Weekly Market Report: Collector-based Coins, Early Americana Continue to Lead Surprisingly Strong Market

The modern world is one of constant change. Even so, the past six weeks have brought about unprecedented events that have made the word “change” somehow inadequate. “To put it simply, many people have things other than coins on their minds,” says John Dannreuther of JDRC, Inc., in Memphis Tennessee. “So many priorities have been refocused in recent weeks. A number of dealers and collectors are still doing nothing in the market place, yet there’s still great interest from many quarters.”

What areas are the most active for those who are still doing business? “Cheaper coins continue to sell well. The new collector base is so large that this area of the market will be good for many years to come. This includes the modern issues, commemoratives, short-set Walking Liberty half dollars, Washington quarters…just the things that you would expect.”

What about certified gold? “Gold continues to sell well, but prices have stabilized after the big spike in mid-September. The supply-demand ratio seems to be back on a more even keel.”

How does the future look? “It is really difficult to find nice coins. Prices have to rise at some point in order to bring material into the market. There are multitudinous changes on the horizon that we'll have to adjust to, such as new regulations for carry-on luggage. This will have an impact on coins shows and make the Internet more important than ever.”

Robert Rhue is a veteran dealer from Denver, Colorado, and a specialist in Colonial coins and Territorial gold. We checked in with him to see how these collector-driven markets are holding up.

“Things are completely back to normal,” Rhue said. “For the first week after the September 11 tragedy everything ground to a halt, but since then business has picked up considerably.”

Has the current wave of patriotism led to a renewed interest in Colonials? “Not really,” Rhue continued. “The interest never waned, so there’s nothing to renew. This market has been extremely strong for the last five years or more. Once PCGS began certifying Colonials the confidence in this market surged appreciably. Most nice quality Colonials are up 50% or more over the past five years.”

Rare coins with a strong collector base have led the market for many months, and the Kingswood Coin Auctions “Franklin Sale” followed the formula completely in the October 18 offering. Here are a dozen of the many highlights:

“This auction was extremely active, especially considering the political and economic turmoil of today,” said Raeleen Endo, Kingswood auction representative. “We are looking forward to the next Kingswood sale in February of 2002.”

When the Tree Many Feathers auction by Bowers and Merena Galleries was postponed following the terrorist attacks of September 11, the sale was rescheduled to coordinate with the Suburban Washington/Baltimore Coin & Currency Convention in late November. Not only will this landmark sale now be in conjunction with the last major coin show of 2001, it will also take place alongside another Bowers & Merena sale that features the Phillip Flannagan collection of Bust dollars.

One of the all-time great numismatic treasures is featured in the Flannagan sale, the famed Amon Carter 1804 silver dollar. Also included in the 1794-1804 date run of dollars are spectacular examples from such noted collections as Bass, Eliasberg, Starr and Whitney.

The Flannagan sale will be online soon. To peruse and/or bid on the “Tree Many Feathers” collection, click here.

Famous Carter/Flannagan 1804 Bust Dollar