By Laura Sperber of Legend Numismatics

In the past few weeks we have been offered more coins than normal from collectors. However, the majority of coins that are offered were recent purchases that people are coming to find out they can’t resell for a profit, or even close. Some coins came from auctions, some were even bought a year ago, no luck. We do need coins VERY badly, but we are not going to over pay for weak pieces. What’s going on here?

After every major auction you read how coins brought “moon” money and how we all can’t find anything anymore at shows. We dealers make it sound like there is no limit to how strong or how high prices are. It is all true, REAL coins are unquestionably bringing real money.

What is happening is there is now a huge and very real separation of quality. A year ago, it was acceptable to buy a coin that is 95% there for full ticket. Today, if you don’t have 100% full quality and eye appeal in coin, forget it, you most likely will lose money.

Gone are the days when you could buy out of sale and “flip” it to a dealer. The market has reached its saturation point on the lesser quality material. We strongly believe CAC expedited this gap (which was bound to happen any way). The sophisticated buyers either demand CAC stickered coins or they demand the coin be all there. Nothing less is acceptable today. The market-especially in auctions is proving that clearly.

Just because you get caught up in the spur of the moment and bid aggressively in an auction does not guarantee you that there will still be someone right under you. And if the coin has issues (low end, ugly, etc) you are plain old stuck. The grading service does not matter. (more…)

To know which asset class will appreciate in value, you have only to follow the money. When the stock market is gobbling up all of the available discretionary funds, you know that alternative investments, such as rare coins, are going to do poorly. On the other hand, bear markets in stocks cause net withdrawals, which in turn support the prices of alternative assets as investors seek better returns.

There have been numerous articles in the financial press that have talked about the resemblances between 1987 and 2007. The topic is of interest to us because of the absolute explosion of the rare coin market that took place after the stock market crash of 1987. The crash precipitated a stampede to alternative assets like rare coins and, in a little over two years, the market in investment grade rare coins went up several hundred percent even as the price of gold fell from $500 to $360.

Financial conditions today lead us to believe that the rare coin market is poised to duplicate the bull market experienced 20 years ago. Today, we’re hearing much of the same language that we heard in 1987, when Alan Greenspan said that the world was on the edge of a global financial collapse. In fact, Greenspan said that the current market turmoil is “identical” in many ways to that which occurred in 1987.

The stock market crash in 1987 and the credit market crisis in 2007 both served to reverse the flow of funds into stock mutual funds. According to the Presidential Task Force on Market Mechanisms, appointed by President Ronald Reagan to investigate the October 1897 market crash, skittish fund shareholders withdrew billions of dollars from stock mutual funds and added to the market’s fall.

Read the Full Blanchard Article Here

By Greg Reynolds for CoinLink

On April 15, in the Chicago area, B&M auctioned an 1882 Shield Nickel for $27,600, probably a record for a Shield Nickel minted after 1867. The Proof 1867 With Rays Nickel is a rarity; the Proof 1882 Shield Nickel is not rare, though it is scarce.

After hearing some of the most sophisticated experts in the field rave about this nickel, I found I could not resist writing about it, even though I have never seen it.

This 1882 is PCGS certified Proof-68, on a scale that ends at 70. Late 19th century Proof Nickels usually grade from 62 to 66. It is the only 1882 Nickel that is PCGS certified as Proof-68, though the NGC reports four in this grade, as of April 28.

The PCGS price guide values an 1882 Proof-68 Shield Nickel at $8500, and the Numismedia online price guide gives a figure of just $6700. So, $27,600 is quite a price.

Dave Schweitz is a specialist in nickel and silver coins that grade 66 or higher. He declares that this 1882 is “definitely the best Shield Nickel that” he has “ever seen, a very high end 68. It is the ultimate Proof type Shield Nickel.”

Matt Kleinsteuber is a grader and trader for NFC coins. He asserts that this 1882 “is the highest quality Shield Nickel that” he has “ever seen, from a technical standpoint. Even so,” Kleinsteuber believes that “the price was high,” much more than he was willing to pay.

