By Susan Headley, About.com:Coins

The U.S. Mint offers a bewildering variety of coin sets each year, ranging from the old stand-by’s such as Proof sets and Uncirculated (year) sets, to the special commemorative sets and coins that have limited mintages. Learn which ones typically skyrocket in value right away, and which ones are usually the duds.

A. The answer, in a nutshell, is the limited mintage sets that have a unique coin in them that cannot be gotten in any other way are the sets that make the smartest buys. For example, the Twentieth Anniversary Silver Eagle 3-Coin Set that came out in late 2006 had a coin that could only be acquired as part of the set - the Reverse Proof Silver Eagle. This set had a mintage of 250,000 maximum sets, and the Reverse Proof immediately doubled the set’s value. As of January 2008, the set sells for around $400 in PR-68 (a low-end grade for the set.) The issue price was only $100. Read Full Article

I’m not sure what the new year has in store. Who does? OK, there are some who religiously adhere to soothsayers such as Nostradamus. I don’t. His predictions tend to lean toward the bleak with prophesies of plagues, eruptions and Armageddon. Plus, Nostradamus’s writings are so cryptic that any of them could be interpreted to mean either the onset of the war in Iraq or the making of the film “I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry” - whichever disaster you consider worse.

For now, let’s stick to what’s probable for 2008. For instance, we know by the end of the year, we’ll have chosen a new president. All the current candidates espouse is that it’s now time for change. That’s a given. Over the next 12 months, some of our change will change - with the issuance of four new presidential golden dollars. Issued in 2008 will be dollar coins featuring William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, James K. Polk and Zachary Taylor. Read Full Story

After the dust settles from a major coin show and a major auction, there are always a number of things that can be learned. I learned a lot from the 2008 FUN show and, more specifically, from the Heritage FUN auction.

1. If someone is wealthy and they really want a coin, price no longer appears to be an object. Case in point: the 1805 quarter that was sold as Lot 2775 in the Platinum Night 2008 session. It was graded MS66 by NGC and it brought an absolutely incredible $402,500. What is even more incredible is the fact that this exact coin sold for $74,750 one year ago (almost to the day) in Heritage’s 2007 Platinum Night session. With the click of a mouse, even the most inexperienced collector could have determined this, thanks to Heritage’s unparalleled degree of transparency. Clearly the coin market is strong right now but a nearly-six times increase in the price of a neat but not world-class coin? Gulp. And you want to know something even more amazing about this sale? The two collectors battling it out for the 1805 quarter were bidding on line and, in all probability, never saw the coin in person or had an independent dealer look at it for them. In fact, they may not have even had a bidding strategy other than: “I want this coin and must have it no matter what it sells for.” And this was just one of many prices in this sale that I regard as absolutely amazing. (more…)

By Laura Sperber - Legend Numismatics

We’re back! What a long and completely exhausting week. Hate to sound negative, but this was not our best FUN Show-or even close. For us, we rate the show as weak. Retail was slow. Wholesale for what we had was very strong (still well off record numbers). Buying was so difficult that we started to look in areas we normally do NOT handle. We had expected a block buster show especially since gold rallied to $900.00 an ounce. We just couldn’t muster up any fresh deals on the floor or find pockets of coins to buy to make things happen.

From our view point, much of the activity occurred at the auctions. For the first time probably in 30 years, we pronounce the FUN show as being disappointing to us.

WHEN AUCTIONS RULED

ALL of the major activity clearly took place at the auctions. The PRE FUN sales were as crazy and challenging as they could be. The quality was mixed while the offerings were weak. It was difficult to calculate whether or not to be aggressive on prices paid or wait and see. (more…)

BALTIMORE, Jan. 8 /PRNewswire/ — The following statement was written by Tom Dyson, who is a frequent contributor to www.DailyWealth.com, one of America’s most widely read financial e-letters.

Yesterday, I spoke to my coin dealer, Van Simmons. “It’s staggering what’s going on in the coin market right now…” said Simmons.

Spot gold prices yesterday hit their highest prices in history … $870 an ounce. Gold investors are euphoric. They’ve waited 28 years for this moment. Van Simmons sells mint-condition vintage gold coins. The U.S. government minted these gold coins pre-1933.

In theory, these vintage gold coins are “leveraged” to the spot gold price. They are in such short supply, when gold goes up 10%, they tend to go up much faster in price … at least, that’s what used to happen. Here’s the reason Van Simmons is so flabbergasted: Even though gold has risen 228% in the last six years and is shooting through the roof right now, gold coin prices are sedate. (more…)