New Price Record for Sacagawea 'Mule'
Bruce Amspacher
- September 19, 2000
Reverse of Washington quarter/Sacagawea dollar mule
In a recent speech noted author and historian James Robertson said: “The Civil War is out of control.” When heard in context with the rest of his talk, the meaning of this statement is clear. Mr. Robertson was referring to our passion for the Civil War, from the books to the documentaries to the movies to the reenactments of the battles. He would have been equally accurate if he had said that all of American history is out of control, as our fervent interest in America’s past is growing in leaps and bounds. In the past year alone we have seen a U. S. coin sell for over $4 million and a copy of the Declaration of Independence sell for over $8 million. Those are the kinds of numbers that used to be strictly reserved for the art world, but no longer.
“People are in love with America’s early coins,” says Silvano DiGenova of Tangible Asset Galleries of Newport Beach, California. “The really great thing about this market is that it’s 100% collector driven. The silver coins from 1794 through 1807 are in almost unbelievable demand, and that covers any grade from VG through MS62.”
Is there a price resistance level on early Americana? “Normally I would say ‘yes,’” DiGenova said, “but in the two weeks after the ANA Convention we sold five 1794 silver dollars, including one that was over $400,000. We also sold four Stellas [pattern $4 gold coins of 1879-80] including a Coiled Hair for over $300,000. Certain areas of the market are free of the price resistance factors.
“There are some relatively slow areas of market,” DiGenova continued, “and that includes Territorial gold and Patterns. For as long as I can remember those two segments have run hot, then cold, then hot again, etc. The only other really cold market segment is any coin with negative eye appeal. Dark and ugly coins meet with resistance at almost all levels.”
New price record for Sacagawea “mule”A PCGS-certified MS65 Sacagawea dollar/Washington quarter mule has just traded for $47,500 through private treaty, reports Fred Weinberg of
Fred Weinberg & Co. of Encino, California. “This is the fourth coin to be discovered and there is great demand for this fantastic mint error,” Weinberg said. “The
Coin World report of 15 pieces being found all at once appears to be without merit. These coins could prove to be the 1804 silver dollars and 1913 Liberty nickels of the new millennium.”
Weinberg, a recognized authority on error coins, commented on the growing mint error market. “It was only a little over 20 years ago when Dave Berg [a prominent Pennsylvania dealer] and I paid $10,000 for a 1943 copper cent and most everyone gasped at the price. Today it’s a $100,000 coin. There’s tremendous interest in the classic mint errors.”
Sales up, demand up, attitude up“I’m very confident that we’re going to see higher prices in the future,” says Mark Yaffe of National Gold Exchange in Tampa, Florida. “The market definitely overcompensated at the bottom, as it always does, just as it always peaks at a level that’s beyond reason. Big coins—the items over $50,000—are still slow, but they’ll come around as the market matures.
“Generic gold is selling well once again, overall sales are up, demand is up and the attitude of almost everyone is excellent. I foresee this renewed strength lasting not only through the end of the year but through 2001 as well.”
Everything is not perfect in the world of coins, however, as Yaffe echoed DiGenova’s thoughts on coins that are lacking in eye appeal. “Dark and ugly coins are still not selling, and it will probably be that way forever. Even if the coins are heavily discounted the consumer usually passes. This is a two-tiered market and the dividing line is definitely visual impact.”
You, too, can go for the gold!
After you’ve finished with the two-week Olympic marathon on television it will be time to refocus on some outstanding auctions that are on the agenda. On October 12, 2000 it’ll be time to bid in
Kingswood XIV. For more information on this sale, click
here. The Robert W. Schwan Collection is being offered by
Bowers & Merena Galleries in conjunction with the Suburban Washington/Baltimore Coin Convention. This sale is scheduled for October 26-27, 2000. For more information click
here.
One of the hottest of all collectibles is currency, and Lyn Knight Currency Auctions has scheduled an upcoming sale for October 27-28, 2000. For more information click here.
Bruce Amspacher has been a professional writer since the 1950s and a professional numismatist since the 1960s. He won the OIPA sportswriting award in 1958 and again in 1959, then spent eight years in college studying American Literature. This background somehow led him to become a professional numismatist in 1968. Since then he has published hundreds of articles on rare coins in dozens of publications as well as publishing his own newsletter, the “Bruce Amspacher Investment Report,” for more than a decade. His areas of expertise include Liberty Seated dollars, Morgan and Peace dollars, United States gold coins, sports trivia, Western history, modern literature and the poetry of Emily Dickinson. In 1986 he was a co-founder of the Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS).
Early Americana is a favorite - 1794 Dollar pictured above
