By Doug Winter - RareGoldCoins.com

Being an eternal realist when it comes to the coin market, I wasn’t expecting this year’s ANA show to be a good one; let alone a great one. With the unrelentingly bad economic news in the United States (let alone the world) it seemed inevitable to me that most collectors would be slowing down. As usual, I was wrong. This year’s ANA was outstanding for me and many of the dealers that I spoke to (and who I trust) told me that it was a great show for them as well.

The show began for me with the Stack’s sale of the S.S. New York shipwreck on Sunday. I had a feeling these coins would go strong, given the fact that the quality was far nicer than other shipwreck coins and the quantity was smaller. I expected that the typical “shipwreck premium” would be about 15-25%. In some cases this was true but in most, the premium was substantially higher; especially in the case of lower value coins that were being bought for their “knick-knack” appeal.

There were a few very important coins in the hoard and certainly among the best was the highest graded 1845-D quarter eagle, an NGC MS64. It sold to a very knowledgeable dealer for $63,250 which I thought was quite strong. Other Dahlonega coins in the sale went very strongly as well. Notable prices included $18,400 for an 1839-D half eagle in NGC AU58, $31,050 for an 1840-D half eagle in NGC MS62 and $51,750 for an 1842-D Large Date half eagle in NGC MS61.

Some outstanding New Orleans gold was featured and it brought remarkable prices. An NGC MS64 1844-O half eagle sold for $28,750, an NGC MS63* 1845-O half eagle brought $43,125, an impressive 1844-O eagle in NGC MS63 sold for a record $63,250 and an NGC MS62 1845-O eagle was bid to $54,625. (more…)

Market Report by Laura Sperber - Legend Numismatics

This is a very difficult market report to write. We know what we did, what kind of business others did, we participated in all the auctions, yet we can not pinpoint exactly what is happening or where the market is headed. We also do NOT want people to think we are presenting hype.

From what we see, this may very well have been the BEST ANA Show ever in terms of business transacted overall, the strongest prices realized at the auctions, incredible displays, and from what we can see, strong attendance. All that created what we felt was a tremendous “buzz’ and nothing but positive attitudes. None of the dealers we spoke to had a bad show. All the tables seemed very busy most of the time the show was open. We know from start to finish we did an awful lot of business.

We arrived late to show. This year, we skipped all PRE ANA activities and only was at PNG day for an hour or two. Of course we were itching to make some sales. The first dealer we saw not only spent six figures with us, but bought a six figure coin without any chisel other than some terms. Not totally unusual, but its the kind of thing that when you have that happen at the very start, the rest of your show is usually kaput. Fortunately, we sold a lot to the next dealer we saw that day as well. From that point on, we never stopped selling.

The one thing we absolutely could not do-buy. Our purchases at this show are the lowest EVER for an ANA and possibly the smallest EVER for ANY major show. As of 5 PM Thursday afternoon, we had spent LESS than $100,000.00 on the bourse floor. Our buying at the auctions was substantial-but still below the levels we wanted to be at.

It has finally happened, the market is out of coins-sort of! If you wanted a junky widget-they were still around. You could not go out on the floor and buy a GEM Bust Half, a GEM early gold piece, an MS65 28S Peace Dollar, a GEM 1877 MS Indian, or that long sought after non 1926/1932 $10 Indian we still need in GEM. All the good stuff now either gets put in the back of dealers cases or gets thrown in the auction. We put out a $20 1870CC PCGS XF40 CAC piece late morning Thursday. An hour or so later, not only did we have it sold to a collector (it worth in excess of $300,000.00), we had THREE other people who were willing to commit to buy it (with two of them actually hovering behind the collector) as he was buying it. We sold several six figure coins Thursday (including a $1 1863 PCGS MS66 and monster 1891 PR set in which all the coins we PR68’s). (more…)

Am I the only person who finds it astonishing that another ANA is upon us? Jeez, it seems like I just got back from last year’s Marathon in Milwaukee. But here we are already in late July and it’s time for the Battle in Baltimore. What can we expect from this bellwether show?

If you are of a certain age, you remember when ANA was THE coin show of the year. It still is a critical event on the coin circuit despite being somewhat watered down; with pre-shows and a zillion auctions held before, during and after. This is my 26th consecutive ANA (I have attended every one since the 1982 Boston show) and I still feel a tinge of excitement as the days countdown.

My gut feeling is that this year’s ANA is going to be very strong from a wholesale standpoint and decent but not great from a collector standpoint.

With the uncertainty in the economy (and that’s putting it a bit mildly with today’s headlines…) I have the feeling that some would-be buyers are either going to avoid the temptation of the ANA or, if they do attend, it will be more for social and educational purposes than for buying.

