Dealers and collectors from around the country are Baltimore bound this week as they head for the Baltimore Coin & Currency Convention. The rare coin market continues to show across-the-board strength, but, as always, there are major areas of focus.
What's selling the best? The answers are somewhat diverse, but basically it comes down to the old friends that have been written about in this column for months.
The #1 hot spot is Carson City silver dollars. Deep Mirror [DMPL] pieces in MS64 or better are white-hot, but the coins seem to be great sellers in all grades, whether DMPL or not.
PCGS Set Registry coins are second on the list, especially modern issues and coins priced under $2,000. Walking Liberty half dollars are a close third and Buffalo nickels continue to rage as well.
Got any full red Lincolns?
Are full red Lincoln cents ever going to slow down? If anything, they're just getting hotter. The demand for gold coins also rates high on the list, with $20 Liberty, $10 Liberty, $5 Liberty and $2˝ Indian pieces all in short supply.
Early coinage is still selling great, even after a strong three-year run upwards. Cameo [CAM] and deep cameo [DCAM] Proof coins are on numerous "most wanted" lists, as are DMPL Morgan dollars of all dates. Rounding out the "hot-to-warm list" are silver commemoratives, which are moving up and selling well.
Finest 1914/3 Buffalo to be auctioned by Heritage.
The finest graded 1914/3 overdate Buffalo nickel is coming on the auction block at the forthcoming Central States Numismatic Convention. The recently discovered coin is being sold by Heritage Numismatic Auctions and is graded MS66 by the Professional Coin Grading Service.
Kingswood "Meredith" sale is another success.
The Kingswood Coin Auctions "Meredith" sale proved to be another smashing success as bidders kept the phones humming on the final day of the telephone/e-mail/Internet sale. Over 1,000 lots were up for bidding on March 6th. Here are a few of the highlights:
- 1858 Small Letters Flying Eagle cent (PCGS MS65) - $4,198
- 1888 Indian cent (PCGS MS66RD) - $6,325
- 1924-D Lincoln cent (PCGS MS65RD) - $11,500
- 1928 Lincoln cent (PCGS MS67RD) - $5,635
- 1921 Mercury dime (PCGS MS66FB) - $7,475
- 1919-D Standing Liberty quarter (PCGS MS64FH) - $22,425
- 1873-CC Seated dollar (PCGS VF35) - $10,925
- 1880-O Morgan dollar (PCGS MS65) - $10,350
- 1893-S Morgan dollar (PCGS AU50) - $15,525
- 1879 Trade dollar (PCGS PR66CAM) - $12,650
"Consignments are still being accepted through April 20th for our next sale," said Cassi East, Director of Auctions for Collectors Universe. "Please contact me if you would like to offer PCGS or NGC coins in an upcoming auction."
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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