Weekly Market Report : New Collectors, Key Issues Stay Strong as Market Steams into Summer

By Bruce Amspacher - July 3, 2001

Proof silver eagles are popular with new collectors

"Summertime, and the livin' is easy, fish are jumpin' and so are key date 20th century coins in top quality." Okay, so the last line of that little ditty doesn't scan any longer, but you get the idea. The rare coin market continues on its merry way, with the so-called " annual summer slowdown" barely showing its head at all this year.

"There is some evidence of the summer phase of the market," says Joel D. Rettew of Laguna Hills, California. "The volume is down from April and May, but things are still active. The predictions about market expansion have proved to be accurate, and the Statehood quarters collectors are now buying Eisenhower dollars and Proof Silver Eagles among other things. Like most new collectors over the past 35 years they gravitate towards the larger coins."

New collectors are like all collectors: selective!

A large percentage of the business being done on the Internet is focused on modern issues. "There are numerous buyers for 1964 Proof sets, Proof 69 DCAM Silver Eagles, the latest Proof Statehood quarters and other easily affordable issues in high quality," Rettew continued. "If this kind of attention was placed on Proof Liberty nickels the coins would triple in price and still be cheap. We'll see this kind of scenario one day."

What makes you think so? "The collecting bug has definitely bit. You can see it in the way that supplies such as coin albums are selling," Rettew concluded.

The two-tiered market has arrived.

Kathleen Duncan of Pinnacle Rarities in Tacoma, Washington, has been a familiar face on the coin show circuit since the 1980s. We checked in with Ms. Duncan to see if she is seeing the market in the same light as other dealers.

"We're definitely in a two-tiered market," she said. "On the one hand, classic rarities in the finest known condition in 20th century sets are selling immediately. This includes such series as Peace dollars, Walking Liberty half dollars, and especially Lincoln cents. Just name your price on those coins and they're gone.

"Meanwhile, some other coins are ridiculously underpriced. I'm talking here about Liberty Seated, Capped Bust and Barber coins."

But, Kathleen, several dealers have commented that Barber coins are heating up, especially the tough dates. "I haven't found it that way. The exception is high quality cameo Barber Proofs. Those coins are quite easy to move. Some other markets, such as commemoratives, depend on the particular coin. A beautiful toned coin sells instantly while a dull brown one is a non-seller, just like always."

Bowers and Merena Galleries "Lake Geneva" sale is active.

The Bowers & Merena "Lake Geneva" auction was held in Chicago, Illinois, on June 28-29, 2001. This highly active and successful sale included the following highlights:

Coin	Grade	Price Realized
1793 Wreath cent	PCGS AU53	$17,250
1871 Indian cent	PCGS MS65RD	$14,950
1916/16 Doubled Die nickel	PCGS AU55	$23,000
1921-S Walking Liberty half dollar	PCGS MS63	$18,400
1856-O $2½ Liberty	PCGS MS62	$19,550
1867-S $2½ Liberty	PCGS MS64	$12,650
1859 $3 Gold	PCGS MS65	$13,225
1863 $10 Gold	PCGS AU50	$12,650
1876-CC $10 Gold	PCGS AU53	$10,925
Judd-1547 (1877 Pattern half dollar)	PCGS PR65BN	$10,925

The next Bowers & Merena Galleries auction, The Rarities Sale, is scheduled for August 6, 2001, in Atlanta, Georgia.

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).