Does that mean that there won’t be any action on the bourse floor? Hardly. Really good coins sell very well if the economy is soaring or circling the drain. The pool of potential buyers may not be as great in a bad economy but the number of great coins is much smaller now than in the past. Any dealer who has a case full of interesting coins at the ANA will certainly do retail business. Just not as much, I think, as two or three years ago.

Remember when I mentioned above that I think the show will be good from a wholesale perspective? Coin dealers making a living dealing coins and, at this point in time, nearly all dealers are short of useful inventory. Whether they can pay for these coins is an entirely different kettle o’ fish but I think the wholesale demand for coins right now remains strong.

What will sell at ANA? The Usual Suspects. Very high quality, choice original coins in nearly all categories will be easy sellers, as will key dates and rarities. Early gold and Proof gold continue to be in demand and examples for sale on the bourse should be very actively sought since the auctions do not contain as much of this material as usual. CAC certified coins appear to be readily gaining in acceptance and popularity and many dealers will have long want lists for CAC’d material. (more…)

By Jeff Starck for COIN WORLD

Trying to explain what sight-seen and sight-unseen bidding are is at once easy and confusing.

The market for sight-unseen coins is predominantly for “generic” gold coins, like this 1926 Saint-Gaudens gold $20 double eagle coin and other coins with large populations, several experts told Coin World.

There is little market for sight-unseen trading of certain collector coins, like the 1916-D Winged Liberty Head dime, one expert said.

“Sight-seen” and “sight-unseen” bidding are terms describing ways that dealers can buy and sell coins through dealer-to-dealer networks. But, it turns out, it’s much more complicated than that.

At the basic level, someone buying a coin “sight seen” has the option, once they’ve seen the coin, to buy it at a price already established between buyer and seller for a coin from a specific grading service and in a specific grade, or they can reject the purchase.

Buyers engaging in “sight-unseen” purchases may submit their bid for coins they wish to purchase, again for pieces certified by a third-party grading service, but without seeing the coins before agreeing to the deal.

The ability to pick-and-choose coins under the sight-seen method generally means those coins receive higher prices.

Technology changes market

As technology has evolved, the means and methods by which dealers trade coins has changed. In the 1960s, dealers used teletypewriter systems that transmitted their bid and sell messages to other dealers on the network.

Read Full CoinWorld Article Here

As a leader in the area of rare United States gold, I get to handle some pretty interesting coins on a regular basis. But every now and then there is a piece that comes into my inventory that is so truly exceptional that it gives me pause and makes consider keeping it instead of selling it. The most recent of these was an 1841-D quarter eagle graded MS63 by PCGS that is not only the finest known example of the date but one of the most aesthetically attractive Dahlonega gold coins of any date or denomination that I have seen.

I rank the 1841-D as the fifth rarest of the twenty quarter eagles produced at this mint. There were a total of 4,164 struck of which an estimated 75-100 exist. When available, the typical 1841-D grades VF to EF and is characterized by poor eye appeal and extensively abraded surfaces. There are probably fewer than fifteen properly graded AU’s known as well as four in Uncirculated.

The four Uncirculated examples are as follows:

1. Kansas Collection, ex: Doug Winter, Wexford Collection, Doug Winter, Heritage 1/04: 1017 ($40,250), Green Pond Collection, Doug Winter, Bowers and Merena 11/98: 2076 ($46,000; as PCGS MS62), Heritage 2/90: 1264 ($15,000), Vintage Auctions 8/89: 286 (unsold), David Akers’ session of Auction ’89: 859 ($22,000). Graded MS63 by PCGS.
2. Private collection, ex: Heritage 4/06: 1496 ($46,000), Duke’s Creek Collection (as PCGS MS62), Hancock and Harwell, William Miller collection, Heritage 1993 ANA: 5508 ($25,300). Graded MS63 by NGC.
3. Georgia Collection, ex: Larry Jackson, David Akers 5/98: 1735 ($35,200), John Pittman collection, Stack’s 10/60: 3192 ($270), Milton Holmes collection. Graded MS61 by NGC.
4. Kansas Collection (duplicate), ex: Doug Winter 4/00, Mark Hurst collection, Heritage 1999 FUN: 7627 ($21,850; as PCGS AU58), North Georgia Collection, Stack’s 10/94: 867 ($22,000), James Stack Collection. Graded MS60 by NGC.

As you can tell from this list, I have had the good fortune to handle two of the four Uncirculated 1841-D quarter eagles and I have handled the finest known on three different occasions. (more…)