Original 1867 Cameo Proof Shield Nickel Tops Sale at $57,500; demand for rare gold coinage steady

An original 1867 5C Rays PR65 Cameo NGC. Dannreuther-1A, State a/a, a highly desirable and celebrated rarity, brought $57,500 to lead Heritage’s $7,387,384 July Orlando, FL Summer FUN Signature US Coin Auction. Demand for high quality numismatic gold rarities continued in Orlando, with seven of the top 10 lots being gold rarities. All prices include 19.5% Buyer’s Premium.

“We’re quite happy with the result of this auction,” said Greg Rohan, President of Heritage Auctions. “It was a small auction by Heritage standards, but quite focused, and collectors responded. The result was a very successful auction.”

More than 3700 bidders competed for the offerings, which saw a 94% sell-through rate by total lots.

The 1867 Rays Gem Cameo Proof Shield Nickel is a coin well known to specialists and advanced numismatists and the competition for this specimen was indeed heated before landing in the collection of a smart buyer. Though there may be more 1867 Rays proofs known than originally thought, many are known to be later restrikes, while this piece bears every hallmark of being one of the few – likely 10-15 total – true originals struck

A momentous 1829 Quarter Eagle, BD-1, MS64 NGC, Breen-6132, High R.4. followed the 1867 Rays Gem Cameo Shield Nickel, competing for top honors and almost nabbing the top spot in auction with a final price of $51,750, a mark that was equaled by an historic 1803 $10 Small Stars Reverse MS61 NGC, Breen-6844, Taraszka-28, BD-3, R.4.

One of the most hotly contested non-gold lots of the top 10 was a magnificent 1865 25C MS66 PCGS, CAC, Briggs 1-A, an exceptional example from the concluding year of the Civil War, and an important opportunity for the Seated specialist, one of whom added the coin to their collection for a price realized of $48,875.

A remarkable 1907 $20 High Relief, Flat Rim MS65 PCGS, was close on the heels of the 1865 25C, with a price realized of $46,000. This coin was a result of the numismatically inclined President Theodore Roosevelt, who wanted to create coins for the United States that would rival the beauty of those struck by the ancient Greeks. The result was the 1907 High Relief double eagle, considered by many to be the crowning achievement of Roosevelt’s coinage renaissance.

Further highlights include, but are not limited to:

• 1903 $20 PR64 PCGS: Realized $43,125.
• 1908-S $20 MS65 NGC: Realized $37,375.
• 1944-D Cent Struck on a Zinc-Coated Steel Planchet, AU53 PCGS: Realized $37,375.
• 1907 $10 Wire Rim MS62 PCGS: Realized $34,500.
• 1907 $20 High Relief, Wire Rim MS64 PCGS, CAC: Realized $32,200.

By Doug Winter – RareGoldCoins.com

The year was 1995. I can remember my wife Mary telling me that it was really important to establish a presence on the Internet; that it would be the future of the coin business. No way, I thought, people are still going to want to read print ads and receive mailed price lists. The Internet was slow and bulky and you could basically die of old age waiting for each coin image to come up on screen.

Sixteen years later, it seems that, as usual, she was right and I was wrong. The Internet has, along with third party grading, changed the coin market like nothing else in history. Why has the Internet been so good for the coin market and what are some of the changes that it has wrought?

The best thing about the Internet for all hobbies has been the dissemination of information. 10 to 15 years ago, if you wanted information about rare coins you had to dig for it. You could open a Redbook and get mintage figures and you could find information about die varieties in various specialized books. But like the man behind the curtain in the Wizard of Oz, in the past, information was strictly controlled. If you were lucky, you were invited into the secret circle and given some of the information you needed. If you didn’t know the secret handshake, you were pretty much on your own.

The impact of the Internet can be felt in a numbers of distinct ways. One is the newest phenomenon of the Internet (better known as Internet 3.0): social networking. Back in the pre-web days if you wanted to meet and talk with other collectors, you had to join a local coin club or, if you were lucky and lived in a town with a good coin shop, you met at the bid board on Saturday and talked coins with other interested locals. Now, it is reasonably easy to connect with fellow collectors and share information, buy and sell coins, talk about which dealers are good or bad, etc. I would expect that Facebook will become a much more important platform for coin collectors in the coming year.

