Market Report by Doug Winter - RareGoldCoins.com

I never give these blogs titles but if I were going to, I’d call this one “it’s my blog and I’ll brag if I want to.” The brag topic? Early quarter eagle values and how this area of numismatics, which I’ve been literally begging people to buy for years, seems to suddenly have caught fire.

In the recent Stack’s Husky Collection auction, there was a date run of early quarter eagles. In fact, with the exception of the ultra-rare 1804 13 Stars and the 1834, I believe that every major variety of quarter eagle produced between 1796 and 1834 was present. The prices realized for these coins was impressive and they represent further validation of my beseeching collectors of early gold to give this series the same attention that has been lavished on the half eagles and eagles of this era. Apparently, at least a few people listened.

Instead of boring you with a coin-by-coin dissertation, I thought it would be interesting to focus on four coins in the sale: an example of the Draped Bust Right type of 1796-1807, an example of the one-year type of 1808, and one example each of the 1821-1827 and 1829-1834 Capped Bust types.

My favorite Draped Bust Right quarter eagle in the Husky Sale was Lot 2036, a nice NGC AU58 1806/4 with pleasing original color and choice surfaces. This was the sort of coin that probably would have graded AU55 a few years ago but, even so, I liked it a lot and was willing to pay around $25,000 for it. Back around 2000, before early gold was on most collectors’ radar, a coin of this quality was worth around $13,000-15,000. Five years later, when early gold was starting its inexorable climb upwards, this same coin was worth around $17,500-20,000. In the Husky Sale it sold for $32,200; a level that exceeds the current Trends value of $30,000 or the CDN Bid of $23,000. (more…)

By Doug Winter - www.raregoldcoins.com

I recently learned that the coins from the shipwreck S.S. New York will be sold by Stack’s in July at this firm’s pre-ANA auction. Unlike some of the other shipwrecks that have been uncovered in recent years, the coins found on the S.S. New York will have an impact on the branch mint gold market.

According to information gleaned from the NGC website, the S.S. New York was a light cargo and passenger ship vessel that operated between New Orleans and Galveston. It was destroyed during a hurricane on September 7, 1846. Seventeen crew members were killed and “thirty to forty thousand dollars in gold, silver and bank notes” were lost according to contemporary reports.

What is especially interesting about these coins is that they represent one of the most eclectic, diverse cross-sections of coins in circulation during the first part of the 19th century that has ever been found. Unlike the S.S. Republic and S.S. Central America, the coins in this group tend to be smaller denomination and much of the gold was produced in Dahlonega and the local New Orleans mint.(Even more interesting is the fact that only two Charlotte issues were included. This should tell us something about the geographic distribution of Charlotte coins).

The coins have been curated by NCS and, according to the reports that I’ve read, numismatists such as John Albanese, David Bowers and Mark Salzburg have commented on how exceptional they are from the standpoint of quality. In fact, Albanese was quoted as saying “…many of them look like they were just minted yesterday.”

NGC just published the first census of these S.S. New York coins and, from the look of it, there are some extremely interesting pieces that will be available. (more…)

By Doug Winter  - www.RareGoldCoins.com 

How are soaring energy prices going to affect the coin market? I got my first taste of the New Reality today when I decided not to attend a coin show because of what I thought was an exceptionally high price for an airline ticket.

The other day I received an email from Whitman Expos regarding their August Atlanta show. I believe that this show is in its third year and I have attended the previous conventions. Even though it is a brutal flight for me to get to Atlanta from the Northwest, I’ve always looked forward to the show. I love Atlanta, I like the Whitman people and want to support their shows and I have some good clients in the Atlanta metropolitan area. So even though this had never been a “major” event on the coin circuit, I was still happy to attend it.

That is, until I went on my airlines’ website yesterday and looked up the price of a round trip ticket to Atlanta. Even booking the ticket more than two months in advance, the best fare I could find was close to $800 and that was with a lovely three hour layover on the way home in Dallas. To get a convenient round trip ticket was nearly $1,000.

Now I know that the airlines are hurting and that Americans have had the luxury of really cheap airfare for the past decade. But when I figure a $1,000 plane ticket on top of a $200 per night hotel (I don’t like to share rooms when I travel and I’d rather camp out under a bridge than stay at a cheap hotel), the price of a table at a show, meals, etc., a show like the Atlanta Expo suddenly gets expunged from my schedule.

I wonder how many other dealers are feeling the same way about non-essential shows. No matter how expensive airfare gets, I’m still going to attend the ANA and FUN shows and I will continue to attend West Coast shows because of the convenience factor. But instead of going to three Baltimore shows per year, I’ll probably cut back to two to reduce expenses. (more…)

By Doug Winter - RareGoldCoins.com

My short (but productive) stay at Long Beach means that my Long Beach report is going to be short (but productive).

I didn’t arrive at Long Beach until Thursday afternoon and I was severely jet-lagged after having just returned from Japan. I had originally intended to totally skip Long Beach but a lack of coins meant that I had to try my best to quickly and efficiently restock.

After I landed and cabbed down to Long Beach, I called a few Trusted Suppliers and asked about the show. Their replies were nearly unanimous: it was a bear finding anything of interest and I was certain to be frustrated. My mood, as I headed down the freeway, was not good.

One thing that is good about being at a major show for just over a day is that you don’t have a lot of time to mess around. So as I hit the floor at Long Beach and began to scour, I was very focused.

My day at Long Beach turned out to be amazingly productive. I was able to buy over thirty interesting coins; which is about triple the amount that I expected. I sold a few older, expensive coins that I was happy to move out and in the eight seconds that I was actually at my table, I had productive retail sales with new clients.

I spoke with a number of dealers about their Long Beach Experience and got fairly mixed reviews. One dealer told me he had an excellent show and the dealer that I share a table with had one of his more productive shows in some time. Other dealers I talked to told me that they had shows that ranged from fair to poor and most complained about a lack of interesting material (surprise, surprise). I’m not sure why I was lucky and found so many good coins other than the fact that I worked my little fanny off searching for them. (more…)

By Doug Winter - www.raregoldcoins.com

When the Immovable Object met the Irrestible Force in the Battle of the 1878-CC Half Eagle who won? Read today’s blog to see what happened when two won’t-be-denied collectors jousted over a rare coin and (maybe) failed to do their due diligence.

The 1878-CC half eagle is one of my favorite issues. It is among the scarcest gold coins struck at the Carson City mint. There are an estimated 75 or so known in all grades with the majority in the Fine to Very Fine range. It is clearly a rare date in Extremely Fine and it is very rare in About Uncirculated with probably no more than ten to twelve accurately graded examples currently known. In the higher AU grades it is extremely rare and I know of no more than three or so true AU58’s.

So this means that when a nice example of the 1878-CC half eagle becomes available, it sends off shock waves in the Carson City gold collecting community. This is exactly what happened back in May of 2007 when a really nice PCGS AU58 was offered as Lot 2303 in Heritage’s Platinum Night session of the Central States auction.

After strong floor bidding, the coin in question brought $41,400 to a phone bidder. I can remember sitting in the audience at the time of the sale and thinking, “hmmm…that sure seems like a strong price for an 1878-CC half eagle.” My thinking, at the time, was that the coin was worth around $32,500 to $35,000 and maybe, at a stretch, it might bring as much as $37,500.

A lot has happened in the Carson City gold market since then, it appears. There are now a couple of new collectors who are very strong buyers, especially if a coin is in a PCGS holder and either the finest graded or close to it. This has meant some very strong prices for appropriate coins in the last year or two. (more…)