Market Matters: Finest Known, Second Best, or Good Enough?

Market Matters is a column in which I often tout the highest price paid for a particular PCGS-graded coin. Who doesn’t enjoy hearing about a new “record” price for a fabulous coin in a PCGS holder? And while we love sharing the latest hammer prices for some of the most spectacular PCGS-encapsulated coins to cross the block, we also want to share with readers some perspective into the “why” rare coin market values are usually a function of quality. After all, quality or grade can limit supply and certainly affect demand.

First, I want to explain the motivation that drives appreciation in terms of both desire and demand. Second, I will give you a couple of examples of the latest auction prices for some exceptional PCGS-graded coins.  Using these recent sales as examples, I will illustrate the motivation that led to these (roundly astounding) sales prices.

Numismatic Motivation

There has to be a motive… Indeed, what motivates us to act?

If you’re in sales, you attempt to entice a customer to purchase your product with a variety of different mediums. As a longtime coin dealer who spent decades working either behind the case at a brick-and-mortar store or on the road attending over a thousand coin shows, I appreciated coins that sold themselves, so to speak.

But I think anyone reading this who has spent even a few minutes as a salesperson, regardless of what they were purveying, will recognize that there are at least four questions that must be answered when selling something – anything:

1. Does it work?  
2. Does it make your life easier?  
3. Does it add value or enjoyment to your life?
4. Do you have a choice?

Applying these questions to the numismatic realm isn’t much of a stretch. Think about it… We want our coins to work – fit – the scheme or our sets or overall collecting goals. We hope our next coin purchase makes life a little easier by getting us closer to “completion” (whatever that looks like for you and your collection). Certainly coins add value to our collection and bring further enjoyment to our lives – in the numismatic sense at the very least.

And choices? Oh goodness me, do we have choices as collectors… Many, many choices! That is unless you’re vying for one of only a few available rare specimens that could make or break the difference between having a top-rated complete PCGS Registry Set or one that stands second place to the premier collector.

Shifting My Focus

Our motives change with our lives and means, and collectors evolve.  We’re human… For example, as a young collector I was more interested in the completion of a set of coins. There were two important considerations: cost and quality. Cost was always most important to me in those days. I’d ask myself, “Can I afford the coin, and does it look ‘good’ in my set?” I had neither the funds nor the appreciation for a nicer example yet.

Not only was building these early “starter” coin set(s) fun, but I was learning and evolving numismatically. Sure, they, for the most part, consisted of common coins carrying modest value. But isn’t that where many of us started our numismatic journeys? With “starter sets”? Yet, I’m sure any of us who kicked off with those sets had at least some higher-grade, more expensive coins that we just absolutely dreamt of owning someday. I know I did…

Where does that appreciation for the “finer numismatic things” start? I’ve purposely used the word “appreciation” here because it is so appropriate when speaking about rare coins. For example, while I have always appreciated the interest and fun numismatics has provided me, I have also been interested in the possible appreciation, monetarily, that my coins might promise.

At some point in my evolution from casual collector to avid numismatist, I realized the pursuit of knowledge about the coins themselves was the reward. My focus changed, too, in that while I still appreciate all coins, my focus is more on quality and less on accumulation.

Exceptional Coins as the North Star

While many never recognize the difference in quality among the coins they collect, those who appreciate the scarcity and indeed rarity of high-grade coins have unlocked the “key” to the “appreciation” of their coins. This is true for virtually any collectible…

To boost the appreciation of your coins, shouldn’t you concentrate on those coins most coveted by other collectors in terms of quality? High-quality coins will be appreciated most and most often appreciate – increase in value – at a higher rate.

We can see this just by looking at some of the most recent auction prices achieved by the highest-quality coins that have appeared at auction in PCGS holders. Let me make some observations about two coins that have sold in major auctions this summer.

My first example is the incredibly gorgeous PCGS MS68FBL 1948 Franklin Half Dollar that sold in an April 2024 Stack’s Bowers Galleries auction for $84,000. To date, this is the only Franklin Half Dollar that PCGS has graded MS68FBL, and virtually everyone would love to own this coin – a point underscored by fierce bidding for this piece. If you “need” the 1948 date for your Franklin Half Dollar collection, your next-best alternative is one of the 12 MS67+ examples of this date that PCGS has graded. Interestingly, a lovely 1948 MS67+FBL sold for $6,000 in a December 2023 Heritage Auctions sale. No, that coin wasn’t “finest known,” but it was 7.14% of the cost of the MS68FBL coin.

My next example is the 1870-CC Liberty Head Double Eagle, a coin offering perhaps 40 or 50 specimens total across all grades. In June 2024, a PCGS AU50 example crossed the block for $840,000 in a Stack’s Bowers Galleries sale. This coin is one of just five PCGS AU50 examples available, with only a single PCGS AU53 that sold for $1,620,000 in a November 2021 Heritage Auctions sale.  Only one collector can own that coin, but the last three PCGS AU50 examples were sold in 2014 at prices ranging between $305,500 and $329,000. Is it any surprise that this single PCGS AU50 example, the first available in 10 years, brought $840,000?

Both of these coins are exceptionally popular and quite scarce, but the only limiting factor in you purchasing an example is your budget. When you are contemplating building a PCGS Registry Set, visit PCGS.com/Pop, where you can access the populations of any U.S. coin to give you a clearer picture on the supply of any PCGS-graded coins. You may find that the finest or second-best coins in your selected series are just too scarce or expensive, leading you to choose coins that are not quite top-grading but are nevertheless “good enough.”