As I mentioned above, the Internet has given collectors access to information that was formerly difficult to acquire. Pricing information from auctions is easier to source than ever before. A decade ago, the only place that compiled annual auction data was Krause Publications’ annual auction prices realized book(s). These were expensive, not always complete and only provided a one-year window into specific series of coins. Today, sites such as Heritage.com and PCGS.com enable collectors to see 10 or even 20 years of auction results for a specific coin in a specific grade. This is critical information for determining what to pay for a coin or what to price a coin at when you are ready to sell. I would expect that better, more sophisticated coin pricing sites will be introduced in the coming years as well.

As recently as ten years ago, many dealers did not have a website and many of the ones that did featured clunky, slow moving sites. Today, coin websites are considerably more sophisticated and offer much better quality images and descriptions than before. The fact that collectors now feel comfortable enough to buy coins sight-unseen is a result of better technology (hello cable modems!) and it has greatly broadened the size and scope of the market.

One of the biggest changes we have seen in the last decade as a result of the Internet is a restructuring of the auction market. One coin auction firm responded better to technological advances in the last ten years and as a result they have basically decimated their competition. Ten years ago, the vast majority of coins sold at auction were purchased by dealers who were sitting in the room. Today, most lots sell to Internet bidders. Its a little unnerving for a new collector to walk into a coin auction and see it basically empty (with the notable exceptions being the FUN and ANA sales which still attract good crowds or very important specialized collections) but to be told that the auction is in fact a rousing success and that there are hundreds of active bidders participating. (more…)

As a part of the upcoming 2010 August Boston, MA Signature ANA Coin Auction, Heritage will present the Witham Collection of Capped Bust Half Dollars. Bust half variety collectors will go nuts when they examine the over 170 examples in this famed collection.

Stewart P. Witham, a prominent numismatist at mid-century, specialized in half dollars in general, and Capped Bust Halves in particular. Mr. Witham was the cofounder of the Bust Half Nut Club, holding BHNC membership #1. His coins were purchased from many of the important dealers of the day.

Mr. Witham sold his collection of Capped Bust Halves circa 1983. Our consignor purchased the Collection that year, although he is uncertain about how many hands it may have passed through before it reached him. When Witham’s rarer coins appear in pedigree lists, their descriptions typically end with: “The whereabouts of this coin is unknown.” While that statement may have been true for the numismatic community at large, it was a source of some irony to the consignor.

The consignor has held the Collection intact for more than a quarter century now. Originally acquired as a hedge against inflation, the consignor carefully protected the coins, understanding their historical significance. In point of fact, he never actually touched the coins — when he removed them from their envelopes to appreciate his acquisition, he always wore cotton gloves. Over the years, he became increasingly interested in their history. He would research them over the web, and often would find himself holding a Witham coin and comparing it to the “whereabouts unknown” image. His favorite coin was the 1817/4 O-102 rarity, with only nine known survivors, which is now graded VF20 by PCGS.

The Collection has remained in Pennsylvania for the last 27 years, but the consignor wishes to remain anonymous. Where the coins will be this summer is a certainty — on the auction block in Boston selling to someone who most likely holds a substantially higher BHNC membership number!

A few of the other highlights of this collection include:

* 1807 Capped Bust Half Dollar Large Stars, 50 Over 20, O-111, R.6 VF30 PCGS
* 1812/1 Half Dollar, O-101, R.5 Large 8 Genuine PCGS
* 1817 Half Dollar, O-104, R.6 Genuine PCGS
* 1823 Half Dollar, O-109, High R.5 AU58 PCGS
* 1827 Half Dollar, O-137, R.6 VF30 PCGS
* 1827 Half Dollar, O-124, R.5 AU58 PCGS
* 1827 Half Dollar, O-144, High R.5 AU55 PCGS
* 1828 Half Dollar, O-105, R.5 MS62 PCGS
* 1830 Half Dollar, O-114, R.5 MS62 PCGS
* 1833 Half Dollar, O-115, High R.5 VF35 PCGS

This auction, along with auctions of rare world coins and rare currency, will post for bidding soon at HA.com/Coins. Previews are available now!