There was some speculation among the auction participants as to whether it would qualify for a 69 grade from NGC. Charles Browne does not think it should. “As pretty as it is,” states Browne, “it would need a little more eye appeal to be [accurately graded] 69.”

Browne is a former PCGS grader, as is Schweitz. Further, Browne is a current instructor in advanced grading courses offered by the ANA. Charlie has more than twenty-five years of experience in serious bidding for high grade, rare coins at auctions. (more…)

By David Ganz for Numismatic News

The 1838-O half dollar is a genuine rarity, with only 20 pieces struck and the fate, 170 years after striking, of just about a dozen known pieces in existence leaves some unaccounted for. I’ve liked this coin for many years and made it a centerpiece of my new book that Krause is publishing in July, “Profitable Coin Collecting.”

More than 50 public auction sales of this coin are of record, some over a hundred years ago. The Mickley sale in 1867 by Woodward saw the coin offered as Lot 1782 and the selling price of $2.75. The same coin was acquired by J. P. Clemens and when Edward Coogan sold his collection in 1878. Lot 159 contained the same coin and brought $15.

Frossard sold his own collection Oct. 2, 1884 and Lot 400 in that sale featured an 1838 New Orleans half dollar which brought the “enormous” price of $63 only to find an early case of economic recession in the coin field so that by the time Lorin Parmalee sold his collection in 1890, the coin stepped back to $23.50.

Thomas Elder sold the Wilson collection in October 1908, and Lot 346 featured the very same 1838-O half dollar. It resounded to a $570 mark. In the span of 40 years, the coin rose in value from $2.75 to almost $600 – weekly wages in the United States at the time averaged about $6.

In the 1950s, the Anderson-Dupont sale by Stacks yielded a $3,500 price realized for an impaired proof specimen. That coin would be resold nine times in the succeeding half century and form the basis of the mystery that has existed for almost 20 years.

The unknown answer: an August 1989 sale as Lot 202. What was the price realized?

Read the Full Article Here

By Greg Reynolds For CoinLink

Several of the highest graded Washington Quarters were sold by B&M in an auction on April 15 in the Chicago area. The Marquette-Yakima collection was the number one collection in the NGC registry of Washington Quarters. With the addition of about twenty supergrade common quarters, and some submissions of NGC graded coins to PCGS, it could have been very competitive in the PCGS registry.

The $143,750 result for the Marquette-Yakima 1932-D quarter has already been reported on CoinLink and elsewhere. The purpose here is to itemize several of the gem quarters in the sale, and to discuss the rationale for current prices for such quarters. Do Superb Washington Quarters constitute logical price values for quarter collectors?

The Marquette-Yakima 1932-D is the only 1932-D quarter that the PCGS has graded MS-66. None have been certified as grading MS-67 or higher. The 1932-D has the second lowest mintage of any business strike in the series, 436,800, and has always been the hardest to find in MS-64 and higher grades.

According to Kathleen Duncan, a collector purchased this specific 1932-D from Pinnacle Rarities in the mid 1990s, and that collector consigned it to an August 2001 Heritage auction. HA.com lists the price realized as $89,125.

Actually, $89,125 in 2001 is, in some sense, am amount greater than $143,750 in 2008. Rare coin markets were extremely weak in 2001. The prices of many coins have since tripled. Indeed, some early gold coins have quadrupled in value. Yet, the most famous and valuable Washington quarter has gone up only 38%, and all the while the State Quarter program continued to receive national attention.

Charles Browne, David Schweitz, and Matt Kleinsteuber are all expert graders and competitive bidders on the auction circuit. Browne was the successful bidder for this 1932-D. Neither Schweitz nor Kleinsteuber bid on it. When interviewed separately, each told me that “this is the prettiest 1932-D quarter that I have ever seen.” Yes, all three employed almost the exact same sentence, and no one was prompted by me to say anything of the sort.

Laura Sperber is an active buyer of gem quality coins and a force at major auctions. She declared that this 1932-D “was low end but its stunning color more than made up for it.” Furthermore, she asserted that “it went kind of cheap.” She thus expected the price realized to be higher. (more…)