Weekly Market Report: Rare Coin Market in Great Shape as ANA World's Fair of Money and Sale of 1933 $20 Approach

By Bruce Amspacher - July 16, 2002

1791 Washington Small Eagle Cent

An-tis-ih-paaaaay-shun! Carly Simon's 1971 hit song about the pleasure-pain of waiting definitely applies to the world of numismatics in July of 2002. It is only two weeks until the 1933 $20 gold piece goes on the auction block and the annual ANA World's Fair of Money gets underway in New York City. In the meantime...

Worried about the economy? "The U.S. economy is poised to resume a pattern of sustained growth," Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan reported today [July 16]. Other good news includes the lowest interest rates in 40 years, low inflation and a growth rate that is higher than anticipated.

What about the coin market? As the astronauts used to say, "Everything is A-OK."

PCGS announces Set Registry winners.

The Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) announces the first annual "Best of the Registry" awards this week. Plaques will be awarded for the five best classic sets, the five best modern sets and the five best new sets on the PCGS Set Registry. The first selections will also be made for the Coin Collecting Hall of Fame. Louis Eliasberg is a strong favorite (surprise!) to make the Hall of Fame on the first ballot. For a list of the winners for 2002, click here.

U.S. Mint to destroy over 250,000 Proof sets.

The United States Mint is destroying its entire backlog of 1999-2001 Proof sets. Why? A statement released from the United States Mint Pressroom says it"s "because of newly-discovered deterioration that affected a number of sets, apparently during storage."

What effect will this have on the millions of Proof sets and tens of millions of modern Proof coins that are already in collectors' hands? When we know, you'll know. To read a related exclusive story on the matter, click here.

Bowers & Merena "Rarities Sale" now online.

The "Rarities Sale" from Bowers & Merena Galleries is now online. This star-studded sale features high-quality numismatic rarities of all denominations. Here are some highlights from the copper coins in the auction:

1791 Washington Small Eagle Cent - PCGS MS66BN
1793 Half Cent - PCGS VF20
1844 Original Half Cent - PCGS PR63RD
1855 Half Cent - PCGS MS65RD
1793 Chain AMERICA Cent - PCGS VF25
1793 Wreath Cent Lettered Edge - PCGS MS63BN
1841 Large Cent - PCGS PR64RD
1856 Flying Eagle Cent - PCGS PR64

The "Rarities Sale" will remain online through July 29 at 9 p.m. Pacific Time. Floor bidding for the sale will be a one-day event to be held at the Park Lane Hotel in New York City on July 31. Auction action will commence at 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time.

To peruse the "Rarities Sale" and/or to bid online, click here.

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).