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…)

By Vic Bozarth – Rare Coin Road Warrior – Bozarth Numismatics Inc.

I am often asked what I collect.  I have collected things since my earliest days.  I often tell people that ‘you either have the collecting bug-or you don’t’.  I certainly have the bug.  As a child I collected baseball cards, stamps, comic books, rocks and Indian artifacts.  I still have quite a few of these items I just mentioned, but none of these items give me the pleasure I get looking at a beautiful coin.  You know what I am talking about!

When I was seven or eight a neighbor moved and left a garage full of racing magazines at the curb.  The magazines were musty and mildewed, but I filled my wagon with several loads.  At that age, how could a boy resist free hot rod magazines?  Wow, I was even able to ‘cherry pick’ the best magazines out of the boxes set out for the trash man.

Fortunately, we had a small shed in our backyard.  This was the time of the ‘Snake’ and ‘Mongoose’ drag racing rivalry.  I had dozens of magazines!  My mom wasn’t thrilled that her garden shed was overflowing with boxes of mildewed magazines.  Needless to say, it wasn’t long before my mom demanded that these ‘really cool’ magazines be put back out for the trash man in front of our house.

My father collected coins.  Although he isn’t with us anymore, I still have his Lincoln Cent and Mercury Dime collections.  He had some really cool stuff.   My dad’s sets aren’t anything really special, but they are priceless to me.  My father gave me a gift.  He inspired a love and fascination for coins that still burns within me today.

I wanted some coins of my own.  When I was eight I started accumulating coins.  I didn’t have any Whitman coin folders let alone any direction, but I loved looking at them, handling them, and researching them.  Within a couple of months I had a pretty good sized cigar box full of ‘stuff’.   There wasn’t anything special about my ‘stuff’, but I was learning.  I was learning what I liked and what I wanted to collect.  I was learning what coins were meaningful and what coins fell into the ‘stuff’ category.

Fast forward forty plus years and I am still collecting.  I have some nice slabbed U.S. coins as well as a raw Buffalo Nickel set I started in junior high school.  On a professional basis I have handled or seen most of the coins listed in The Guidebook of U.S. Coins which most of us commonly refer to as the Redbook.  Bozarth Numismatics carries an extensive inventory of PCGS and NGC graded U.S. coins and we list quite a few of them on our website, bozarthcoins.com.  I am a member of Professional Numismatists Guild as well as most major numismatic organizations.  I also write a column each month titled Rare Coin Road Warrior.  I am the Rare Coin Road Warrior.  We travel over 200 days a year to buy nice coins.  We buy and sell thousands of U.S. coins every year.

Our tastes are always evolving, but many people like me still get a charge out of a low end circulated coin that sparked that collecting desire during childhood.  For me it was Indian Cents and Buffalo Nickels.  Although I specialize in high grade U.S. coins, a bag full of circulated Indians or Buffalos can still catch my eye.  The difference between then and now is that not only do I have the choice about what I want to collect, but also I can afford to collect nicer coins.  Desirability is in the eye of the beholder, but nice coins are naturally more desirable.  A full Red Indian Cent is breathtaking.  A lustrous and fully struck BU Buffalo Nickel is truly a piece of art.  Ultimately it all comes down to what floats your boat, but if you want something meaningful you have to be discerning about what you buy and decide to collect.

Putting together a meaningful set of U.S. coins should be fun and rewarding.  The amount you spend on a set certainly has a tremendous impact on what you can collect, although I have seen some really cool sets put together over the years without breaking the bank.  In this month’s RCMR, I am going to list several sets than can be put together for a reasonable amount of money depending on the grade.  Part one of my series on ‘desirable sets’ will focus on three sets with a modest number of coins.  These sets are perfect for those collectors that don’t yet have the patience for a bigger project.  (more…)

By Doug Winter – RareGoldCoins.com

Someone recently asked me a question that I thought was interesting and that merited a detailed response. To paraphrase this question, they basically asked me this: can you tell me some ways that I can improve my collection while spending little or no money?

Are there any actual ways that you can make your collection better without dropping a lot of coin (bad pun intended)? I believe that there are and here are a few that came to mind:

1. Bring Out Your Dead. Every collector has them. Duds. Bad deals. Low end duplicates. You know what I’m talking about: the Dead Zone of your collection. These coins may represent more value than you realize. As an example, I recently had a relatively expensive double eagle in stock that a collector wanted for his set but he had no extra money at the time. I had him send me a list of the dead coins he owned; bullion, generic Saints, Morgan dollar rolls, etc. The value of his “stuff” was considerably more than he realized and he was actually in a nice profit position on his bullion. The choice to trade spillage for one nice, rare coin was easy for him to make. And the good news was that he had enough money left over so that he can actively pursue another neat coin or two.

2. Attribute Your Coins. If you collect series like Bust half dollars or large cents you are probably already a die variety collector and all of your coins are properly attributed. But what if you are a collector of early half eagles and you have never bothered to attribute your coins to Bass-Dannreuther variety numbers? And what if one of your supposedly common half eagles turns out to be a very rare die variety that is worth a 30-50% premium? Seems like a no brainer to me. Even if you collect a series for which there is no standard reference work, it makes sense to examine your coins with a 10x glass and see if anything interesting is happening. Who knows, maybe you’ll discover a previously unknown mispunched date or a cool double date that has not been recorded.

3. Invest $500 to $1000 in improving your library. If you collect early gold coins you probably own the Bass Dannreuther book and a few other standard references. But do you own pertinent auction catalogs? It has long been my belief that one of the best uses of your money is a good library. You’ll get more enjoyment out of your coins if you know more about them and there is no better way to learn about a series, especially one that is somewhat obscure, than reading books and catalogs. If you don’t know which books or catalogs to pursue, ask a specialist dealer which ones he refers to or, better yet, contact a numismatic literature dealer and ask for some suggestions.

4. Improve your peripherals. If you are using an old, slow computer you are missing out on the “full experience” when it comes to coins. Not everyone has the luxury of owning a sporty, brand-new computer but with the price of monitors having dropped so considerably in the last few years treat yourself to a 16 inch or 18 inch flat screen monitor. It’s just a few hundred bucks and it sure beats viewing coin images on an old, low resolution screen. Spend some money on a good quality new magnifying glass and a high quality lamp to view your coins as well. You’re looking at $50-100 for a world-class loupe and around $100-150 for a professional quality halogen coin lamp. (more…)