The Million-Dollar Penny – Investors Drive Up Prices of High-End Collectibles as Less-Rarefied Items Languish
Wall Street Journal
When it’s a 1795 reeded-edge U.S. penny, one of only seven known to exist. It recently sold for nearly $1.3 million at auction—the first time a one-cent coin has cracked the million-dollar price barrier. It follows the sale earlier this year of a high-end collection of rare half-dollars that fetched $1.1 million at auction. At the same time, popular $20 U.S. Saint-Gaudens gold pieces from the early 20th century are commanding $1,700 apiece, sight unseen, in decent, though not perfect condition, topping a record high last seen more than two decades ago.
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A Mad Rush as Gold Bugs Get the Boot
By CAROLYN CUI – Wall Street Journal
Fleets of armored trucks piled with gold bars and coins have been streaming out of midtown Manhattan in one unexpected consequence of the gold craze. Amid gold’s rise — it has gained 32% this year and reached a record on Monday — investors have been loading up on bullion and coins. One big problem now is where to store it. The solution from HSBC, owner of one of the biggest vaults in the U.S.: somewhere else. HSBC has told retail clients to remove their small holdings from its fortress beneath its tower on New York City’s Fifth Avenue. The bank has decided retail customers aren’t profitable enough and is demanding those clients remove their gold to make room for more lucrative institutional customers.
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Miller’s Coins a Whole World of Doubled Dies
By Ken Potter, World Coin News
Curtis Miller of California sent in a batch of world varieties that we started looking at in the September installment of this column, and I promised to continue examining for the next few months. This month his first coin is a Bulgarian 1974 2 stotinki that shows light to very strong hub doubling (commonly referred to as a doubled die by collectors) on the entire legend about the rim and within the Bulgarian coat of arms.
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New Column to Focus on Third-Party Coin Grading
Coin Update
There is nothing quite like the feeling of sending in a “raw” coin to a third-party grading company, such as PCGS or NGC, and receiving it weeks later with an official designation about its mint or proof state, along with other attributions (varieties and the like). You may notice that I am not saying whether the feeling is good or bad. It can be either or both.
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U.K. Royal Mint Quadruples Production of Gold Coins
Bloomberg
The U.K.’s Royal Mint, established in the 13th century, more than quadrupled production of gold coins in the third quarter after demand for the metal increased as investors sought to hedge against a weakening dollar.Output rose to 32,735.8 ounces from 7,500.2 ounces a year before, according to data obtained by Bloomberg News under a Freedom of Information Act request. Production in the first nine months more than tripled to 100,391.3 ounces, the data show.
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Spectrum Group International, Inc. Announces Date of 2009 Annual Meeting
EarthTimes
Spectrum Group International, Inc. (SPGZ) today announced that its 2009 Annual Meeting of Stockholders is scheduled to be held on December 17, 2009 at the Hilton Hotel (Madison Suite), 1335 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York, starting at 9:00 a.m. Stockholders of record as of October 27, 2009 are eligible to vote at this meeting. SGI also announced its nominees for election to the Company’s Board of Directors.
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