What's happening? Everything! This is the week of judging for the PCGS Set Registry awards. Last year the winners were chosen from 4,200 entrants. This year there are 7,000 different sets to judge, with a marvelous array of specialized collections in remarkable condition.
Also on the menu is the Maryland State Numismatic Association convention, the precursor to the ANA "World's Fair of Money" in Baltimore. Yes, those events are still more than three weeks away, but they will combine to become the number one numismatic happening of the year. The ANA auction by Bowers & Merena Galleries is another landmark event, as the single catalog sale has a pre-sale estimate that exceeds $18 million.
The Key Date and Rarities Index of the CU 3000 has hit an all-time high. While the overall market is still 68% below the lofty numbers of 1989, the key dates (1877 Indian cents, 1893-S Morgan dollars, etc.) are under tremendous pressure as the prices of the small supply respond to the incredible collector demand.
No hint of weakening in the market.
"The market is costing us our vacation," laughs Laura Sperber of Legend Numismatics in Lincroft, New Jersey. "That is hardly a complaint, of course, as we're all glad that the market remains this hot. There's no hint of weakening. There's just too much demand."
What items are selling the best? "Carson City DMPL dollars are up 20% in the past month. That's for MS65 and better coins. Small type coins are suddenly red-hot, too. That's Three Cent Silvers, high grade Proof Three Cent nickels and half dimes from AU to the finest known. Date collecting in those series has really taken off.
MidAmerica Coin Expo was highly active.
"At the Chicago show [MidAmerica Coin Expo] people were really looking to buy," Sperber continued. "No one was trying to raise cash, which is unusual for this time of year. Everyone is gearing up for the ANA and trying to find inventory."
How about all of those ultra-expensive coins that you purchased in the L. K. Rudolph sale? Are they selling well? "Every coin is gone," Sperber said. "There's not a single piece left. Our inventory has taken a 40% hit in value in recent weeks."
Anything else? "I hope that everyone who comes to the ANA will go to see the nickels," Sperber concluded, referring to the four 1913 Liberty nickels that will be on display. Legend Numismatics is the owner of one of the four examples known today, with the fifth specimen still missing despite a $1,000,000+ reward for it from Bowers & Merena Galleries.
"Sanctuary Sale" scores significant success.
The "Sanctuary Sale" from Bowers & Merena Galleries proved to be extremely strong as bidders vied for the 2,633 lots over the Internet and through in-person bidding at the Mid-American Coin Expo.
"The sale was absolutely spectacular," said Raeleen "Lucy" Endo of the Collectors Universe auction team. "We were absolutely covered up with bids. There were huge crowds looking at the lots and the attendance at the auction was incredible."
To view the prices realized from the sale 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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