The New Silver Dollar Show closed to mixed reviews last week as the red-hot rare coin market found a minor bump on the road north. The renewal edition of the popular silver dollar shows of the 1980s and early 1990s was held in St. Louis on October 17-19, 2002 and most dealers expressed similar sentiments: "It was okay but I expected it to be better."
"It may take a little time to get that show cranking again like it was in the 1980s," said Jack Lee, a veteran dealer and world-renowned silver dollar collector from Flowood, Mississippi. "I did all right, don't get me wrong about that, but the show was missing a little of the spark that has ignited the other shows of this year."
Where did the fresh coins go?
"It was really an unusual show," said John Dannreuther, another seasoned numismatic specialist from Cordova, Tennessee. "The set-up day was little on the tentative side, then the opening day totally rocked, at least for me. After that a lot of people went home for family and football."
Well, John, this was a silver dollar show, so how did dollars do? "Morgan dollars were doing well. Patterns were white-hot at prices that were unthinkable only two months ago. There was a lot of interest in anything that was fresh. If you had a deal of Proof three cent nickels or MS64 Barber dimes or anything that was neat or unusual there were ready buyers. The problem was that items such as that were few and far between."
Is this the beginning of a slowdown in the marketplace? "I hardly think so," Dannreuther answered. "Someone at the show said it was easier to sell the $10,000+ coins than it was to sell the cheaper items. Oddly, he was right. The expensive coins offer tremendous relative value in many series."
Interest in VAM varieties voracious.
"There is more interest than ever in VAM varieties," says Michael Fey of Rare Coin Investments in Morris Plains, New Jersey. "There has been tremendous appreciation in prices among some of the eight-tail feather [8TF] varieties and many of the other most popular issues." Note: "VAM" is an acronym for Van Allen-Mallis, the authors of "Morgan and Peace Dollar Varieties" and subsequent books and articles on the particulars of different Morgan and Peace dollar die characteristics.
Is the market for VAM varieties as condition conscious as the rest of the Morgan dollar market? "No, it's not. In fact, some of the most popular varieties are unknown in MS65 or better condition and a few are even unknown in Mint State. The VAM market is more like the Bust half dollar market and the Overton varieties of that series, with fundamental rarity taking precedence," Fey said.
PCGS has recently added the 1888-O "Scarface" to the VAM varieties that it recognizes with a special notation on the insert. Other popular issues certified and noted by PCGS include the 1890-CC Tail Bar, 1903-S Micro S and Micro O varieties of 1896-O, 1899-O, 1900-O and 1902-O.
"We add the varieties as demand dictates," said PCGS President Richard S. Montgomery.
Bowers & Merena Galleries offers big sale with a LONG name.
There are over 5,000 lots in the upcoming auction from Bowers & Merena Galleries. The seven-session sale is November 6-9 and is being held in conjunction with the Baltimore show.
The name of the sale is (are you ready?) The Collections of Russell J. Logan & Gilbert G. Steinberg and Part III of the Jay Roe Collection. The wordy title is appropriate, however, as there are dazzling coins of all denominations featured over the four-day auction. The first 223 lots of the sale are Colonial coins, and other denominations and series are equally comprehensive.
A few of the highlights:
- 1652 Pine Tree Shilling (Large Planchet) - PCGS MS62
- Lord Baltimore Shilling (Crosby Plate Coin) - PCGS MS61
- 1793 Wreath Cent - PCGS MS64BN
- 1795 Flowing Hair Dollar - PCGS MS61
- 1879 Flowing Hair $4 Stella - PCGSPR63DCAM
- 1849 $10 Liberty - PCGS MS64
- 1874 $10 Liberty - PCGS PR65
- 1850 Baldwin $10 "Horseman" - PCGS MS64
This landmark sale is now online through November 4. To peruse the lots and/or enter your bids, 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).
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