Collectors Universe.  The Company plans to
collect the receivables and sell the inventory in the ordinary course, which
is expected to generate approximately $1.7 million of cash for Collectors
Universe.
    DHRC's net revenues in fiscal year 2003 were $12.6 million, which
represented 39% of the discontinued commerce segment's net revenue and 24% of
Collectors Universe's total fiscal 2003 net revenues.  However, like the other
collectibles sales businesses that the Company had operated, DHRC failed to
generate the returns on investment that, in Collectors Universe's view,
merited continued ownership of that business, particularly when compared to
the returns that the Company believes it can generate from reinvesting the
cash that will become available as a result of this action in the growth and
expansion of its grading and authentication businesses.

    About Collectors Universe
    Collectors Universe, Inc. is the leading provider of essential services to
the high-end collectibles market.  The Collectors Universe brands, which
include PCGS(R) and PSA(TM), are among the strongest and best known in their
respective markets.  The Company grades and authenticates collectible coins,
sportscards, stamps, and autographs.  This information is accessible to
collectors and dealers at the Company's web site, www.collectors.com, and is
also published in print.

    Forward-Looking Statements
    This news release contains statements regarding our expectations about our
future financial performance that are "forward-looking statements" as defined
in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  Forward-looking
statements can be identified by the use of words such as "believe," "expect,"
"anticipate," "intend," "plan," "estimate," "project," or words of similar
meaning, or future or conditional verbs such as "will," "would," "should,"
"could," or "may."  Our actual results in the future may differ, possibly
materially, from our current expectations as set forth in the forward looking
statements contained in this release due to a number of risks and
uncertainties.  Those risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to:
changes in general economic conditions, and changes in conditions in the
collectibles markets in which we operate, such as a possible decline in the
popularity of some high-end collectibles, either of which could reduce the
volume of grading submissions and, therefore, the grading fees we generate
potential losses on owned collectible merchandise or the need to adjust these
inventories to fair market value through inventory write downs; our dependence
on a limited number of key management personnel the loss of any of which could
adversely affect future financial performance; and seasonality and potential
fluctuations in quarterly operating results and quarterly cash flows.  Certain
of these risks and uncertainties, in addition to other risks, are more fully
described in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year
ended June 30, 2003, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
These forward-looking statements are made only as of the date of this news
release, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise the
forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future
events or otherwise.  In addition, although we believe that our strategy to
exit the commerce segment of our business and focus substantially all of our
resources on our grading and services segment will better enable us to achieve
improvements in the profitability, there is no assurance that our strategy
will prove to be successful.  Among other things, one consequence of our
strategy is that there will be a significant decline in our revenues.  As a
result, our profitability will suffer if we are unable to reduce our general
and administrative expenses to bring them in line with our lower revenue base.
Also, there is a practical limit on the amount by which expenses can be
reduced as a means of improving profitability.  As a result, our success in
the future will depend as well on our ability to achieve internal growth in
our grading businesses and to find and take advantage of opportunities to
acquire other businesses that provide value added services to the collectibles
markets.  There is no assurance that we will be able to achieve such growth
and growth by acquisition presents a number of risks including an inability to
integrate newly acquired businesses into existing operations successfully.

SOURCE  Collectors Universe, Inc.
    -0-                             03/01/2004
    /CONTACT:  Michael Lewis, Chief Financial Officer of Collectors Universe,
Inc., +1-949-567-1375, lewism@collectors.com; or Brandi Piacente,
Investor/Analyst Information, of Financial Relations Board, +1-415-248-3430,
bpiacente@financialrelationsboard.com, for Collectors Universe, Inc./
    /Web site:  http://www.collectors.com /
    (CLCT)

CO:  Collectors Universe, Inc.; David Hall Rare Coins and Collectibles
ST:  California
IN:  ENT MLM REA
SU:  LIC