Stack’s 72nd Anniversary Sale was conducted October 16-17 in the Estrela Penthouse of Le Parker-Meredien Hotel and set records in several areas reported firm CEO and Director of Numismatics Lawrence R. Stack. Offering 1,737 lots of high quality United States coins from several advanced collections, the sale was an unqualified success, netting $7,390,908.55 (including the 15% buyer’s premium).

Virtually all areas of American coinage were represented with emphasis on such areas as pioneer gold, rare date Federal coinage and Liberty Seated silver dollars. Among headline-makers in the pioneer field was a unique Copper Pattern $1 struck by California private coiner J.H. Bowie that was recently discovered in Great Britain.

This historic discovery piece presents the known pine tree obverse of the Garrett Collection example but with a new reverse characterized by more careful and balanced layout of denomination and lettering. Grading Extremely Fine-45, this Bowie pattern realized $63,250 including the 15 percent buyer’s fee.

The legendary “King of Territorial Gold” is the 1855 $50 struck by California pioneer John Glover Kellogg. The PCGS Proof-62 example gracing the Anniversary Sale was one of perhaps 11 to 13 pieces now in existence. Kellogg was perhaps the most respected private coiner of the later Gold Rush, whose $20 coins were universally accepted. (more…)

NGC has introduced the American Liberty Series, a suite of four labels for the Silver, Gold, and Platinum Eagles, and the Gold Buffalo. These label designs showcase elements from the obverse design of these coins on a gradient background.

The American Liberty Series is available only to submitters who meet minimum submission requirements. All dates, mint marks, proof and mint state issues of US bullion coins are eligible, but no pedigrees or early release designations are available in conjunction with the American Liberty Series labels. The grading standards and procedures are identical to those used for regular NGC labels; only the appearance differs. Read Full Story

By Doug Winter - www.Raregoldcoins.com CoinLink Content Partner

I’ve seen it happen many times in the past few years. An avid new collector storms into the hobby and buys lots of coins but then hits critical mass and thinks about leaving numismatics. What can you do as a collector who has reached the “burnout” phase to rekindle your passion for numismatics?

The first thing I would suggest is to get all of your coins together and lay them out on a table or desk. Take a good hard look at them and decide what deserves to be in the collection and what does not. If you are like any new collector, it is likely that in your initial burst of enthusiasm, you bought coins that you shouldn’t have. In retrospect, they may be ugly or they just don’t fit in with the core collection you have. My best advice is to jettison them.

Now I’m not suggesting a fire sale. The best way to sell the coins is an orderly, organized fashion. You might do it yourself or select a dealer to help you. Or, you could always choose to put the coins in an auction. If possible, give yourself at least 90-120 days to plan and execute a strategy that makes sense.

It is likely that some of the “duds” that you originally purchased are going to be losers when it comes time to sell. Assuming that you are out of love forever with a specific coin, it’s alright to sell it for a loss. Just make certain that use this as a learning experience and try not to repeat this specific mistake in the future. (FYI, even smart dealers sometimes have to sell coins for losses. Really smart dealers get out of their bad deals as quickly as possible and reinvest their money in other coins that, hopefully, will be better deals).

The next thing I would suggest to recharge your battery is to take the next $500-1,500 you were going to spend on a coin and use it to form a basic library. Buy the five to ten essential books that should be in every collector’s library and then buy useful books in your chosen field(s) of specialization. I would also suggest buying a core group of auction catalogs from the 1980’s and 1990’s as well. Find a numismatic literature dealer and tell him that you collect Liberty Seated quarters or Type Three double eagles and the chances are good that he can recommend some older but still very useful catalogs that can greatly enhance your collecting experience.

Taking the numismatic literature theme one step further, get a current auction catalog from a specialist dealer like George Kolbe, Charles Davis or Fred Lake and buy some interesting 19th or early 20th century books or catalogs. As an example, the upcoming Kolbe sale of the John Pittman library has some really wonderful books and catalogs that will make a great test for your numismatic DNA. If you find everything in the catalog to be boring and the history of numismatics and its personalities has no appeal to you, maybe you are being sent a message: coins just aren’t in your blood. But if you find some of the obscure books, catalogs, letters and manuscripts to be very exciting, then you can take this as a message: coins are in your blood but you just need to reinvigorate your interest.

Doug Winter
10/27/07
www.raregoldcoins.com
For more information on United States gold coins please contact me via email at dwn@ont.com

Spink will be holding Auction 7030 in London on November 28th, 2007. The auction will cover Ancient, English & Foreign Coins & Comm Medals. Included in this sale is an exceedingly rare Austrian Gold 15 Ducats which is sure to delight any European gold specialist.

The practice of issuing large denomination gold coins for presentation, mainly at court, reached its peak in Austria under Emperor Ferdinand II (1619-1657) and his son Ferdinand III.

These “prestige pieces” were usually struck from dies produced for the broad Double Taler, a silver coin, but in varying thicknesses (and weights) in gold, corresponding to particular numbers of gold ducats. The smaller denominations, up to Ten Ducats, are relatively common, although always popular and such splendid coins usually realise high prices. However the Fifteen Ducat piece is almost unknown. In the famous Rudolf Just collection, sold in 2001, eight examples of the Ten Ducats of Ferdinand III were included but no Fifteen ducats. One specimen of this denomination and date from the Graz mint exists in the Austrian state museum, the Wiener Munzkabinett, and another was recorded in the legendary Spöttl collection. This is perhaps the third known specimen of this coin. (more…)