Weekly Market Report: Silver Commemoratives in Great Demand as Rare Coin Market Continues to Roll

By Bruce Amspacher - April 16, 2002

1921 Missouri Centennial. 2~4 MS-65 (PCGS).

Just because the same areas of the rare coin market continue to be the focal points week after week don't get the idea that things are in a holding pattern. The year 2002 is the most active numismatic period since the bull market of 1989, and the pace refuses to slacken.

One market segment that has joined the fray recently is silver commemoratives. Basically ignored throughout the decade of the 1990s, this series is coming back with vigor, even though some of the prices are still only 10% (or less!) of their previous highs.

"From top to bottom silver commemoratives offer a great value," says Mark Machin of American Federal Rare Coin and Bullion in Phoenix, Arizona. "Even our customers who are usually exclusively gold buyers are diversifying into silver commems."

Pretty coins, key issues and more.

What coins are in the greatest demand? "Pretty coins with highly attractive toning, of course, but those coins are always in the greatest demand. Aside from that it's mostly coins that are priced at less than $2,000 each. One of the great things about this series is that there are coins under $100, coins under $200, more under $300, and so on. It makes participation possible for virtually everyone."

What about the key issues? "The Sesqui in MS65 is one of the most popular coins of the keys, and right now the price is incredibly attractive. The Missouri in MS65 and the Isabella quarter in MS65 and MS66 offer wonderful value, too."

Do you have five or six personal favorites that you can share? "Only five or six? I really like the Oregon Trail commems in MS67," Machin continued, "because the coins are so beautiful, so popular and so cheap. Other favorites -- because of their current prices -- include the Bridgeport in MS66, the Iowa in MS67, the York in MS67, the San Diego in MS66 and the Rhode Island in MS66."

What about the gold commemoratives? "The gold commems are not nearly as good a deal as the silver coins. You have to be much more selective when buying gold commems as some of the issues are fully priced and offer little, if any, growth potential."

PCGS Set Registry? It's what's happenin'!

How many guitar pickers are there in Nashville? Well, I can't remember, either, but there are 2,416 PCGS Set Registry sets registered, with more being added every day. In addition to the new listings, there is much more news to report.

This summer the first PCGS Set Registry awards will be announced, recognizing the collectors of yesterday and today who have assembled the finest collections. For more information on these awards, set "weighting" and other Registry news, click here.

Kingswood "Holderness" Sale is now online.

There's a new sale online from Kingswood Rare Coin Auctions. It's the "Holderness" sale, and it includes 107 lots of currency to go with 740 lots of PCGS-certified coins.

"The small offering of currency in the previous Kingswood sale proved so popular that we expanded it to over 100 lots this time," said Cassi East, Director of Auctions for Collectors Universe.

Rare coin highlights in the sale include a 1795 Flowing Hair silver dollar in PCGS AU53, an 1862 $3 gold piece in PCGS MS66 and a 1907 Wire Edge $10 Indian in MS64. To view the lots in the "Holderness" sale 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).