The finest known 1884 Trade dollar goes on the auction block this week as Heritage Numismatic Auctions offers a 5,000-lot "Signature Sale" in New York City. One of only ten pieces struck, the famed rarity traces its pedigree to the collections of William Forrester Dunham and Floyd Starr. The coin is certified by PCGS as PR67.
Other highlights of the November 7-10 sale include:
| 1861-D Gold Dollar | PCGS MS63 |
| 1855 $3 Gold | PCGS PR64 Cameo |
| 1883 $5 Gold | PCGS PR65 |
| 1869 $10 Gold | PCGS PR65 DCAM |
| 1897 $20 Gold | PCGS PR65 DCAM |
| 1921 $20 St. Gaudens | PCGS MS61 |
| 1915-S Panama-Pacific $50 Oct. | PCGS MS62 |
| 1879 Schoolgirl Dollar (J-1608) | PCGS PR64 |
"Eye appeal matters more today than it ever has before."
"The market continues to be about really nice coins," says Mike Printz of Larry Whitlow, Ltd., in Oak Brook Terrace, Illinois. "In fact, eye appeal matters more today than it ever has before."
What is selling the best? "Nice original type coins, Walking Liberty half dollars and full head Standing Liberty quarters if you can find them. One customer called this week and bought every silver dollar that I had on my web site. We're not huge into dollars like a lot of dealers, but the sale was over $20,000."
What else? "The market is really doing well and the sight-seen bids are rising. I like to see that because it means that the dealers have customers for the coins and aren't simply promoting their own inventory.
"I'm still amazed at the prices that many coins are bringing at auction," Printz continued. "Sometimes the same coin will be available on someone's web site for 40% less but the buyers want to purchase the coin at auction."
Gold backs off from highs, rallies again.
Gold bullion continues on an upward trend after falling briefly from the seven-year highs of ten days or so ago. Is the dollar weak or is it strong? Is the economy improving or is it still in trouble? The economic news continues to send mixed signals and the metals respond with mixed and slightly volatile results.
Meanwhile, the demand for physical certified gold is at an all-time high (or close to it). "The last run in price has defined where gold will be," says Richard Schwary of California Numismatic Investments, Inc., in Inglewood, California. "The trading range is definitely up.
"Some of the analysts say that the bullish technical charts aren't being backed up with physicals, but they don't know what they're talking about," Schwary continued. "We're selling physicals with both hands and so are the other dealers who specialize in certified gold. We sold over 1,000 PCGS-certified MS64 and MS65 Saints last week. That doesn't count the MS63 and MS66 coins or the other denominations.
"The public has perceived -- correctly, I might add -- that certified pre-1934 gold is where the value is. There's a lot more money moving into physical gold than people think."
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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