Anyone who spoke to us last Monday knew we thought the sky was falling and the coin market like all the financial markets was going to die. We were trying to figure out if a minimum wage position was next for us and just how much we’d really lose (dollar value) of our inventory. The financial markets were in such turmoil people were paying little attention to things like coins (its funny, the few who did buy early in the week-were Wall Street types).

Thank goodness for Congress stepping in to try and calm the mess. Apparently word of action did sooth the general public. As the week went on, collectors started calling. From Wed on the phones and emails were non stop. Activity was almost overwhelming! If you had asked us Monday how much we’d thought we’d sell for the week, our answer would have been $50,000.00-if we were lucky. Happily, we can report sales in the many multiples of that-including one six figure transaction! Whew!

Only one smaller collector and one six figure collector (bailing for personal reasons) sold coins to us last week. That ended a 45 day run of unprecedented Legend buying (or coins being consigned to us) worth OVER $3.5 million total. Prior to that we had no luck buying from the public. Now, it seems the tide has turned and we are back to sensing a drip of fresh coins or less.

Collectors now want to buy-and buy with a fury. However, they are being picky and want real value for their money. Probably because we do not deal in them in quantity, we did not get any requests for generics. It is our understanding the major telemarketers are now flooded with orders for things like MS64+65 Saints (vs. MS 61-62’s the week before). If we had the coins-truly rare and high end, we could easily SELL $10,000,000.00 today! We’re talking coins like a Bust Half in MS67, An MS66 twenty Cent piece, just about ANY Choice to GEM Early Large Cent, a GEM white 17S Walker, or a killer PR65 PR higher 2C piece.

People do not trust money nor the banks they keep the stuff in any more. Bigger investors definitely are now seeking diversification. You probably did not know you can not buy bullion gold coins right now at any civil premium from a dealer. Almost all bullion on the planet has been bought up and the supplies are dramatically weak to the point even the Mint had to stop selling gold eagles. Its the scared herd effect meeting the gold bugs-of which everyone we spoke to last week thinks $2,000.00 per ounce is around the corner.

The correction we’ve been telling you about is still happening with out any let up. Now, there are even larger discounts/lower prices on “off” material. To a degree this swill is hurting a few major dealers cash flows. The money that is coming back in to the coin market is aggressively seeking “fresh”, better, and nice looking rarities so the swill languishes. But as we mentioned before, collectors now demand absolute value for their money. Of course the supply of great coins like they seek is very small too. Things will really pop up once the full effects of all this purchasing is felt.

If things hold ground or even if the $700 billion dollar bailout does not happen, we believe there will still be a small % (and that’s all it takes to a make a HUGE splash) of money that will leave the banking system for hard assets. Coins will be one of the major beneficiaries because of their liquidity. We can see all this finally jelling and creating substantially higher prices come the November Coinfest show.

Watch auction prices remain insane for better and fresh material. or advice, if you see a special coin, and its premium price, stretch! If its that rare, you may never have a second chance! On the flip side for the inferior coins, paying a cheap price, may not be cheap enough.

Summing up, with the financial crisis settling with everyone having taken a big deep breath, the coin market is definitely humming along nicely (we are relieved too). Even if more turmoil rolls around or the bail out fails, the coin market should benefit even further by having even more “scared” money come in.

This is our take on events and all opinions are written here are based our past experiences (we’ve been around since 1979) and what we believe will happen in the future. Nothing is guaranteed, if you buy right and remember coins are a long term hold, you WILL reap the BIG rewards you expect.

NOTE: We have been told by our sources the smaller regional Cinnci Show this past weekend had more buyers than usual (including collectors). Also, a buyer fora major telemarketer indicated they have been swamped with calls for things like MS65 Saints with the overflow (from not being able to find any) starting to go into rare coins. This makes our feelings even more bullish.