By Doug Winter – www.raregoldcoins.com

For those of us who experienced the coin market’s ups and downs in the 1980’s and 1990’s, perhaps the biggest surprise has been the relatively quiet Proof gold market of the past few years. While prices for Proof gold have certainly risen since the beginning of this decade, new collectors don’t seem to regard these coins with the same degree of awe that was seen in the recent past.

If you are a Proof gold collector, please do not misinterpret the introductory paragraph I just wrote. I personally love Proof gold and there is no arguing the fact that a $25,000 purchase made in this area in, say, 2001 isn’t worth considerably more today. What makes me sit back and scratch my head a little is the fact that Proof gold just doesn’t seem to be as active a market right now as early gold or key dates from the 20th century. Why?

I have a few theories. The first is the fact that a huge number of Proof gold coins quietly went off the market between 2000 to 2006 to a specific overseas buyer. Today, the supply of interesting Proof gold is the lowest I can remember. If you look at the typical major auction, there are just a few pieces of Proof gold for sale and they tend to be coins struck after 1890 and, more often than not, smaller denominations. When years go by between appearances for rare Proof gold issues, it is difficult for there to be an active two-way market which then results in a lack of pricing information or stimulus for new collectors.

This brings me to theory #2. This lack of material has meant relatively little promotion of Proof gold in the past five years or so. A dealer like me can write articles about how great Proof gold is, how rare Proof gold is and what an excellent value Proof gold is, but if I don’t have any coins available to sell to potential new collectors or investors, what’s the point? If you look back over time, various dealers were always promoting Proof gold. I think the relative lack of supply has caused marketers, retail dealers and other traditional advocates of Proof gold to search elsewhere for trophy coins to sell to new clients. (more…)

By Doug Winter – RareGoldCoins.com

Coin dealers are an “interesting” (yes, this is an ironic use of quotes) group. If you were to take the top fifty professionals in this field and examine their personalities, I believe that a number of the same traits would be seen in a majority of these individuals. What are some of these traits? And do you have what it takes to be a successful coin dealer?

With very few exceptions, most of the top coin dealers have been involved in coins since they were very young. I can’t think of more than one or two coin dealers who I regard as being at the top level of the industry who were not buying and selling coins by the time they were in their early teens (or in some case, before this). Many people have asked me why this is the case. I think that being a good coin dealer is something that is almost genetic in its origin. You can’t really teach an adult the skills to be a truly good dealer. It’s almost as if the top dealers were born with a “coin dealing gene.” If you are a 42 year old insurance salesman with a passing interest in coins, it’s pretty unlikely that, within a few years, you are going to be a force on the bourse floor.

And speaking of genes, I think that every good coin dealer has what I call the “collecting gene.” Even though I don’t really collect coins anymore, there are a number of other areas that I avidly collect. Virtually every great dealer I know is also a serious collector of something; and many have multiple non-numismatic collections. These range from paper money to vintage photographs to globes to muscle cars. If you do not have a passion for collecting, you probably aren’t going to amount to much when it comes to dealing.

Coin dealers have exceptional memories when it comes to coins. I think I qualify pretty highly in this regard but my memory is very selective. As an example, it usually takes me a number of times meeting a collector until I remember his name. But I can generally remember this collector’s coins that he showed me in 1984 and, more distressingly, in great detail. I find the same to be true with many other of the dealers who I respect. They have an absolutely uncanny ability to remember coins they have handled, deals they have done, auctions they have attended, etc. If you have a poor memory when it comes to details, you are not likely to become a good dealer, let alone a great one. (more…)

Doug Winter Market Report

Lost amid the hoopla of the recent Baltimore ANA and the numerous auctions that accompanied this show was the sale of one of the greatest United States gold coins in existence. Even more remarkable was the fact that in this day of “ho hum, another million dollar coin just sold,” this sale received relatively little publicity and the final price realized was, in retrospect, pretty reasonable, all things considered. [EDITORS NOTE: See CoinLink's July 15th Article on this Coin ]

There are two distinct varieties known of the 1825 half eagle. The more available is 1825/4 Unevenly Spaced Date (Bass-Dannreuther 1) which, for many years, was known as the “1825/1.” Recent research has shown that the underpunched digit is, in fact a 4 as it is positioned at the same angle as found on the 1824 half eagle.

The second variety of 1825 half eagle (BD-2) has always been known as an 1825/4 overdate but it is more properly termed the 1825/4 Evenly Spaced Close Date.

For many years, the 1825/4 BD-2 half eagle was regarded as unique. The discovery piece was originally in the Col. Mendes Cohen collection and it was eventually sold to Louis Eliasberg after stints in the Earle and Clapp collections. In the 1982 Eliasberg sale, the coin was cataloged as Proof-60 and it sold for $220,000. I have never personally seen the Eliasberg 1825/4 half eagle but John Dannreuther states in his book on early gold that, in his opinion, it is not a Proof.

In 1978, a second example of the 1825/4 BD-2 half eagle turned up and this story of its discovery is almost as fascinating as the coin itself. In the early part of the 20the century, a collector named N.M. Kaufman was an active (but little known) purchaser of early gold rarities. His collection was exhibited at the Marquette County Savings Bank. Unfortunately, the curator of this exhibit was clearly not a savvy numismatist as he mounted them to a board using tacks (for those of you who just passed out after reading this, I will pause for a second…) Many of the Kauffman coins suffered rim damage from this procedure, ranging from very minor to rather severe. (more…)