Weekly Market Report: Hot, Active, Soaring, Frenzied: Baltimore is Reflection of Overall Rare Coin Market

By Bruce Amspacher - March 18, 2003

1879-CC Morgan dollar (PCGS MS65) - sold for $23,000 in Bowers & Merena Baltimore auction.

The rare coin market rolled into Baltimore last weekend with majestic momentum and left town with a head of steam that would've made the old Baltimore & Ohio railroad proud. While price records fell in the Bowers & Merena Galleries auction, the crowded bourse room was described as "a feeding frenzy for fresh coins."

"Dealers were shoulder to shoulder around anything that looked like a fresh deal," said Laura Sperber of Legend Numismatics in Lincroft, New Jersey. "After the deal was sold they would follow it to the next table, just trying to get a number [price] on the coins that they were interested in."

Where are the dated Saints?

The comments about "lack of material" were pervasive once again, but they weren't complaints as much as simple statements of fact. "There were no better date Saints to buy," Sperber said. "I'm talking about such dates as '14-S or '15-S in MS65, not the ultra rarities. Another area that has disappeared is the Morgan dollar in Gem quality that's priced under $2,500."

Does that include the red-hot Carson City issues? "DMPL Carson City dollars are up 25% since the F.U.N. show in January, but that doesn't mean that many of them are coming out," Sperber said. "Another area of note is the resurgence in 19th century type coins, such as Liberty Seated and Capped Bust material. Believe me, the market is strong!"

Activity good despite drop in gold.

"We are just at the beginning of a long-term up-trend," says John Dannreuther of JDRC, Inc., in Cordova, Tennessee. "The best thing about this market is that the activity is high while many of the prices are still cheap."

What's your take on the Baltimore show, John? "The activity was good even though there was a drop-off in the price of gold and the show was only two weeks after Long Beach. Anything that could be considered to be a nice coin was easy to sell, whether it was a collector coin or a rare date or generic or a modern issue. That's about as diverse as a list can get."

1879-CC Morgan brings $23,000.

The Bowers & Merena Galleries auction that was held in conjunction with the Baltimore Coin and Currency Convention proved to be extremely competitive, especially in the areas of key coinage in many different series. The sale realized more than $5.15 million and included the following highlights:

1787 Fugio Concave Rays (PCGS VF25) - $10,250
1909-S Lincoln cent (PCGS MS66RD) - $6,325
1926-S Buffalo nickel (PCGS MS64) - $12,765
1916 Standing Liberty quarter (PCGS MS65FH) - $19,550
1854-D $3 Gold (PCGS XF45) - $21,275
1861-S Paquet $20 Liberty (PCGS XF40) - $16,100
1886 $20 Liberty (PCGS XF45) - $17,250
1794 Silver Dollar (PCGS VG10) - $37,375
1796 Silver Dollar, LD, SL (PCGS AU55) - $21,850
1879-CC Morgan dollar (PCGS MS65) - $23,000
1878-CC Trade dollar (PCGS MS64) - $51,750
1880 Trade dollar (PCGS PR66) - $21,850

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).