Weekly Market Report: Coins Continue to Show Strength as Market Enters the Third Month of 2002

By Bruce Amspacher - March 5, 2002

1795 Flowing Hair Silver Dollar AU-58 (PCGS). Sold for $31,050.

Dealers and collectors alike are still talking about Long Beach as though it took place yesterday. Not only that, the tone of voice is usually reverential, with the same kind of hushed respect that is reserved for only the very finest. Did you ever see Michael Jordan play basketball? Do you own a Honus Wagner T-206 baseball card? Were you at the Winter Long Beach show?

"I knew that Long Beach [Long Beach Coin & Collectibles Exposition, February 20-24, 2002] would be good, but it was even considerably better than I anticipated," said Fred Weinberg of Fred Weinberg & Co. in Encino, California. "There is tremendous excitement in the market and almost everyone seems to be having a great time."

Since Mr. Weinberg is one of the true gurus of the Mint Error market, I asked him what was happening there. "The error market is extremely strong. Some consider this to be an esoteric and quiet corner of the coin business, but in actuality there's a lot going on."

Such as? "For one thing," Weinberg continued, "there's great interest in Mint Errors from a broad range of collectors. Two, there's a real problem with modern errors as supplies have dried up. The new detection equipment at the Mints is catching almost everything, so very little is coming in. The action is strong both at coins shows and from the price lists that I'm sending out."

Kingswood "Gilmanton Sale" rocks as market rolls.

"There's no doubt about it. This was our busiest auction ever, with more bidders, more bids, more phone calls, more e-mails -- you name it!" said Raeleen Endo, auction manager for Collectors Universe. The auction she is referring to is the "Gilmanton Sale," a 1,262-lot sale from Kingswood Coin Auctions that took place on February 28.

There are at least a hundred different coins that could be considered as highlights of the sale. Here are eight of the most noteworthy:

1914-S Lincoln Cent	PCGS MS65RD	$14,375
1939 Lincoln Cent	PCGS PR67RD	$3,048
1916-D Mercury Dime	PCGS MS64FB	$13,800
1896-S Barber Quarter	PCGS MS65	$20,125
1795 Flowing Hair Dollar	PCGS AU58	$31,050
1893 Morgan Dollar	PCGS PR67Cameo	$23,000
1858-D Gold Dollar	PCGS MS63	$13,455
1886 $3 Gold Piece	PCGS PR65Cameo	$17,710

The next Kingswood Coin Auction will take place on May 2, 2002.

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).