By Steve Roach – Rare Coin Maarket Report Blog
First published in the Jan. 10, 2011, issue of Coin World

Are rare coins an investment class? They are according to the Wall Street Journal.

For the past several years, Coin World has provided a “Classic U.S. Rarities Key-Date Investment Index” for use in the Wall Street Journal’s investment scoreboard.

The scoreboard tracks investment groups in the categories of stocks, bonds, mutual funds, bank instruments (bank certificates of deposit and money market accounts), money market funds, precious metals and residential real estate.

Coins are listed in the category, “Rare Coins, top investment grade,” in the year-end survey.

The investment index consists of 82 coins: 15 copper coins, five copper-nickel pieces, 39 silver coins and 23 gold coins with a total 2010 value of just more than $13 million. It’s a collection of coins that tracks the high end of the market, with a diverse group of rare U.S. coins in high grades.

Coin World’s rare coin index gained 15.8 percent in 2006, registered a 31.9 percent gain in 2007, rose a more modest 8.8 percent in 2008 and in 2009 recorded a 7.9 percent loss.

The 2010 index measured a gain of 10.3 percent, showing the resilience at the top of the market for rarities and the increasing confidence of sellers to test their luck by offering high-value coins at public auctions. The announcement of several substantial private-treaty sales of $1 million plus coins also bolstered confidence in the top end of the market.

Broken out by categories, copper coins gained 8.3 percent in 2010, compared with a huge 37 percent gain in 2009.

Silver and copper-nickel coins rose 6.2 percent in 2010, compared with an 8.9 percent loss the prior year.

Gold coins rose 14.3 percent in 2010, nearly completely erasing the 14.7 percent loss that was registered in 2009.

On the scoreboard, in 2008, rare coins were one of the few investments that registered a gain. However, fortunes can change quickly in the investment world, and in 2009, rare coins as measured by the Coin World index were among the worst-performing investments as the housing and investment markets rebounded.

Where will coins fit among other investments in the 2010 ranking?

The Wall Street Journal will publish the scoreboard in its Jan. 3 issue.

Bozarth Rare Coin Market Report

During the holiday season I often reflect on the many blessings I have in my life. One of those blessings is the joy I receive from handling and looking at rare coins. In fact, I love my job. I get to look at coins virtually every day as a coin dealer. I enjoy looking at most coins, but some coins are better than others. The coins I really get a ‘charge’ out of handling usually have a couple of factors that make them ‘special’.

What makes a coin ‘special’? Scarcity or outright rarity can make a coin special because you don’t often see them. Incredible eye appeal is always a big factor in making a coin special. Indeed, eye appeal can make a relatively common coin ‘special’. A strong or full strike, glowing luster, originality, and especially a high state of preservation (grade) are all factors that can make a coin ‘special’. When buying coins, I am always looking at the grade, but these other factors (strike, eye appeal, luster, and originality) all contribute to whether or not I find the coin ‘speciaI’ and write the check.

In last month’s RCMR-Rare Coin Market Report I discussed three sets of U.S. Coins that are always in demand. This month I am going to discuss three additional sets that are loved by collectors. First let me explain the difference between collecting a set of coins by DATE versus collecting a set of coins by TYPE.

In most cases, a date set of coins is every date and mint of a particular denomination and design of U.S. coin. For example, last month I explained DATE collections of a short set of Walking Liberty Half Dollars (from 1941 to 1947), Peace Dollars (from 1921 to 1935), and $2.5 Indian Gold coins (from 1908 to 1929). All three of these sets contain all the dates and mints of their particulate design type of that denomination.

There are a few variations with some DATE sets. Often times a collector will collect a single coin of each year of coins for a particular design type of coins. Budget and availability often contribute to a collector starting with a single coin of each year versus all the different mint examples of each date. I have often seen a Year DATE set of Morgan Dollars assembled. In other words, the collector collects one coin from each year that Morgan Dollars were made, which would include one coin from 1878, 1879, 1880 etcetera through 1904 and including a coin from the last year of issue in 1921.

A TYPE coin collection is different from a DATE coin collection, because the collector is trying to collect ONE coin of each design type for a particular area of U.S. Coins. For example, the classic U.S. Commemorative Coins were produced from 1892 through 1954. There are 144 different issues in the complete DATE set. This includes ALL the different mint issues from the multiple mint issues like Arkansas, Boone, Columbia, SC, and Oregon Halves among others. Most often classic U.S. Commemoratives are collected by design TYPE. This collection contains 50 different design types so a collector has one example of the Arkansas, Boone, and Oregon halves. Not only is this easier to complete, but collecting by type is more affordable. (more…)

Powerful resource includes over five years of historical data and dynamic charting tools.

Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC) has released a new online price guide, the NGC Coin Price Guide, powered by NumisMedia.

The price guide is now available to all NGC website visitors for free at www.NGCcoin.com. It includes five years of accurate coin pricing data for nearly all US coins, and collectors can analyze coin prices using dynamic graphing tools and ranking filters. Many of these features are entirely new to the numismatic marketplace.

For example, the performance of up to five different coins can be viewed on a single graph. Innovative trend spotting tools allow users to rank coin performance based on criteria they supply to gain unique insight into the value of collectable US coins.

The rare coin values shown in the NGC Coin Price Guide are independently compiled and edited by NumisMedia based on real, documented market transactions.

Since 2005, NumisMedia has served as the official price guide of NGC and the NGC Collectors Society. NumisMedia is the industry’s most accurate, impartial report of US coin values. The online guide constitutes the most comprehensive pricing available for US coins, including prices for the full range of AU and MS grades, as well as prices for a broad number of modern issues.

“Tools this powerful simply were not available to coin collectors before today,” comments Mark Salzberg, NGC chairman. “Since the price guide is free, we’re offering everyone complete access to the most advanced way to assess rare coin valuation trends. NGC is providing the ultimate means for collectors to make better purchasing decisions and build better collections.”

The NGC Coin Price Guide launched November 30, 2010. The price guide is part of a suite of collecting resources available on NGC’s Web site, including a US coin encyclopedia, US coin variety attribution guide, and US coin grading guide. Earlier this year, NGC launched a comprehensive coin collection management portal. Like the price guide, it is a free resource available to the numismatic community.