Market Movers and Shakers

The modern coin market has been extremely healthy in the past year. We recently reviewed the PCGS's "U.S. Price Changes — Top 10 Gainers and Losers list for the past year to try and get a gauge for the modern coin market, and these are the top 15 coins that performed the best. Overall, it represents a good mixture of different denominations. A few Lincoln Cents were the top gainers, as well as a Roosevelt Dime, some Washington Quarters, a Kennedy Half Dollar, an Eisenhower Dollar, and even some bullion issues made it on the Top Gainers list.

Because of space limitations, we won’t discuss every coin on the Top Gainers list. However, we will mention a few of the highlights, including a stellar 1995 Lincoln Cent graded PCGS MS68RD. In March 2020, this coin had a PCGS Price Guide listing of $50 in MS68RD. That same coin in an identical grade today has a retail price of $185. That’s a 270% increase in just two years!

What’s so special about a 1995 Lincoln Cent? I will summarize in three words: PCGS Set Registry. Although the U.S. Mint struck over 6.4 billion examples, there are many collectors looking for a 1995 Lincoln Cent in PCGS MS68RD to add to their sets. With a population of just 121 coins graded PCGS MS68RD, it’s difficult to find one at this grade. When an example does turn up in the marketplace, you can be assured there will be many collectors trying to purchase it for their sets — not to mention coin dealers who are looking to fill their inventories with high-grade, low-population coins.

Another coin doing well these days is the 2000-S New Hampshire Proof Silver Washington State Quarter. The 50 State Quarter Program began in 1999 and is one of the most popular coin programs in the history of the U.S. Mint. It is believed that during the height of the program there were about 147 million individuals collecting the 50 State Quarters. From those millions of collectors, there is a much smaller, sophisticated group of collectors buying the 50 State Quarters only in PCGS holders. Some of these collectors take their goals a step further by pursuing only MS/PR70 examples. The 2000-S New Hampshire Proof Silver Washington State Quarter noted here is graded PCGS PR70DCAM. One year ago, the PCGS Price Guide value for this coin was $110. A year later, the price is $385 — that’s a 250% increase!

The featured chart also reveals the top 15 modern coin gainers for the year. To view many more modern coin price changes for the year as well as for market data from other date ranges, you can visit the PCGS Price Guide and click on “Price Changes.” Once there, you can view many more coins listed on the PCGS Price Guide Gainers list, including the top daily gainers, weekly gainers, three-month gainers, one-year gainers, two-year gainers, three-year gainers, five-year gainers, and even the leading 10-year gainers. May the market keep humming along!