By Jeff Starck for COIN WORLD

Trying to explain what sight-seen and sight-unseen bidding are is at once easy and confusing.

The market for sight-unseen coins is predominantly for “generic” gold coins, like this 1926 Saint-Gaudens gold $20 double eagle coin and other coins with large populations, several experts told Coin World.

There is little market for sight-unseen trading of certain collector coins, like the 1916-D Winged Liberty Head dime, one expert said.

“Sight-seen” and “sight-unseen” bidding are terms describing ways that dealers can buy and sell coins through dealer-to-dealer networks. But, it turns out, it’s much more complicated than that.

At the basic level, someone buying a coin “sight seen” has the option, once they’ve seen the coin, to buy it at a price already established between buyer and seller for a coin from a specific grading service and in a specific grade, or they can reject the purchase.

Buyers engaging in “sight-unseen” purchases may submit their bid for coins they wish to purchase, again for pieces certified by a third-party grading service, but without seeing the coins before agreeing to the deal.

The ability to pick-and-choose coins under the sight-seen method generally means those coins receive higher prices.

Technology changes market

As technology has evolved, the means and methods by which dealers trade coins has changed. In the 1960s, dealers used teletypewriter systems that transmitted their bid and sell messages to other dealers on the network.

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By Paul Gilkes for COIN WORLD

In 1949, Dr. William H. Sheldon introduced the numismatic term “condition census” in his book Early American Cents, later renamed Penny Whimsy.

Condition census, according to Sheldon, denoted the finest example and average condition of the next five finest known of a given variety of large cents dated from 1793 through 1814.

Catalogers have gradually extended the use of condition census to other U.S. coin series. According to numismatic writer Q. David Bowers, the term has been used indiscriminately, sometimes to describe any coin that was in a particularly high grade category for its variety, regardless of how many others might share that category.

Growing from the condition census concept are the set registries for certified coins initiated by Professional Coin Grading Service and Numismatic Guaranty Corp. at the end of the 20th century.

The set registry concept was the brainchild of PCGS co-founder David Hall, currently the president of Collectors Universe, PCGS’s parent company. It began when Hall published in 1998 a printed booklet providing lists of the finest PCGS-certified coin collections and almost complete collections by denomination.

BJ Searls, the PCGS Set Registry manager, launched the registry online in February 2001. NGC followed suit in August 2001 with the NGC Registry.

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By Paul Gilkes for COIN WORLD

Some collectors who buy Uncirculated American Eagle gold, silver and platinum bullion coins wonder why they can’t buy the coins directly from the United States Mint instead of having to buy the issues from dealers on the secondary market.

The answer lies within the purpose of the American Eagle bullion coins: to enable investors to buy U.S. bullion coins at prices not much above the coins’ bullion values.

While some hobbyists collect the Uncirculated American Eagle bullion coins without Mint marks by date, those issues are intended to be investment vehicles. Their value is tied to the daily spot price of gold, silver or platinum, plus a premium.

Consumers are able to buy the Proof and Uncirculated collector versions of the American Eagle coins, all bearing the W Mint mark from the West Point Mint, directly from the U.S. Mint. However, these collector coins are sold a fixed price that is considerably higher than the intrinsic value of the metal each coin contains.

In terms of composition and size, the U.S. Mint sells nine different American Eagles, irrespective of finish. The American Eagle .999 fine silver coin is sold in a 1-ounce size only. The American Eagle .9167 fine gold and .9995 fine platinum coins are sold in four sizes: 1 ounce, half ounce, quarter ounce and tenth ounce.

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