EXHIBIT 99.1
COLLECTORS UNIVERSE LAUNCHES NEW SERVICE IN PROFESSIONAL COIN GRADING
SERVICE DIVISION
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., Oct. 10 -- Collectors Universe, Inc. (Nasdaq: CLCT),
a leading provider of value-added authentication and grading and other
value-added services to dealers and collectors of high-value collectibles,
announced today that it has initiated a new service to provide attributions
according to the die-variety of Morgan design and Peace design Silver Dollars.
Currently, the Company's Professional Coin Grading Service ("PCGS") Division
provides authentication and grading of these highly popular coins. PCGS's new
service will provide attributions to more than 3,000 die-varieties defined by
the Comprehensive Catalogue and Encyclopedia of Morgan & Peace Dollars, and
assigned variety numbers with a "VAM" number notation named after the authors of
the book, Van Allen and Mallis.
David Hall, President of Collectors Universe and founder of PCGS, stated,
"The coin collecting trend is rapidly moving in a more sophisticated direction.
Collecting by die-variety has become very popular in the past few years and
Morgan and Peace dollar 'VAM' variety collecting is a heavily concentrated area
of coin collecting. We charge an additional $15 per coin for die-variety
attribution and the service is available for both coins that PCGS has previously
graded and coins that are coming to us for the first time. Initial reaction to
this new service has been very positive and we plan to expand die-variety
attribution services into other popular coin series."
The Morgan and Peace Silver Dollars have become one of the most popular
series of U.S. coinage for collectors. Due to the large number of collectors and
interest in the large number of die-varieties supported by the publication of
the Comprehensive Catalogue, attribution of the specific die-varieties is
important to the many serious collectors whose goal is to collect complete sets
of these coins. In the Comprehensive Catalogue, experts estimate there to be
over 100 million uncirculated Morgan and Peace Silver Dollars that have not been
attributed by die-variety.
Michael Haynes, Chief Executive Officer of Collectors Universe, added, "We
believe the expansion of our coin service offerings to provide attributions
represents a new growth opportunity for PCGS. In order to satisfy anticipated
customer demand for this service, we have added experts in the areas of
attribution to support these coins and other die-varieties going forward.
Additionally, we have acquired publishing rights for the Comprehensive Catalogue
and Encyclopedia of Morgan & Peace Dollars and are preparing to publish other
books and online reference material relating to other coin series that have high
levels of interest in die-varieties as expressed by collectors."
About Collectors Universe
Collectors Universe, Inc. is a leading provider of value added services to
the high-end collectibles market. The Company authenticates and grades
collectible coins, sports cards, autographs, stamps and currency. The Company
also compiles and publishes authoritative information about United States and
world coins, collectible sports cards and sports memorabilia and collectible
stamps. 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 Information
This news release contains statements regarding our expectations about our
future financial performance which 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 future or conditional
verbs such as "will," "would," "should," "could," or "may."
Our financial performance in the future may differ, possibly significantly,
from our current expectations about our future financial performance as set
forth in the forward looking statements contained in this news release due to a
number of risks and uncertainties. Those risks and uncertainties include, but
are not limited to: the possibility of changes in general economic conditions or
conditions in the collectibles markets, such as a possible decline in the
popularity of some high-value collectibles, which could result in reductions in
the volume of authentication and grading submissions and, therefore, the fees we
are able to generate; a lack of diversity in our sources of revenues and our
dependence on coin authentication and grading for a significant percentage of
our total revenues, which makes us more vulnerable to adverse changes in
economic and market conditions, including declines in the value of precious
metals or recessionary conditions, that could lead to reduced coin and other
collectibles submissions, with a resultant reduction in our revenues and in our
income; the fact that five of our customers accounted for approximately 27% of
our net revenues during fiscal 2005, which means that our operating result could
decline if any of those customers were to terminate or significantly reduce the
business that they conduct with us; our dependence on certain key executives and
collectibles experts, the loss of the services of any of which could adversely
affect our ability to obtain authentication and grading submissions and,
therefore, could harm our operating results; increased competition from other
collectibles services companies that could result in reductions in collectibles
submissions to us or could require us to reduce the prices we charge for our
services; the risk that we will incur unanticipated liabilities under our
authentication and grading warranties that would increase our operating
expenses; the risk that new service offerings and business initiatives that we
may undertake will not gain market acceptance or will increase our operating
expenses or reduce our overall profitability or cause us to incur losses; the
risk that our strategy to exit the collectibles sales business and focus
substantially all of our resources on our authentication and grading businesses
will not be successful in enabling us to improve our profitability over the
longer term or to grow our existing businesses or expand into new collectibles
or high value asset markets; and. if we grow our business by acquiring any
existing or commencing any new authentication and grading businesses, the risks
that we will be unable to successfully integrate those businesses into our
operations, that those businesses will not gain market acceptance; and that
business expansion may result in a costly diversion of management time and
resources and increase our operating expenses. Additional information regarding
these and other risks and uncertainties to which our business is subject is
contained in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for our fiscal year ended June 30,
2005 which we filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on September 13,
2005.
Due to the above-described risks and uncertainties and those described in
that Annual Report, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the
forward-looking statements contained in this news release, which speak only as
of its date, or to make predictions about future performance based solely on
historical financial performance. We also disclaim any obligation to update
forward-looking statements contained in this news release.
Contacts:
Joe Wallace Brandi Piacente
Chief Financial Officer Investor Relations
Collectors Universe The Piacente Group, Inc.
949-567-1245 212-481-2050
Email: jwallace@collectors.com Email: brandi@thepiacentegroup.com