Weekly Market Report: 1804 Silver Dollar and Other Major Rarities to be Offered at Auction as Baltimore Show Approaches

By Bruce Amspacher - November 20, 2001

Amazing 1795 Draped Bust Dollar in PCGS MS65 offered in Flannagan Sale

It's pop quiz time! How many Bust dollars (1794-1804) are there in the upcoming Bowers & Merena Galleries auction of the Phillip Flannagan collection? Twenty? Thirty-five? Fifty? Believe it or not, there are over 100 lots of Bust dollars in this single sale scheduled for November 29-December 1, 2001, in conjunction with the Suburban Washington/Baltimore Coin Convention. There are Bust dollars in all grades and price ranges to interest any and all collectors, but there are also some of the most spectacular pieces to come on the market at any time in history. Here are a few of the highlights:

1795 Flowing Hair Dollar (B-3)	PCGS AU55
1795 Flowing Hair Dollar (B-2)	PCGS AU50
1795 Draped Bust Dollar	PCGS MS65 (!)
1798 Draped Bust Dollar, Small Eagle	PCGS MS62
1798 Draped Bust Dollar, Large Eagle	PCGS MS64
1799/8 Draped Bust Dollar	PCGS MS64
1799 Draped Bust Dollar	PCGS MS64
1800 Draped Bust Dollar	PCGS MS64
1801 Draped Bust Dollar	PCGS MS63
1802 Draped Bust Dollar	PCGS MS64
1802 Draped Bust Dollar (Restrike)	PCGS PR64
1804 Draped Bust Dollar (Class III)	PCGS PR58

In addition to this incredible selection of early Americana there are more than 2,900 other lots up for bid in this sale from the collections of Phillip Flannagan, Dr. Robert I. Hinkley, Dr. John C. Wong and Tree Many Feathers. To view the entire sale and/or to bid online, click here.

Baltimore show to feature second outstanding sale.

Want more? Who doesn't! Also on the auction calendar in the coming days is the Tree Many Feathers collection, also offered by Bowers & Merena. This outstanding sale was originally scheduled for New York City on September 15, but was postponed due to the tragic events of September 11. Patterns, gold, type coins…they're all here! To peruse the lots and to bid online, click here.

PCGS dollars strong in Heritage Santa Clara auction.

The Santa Clara show (November 15-18) featured a Heritage Numismatic Auctions "Signature Sale" that offered 44 select pieces from the Michael Casper collection of Morgan dollars. Here are some of the notable prices realized:

1880 Morgan Dollar	PCGS MS66	$6,670
1884 Morgan Dollar	PCGS MS65DMPL	$2,415
1885-O Morgan Dollar	PCGS MS67	$3,450
1888-O Morgan Dollar	PCGS MS65DMPL	$2,300
1890-CC Morgan Dollar	PCGS MS66	$13,800
1899-S Morgan Dollar	PCGS MS66	$3,450
1904 Morgan Dollar	PCGS MS65	$4,141

Market activity is selective, promising.

"Things are up just a tad," says John Dannreuther of JDRC, Inc., in Memphis, Tennessee. "Hard assets are in an upswing and the rare coin market has definite bullish tendencies. The market has shown remarkable resilience since the events of September 11."

Is everything looking rosy for the future? "Not yet," Dannreuther cautioned. "Type coins are still ultra-cheap and few people are taking advantage. Activity in the $10,000+ areas of the market is limited at times. Even so, there are high expectations for Baltimore (November 28-December 2) and people want to do business. The market looks like it's going to surpass the levels of pre-September 11, and that's an extremely strong sign."

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).