Weekly Market Report: $20 Liberty Gold Bright Spot in the Bass Sale

The Harry W. Bass, Jr., Collection, Part IV, was auctioned earlier this week by Bowers & Merena Galleries. The sale took place in New York City and we caught up with two of the participants as they rode in a taxi towards the airport. It was only an hour after the final lot of the sale had been knocked down, so the buzz of the auction was still in the air.

"The $20 Liberty gold pieces were definitely the bright spot in the sale," said John Dannreuther of JDRC, Inc., of Memphis, Tennessee. "The New Orleans and Carson City gold coins were strong, and the Charlotte and Dahlonega gold was surprisingly strong, much more so than I anticipated. It was only a couple of weeks ago when I said that 'C' and 'D' gold was hard to sell at 50% of Trends. Well, it may be slow on the bourse floor, but in this auction there was tremendous interest."

Not everything in the sale was so heroic, though. "This sale offered the greatest group of 'No Motto' $10 gold pieces in history," Dannreuther continued, "but for the most part the coins went extremely reasonable. There are limited numbers of collectors for these coins at this time, so a lot of the expensive rarities were scooped up by dealers for resale at a later date."

Does anything specific come to mind? 'We're dodging semi-trailer trucks on the FDR," Dannreuther continued, "so my mind is elsewhere is times. Besides the 'No Motto' $10 pieces mentioned earlier there were a couple of early proof $5 gold pieces that realized about half of what they brought in the Pittman sale. The 1913-S $10 in MS66 sold for $60,000 plus the juice [the 'juice' refers to the 15% buyer's fee, meaning that the winning bid was $69,000]. That is a true bargain. Even so, for the most part the sale was a great success. It was well attended, competitive, and exciting. The relatively inexpensive coins really showed some muscle."

What's happening elsewhere?

"I feel really great about the coin market," says Marc Crane of Marc One Numismatics in Newport Beach, California. "The just completed Santa Clara show was exceptionally good. Dated $20 Liberties in MS63-64 are selling fast and furious, MS64-66 $20 Saints are strong once again, and commem gold continues to do well. "Anyone who has fresh coins is going to be able to sell them at a profit," Crane continued. "The market is crying out for some new material, and that means anything from Proof half cents to modern singles. The future looks bright for coins."

Modern coins remain hot

Modern coins, encompassing Statehood quarters, Sacagawea dollars, Kennedy half dollars, modern commems and similar items continue to lead the marketplace in level of activity. "Most of the calls from potential buyers are focused in this area," Crane concluded. "The interest is expanding to other segments of the market, though, and that includes such things as Canadian dollars. How long has it been since Canadian dollars were hot?" How long, indeed?

Important currency auction on-line

Currency collectors should check out the Lyn Knight Currency Auctions "Great Western Collection." Pre-bidding is currently available online until 12/1/00. To order an auction catalog for this great sale, click here.