Premiums Decline on Older Gold

By Harry Miller, Numismatic News January 21, 2010

Metals stocks and bullion-related coins seem to be signaling some continued weakness in gold and silver. Gold is hammering away at the lower end of its recent trading range with silver following. Thus far the $1,100 level has held. Platinum while off its high is well above recent levels on continued ETF demand.

Older U.S. eagles and double eagles have again lost premium in the most commonly traded grades and there is definite absence of any aggressive buyers in the market. High-grade and small-size issues are moderately active with some pluses and some minuses. Proof gold American Eagles are quiet with few buyers seeking them at current levels. Proof silver Eagles remain strong and business strike 2010 issues have come down in premium slightly in anticipation of large shipments available next week (about when you receive this issue). Demand remains strong for all silver-related bullion issues.

Type coins remain active with very optimistic reports regarding Seated issues of all denominations with special emphasis on scarcer dates and by variety. There is a continued scarcity of all better date Barber issues especially in grades F-12 to EF-40.

Aggressive buyers go for half cents, large cents and three cents with emphasis on the tiny silver issues, which in my opinion are much underpriced in VF to EF grades.

Historic Hoards Echo in Population Reports

By Paul M. Green, Numismatic News January 07, 2010

There have always been some mixed emotions when it comes to hoards. It’s probably natural if you are a collector or dealer to have a concern about hoards and the possibility that one might appear and cause a sharp decline in the price of a coin you own.

The classic instance of that happening occurred to collectors owning 1903-O Morgan dollars back in 1962. They thought that they had a $1,500 coin only to see it fall to $15 seemingly overnight as hundreds of thousands of examples were released by the Treasury.

It would be hard to convince them that hoards are good.

On the other side of the matter, there is the very real fact that a hoard can make a certain coin much more available and at a much more reasonable price than was previously the case. This allows many collectors who otherwise would never have owned something to be able to acquire it.

The discovery of roughly 5,400 examples of the 1857-S Coronet Head double eagle on the sunken wreck of the S.S. Central America made not only the date available, but it also made it possible for many to have a chance to have a Mint State Coronet Head double eagle and one that was produced from the early days of the San Francisco Mint.

Without that recovery of 5,400 examples of the 1857-S from their underwater resting place, the possibilities of owning a nice Mint State double eagle from San Francisco in the 1850s would definitely be reduced and that is just one of many examples.

The discovery, promotion and original sale of hoard coins is just one part of the story. That may be the most exciting part of the story, but after the hoard coins are dispersed, how well do they really hold up in terms of price? In fact, there may be no single answer for the simple reason that there are literally hundreds, if not thousands of hoard coins.

In many cases, we simply do not have a name and story to attach to the numbers of one issue or another that are known today. That is especially true in the case of gold where hundreds and in a few cases even thousands of Mint State coins returned to the United States from primarily European bank vaults in the past half century.

There was no accounting of the numbers, but when you check the numbers seen at grading services today there is absolutely no doubt that there were substantial numbers.

Even in the cases where we know of specific hoards and likely numbers involved, it is unfair to expect that each and every hoard coin will show similar price movements. After all, they are part of a set and a set of large cents is not likely to move in price at the same rate as double eagles or silver dollars or Jefferson nickels. Consequently, we cannot really expect uniform results. That said, there is still a certain question as to just how well hoard coins have done in recent years, not when compared with each other, but perhaps when compared to other non-hoard dates of the same type.

One of the most famous hoards of all was the Randall Hoard. If you have collected large cents for more than three hours you have probably heard of the Randall Hoard. The story may not be quite in tune with the reality, but the fact remains that sometime in the late 1860s in Georgia there was a discovery of a significant number of large cents allegedly in a keg. The precise dates were debated as were an assortment of issues and the story over the years has evolved slightly but we have very solid evidence that five dates were found in some numbers in Mint State in the Randall Hoard.

The two most heavily represented dates were the 1818 and the 1820, with lesser numbers of the 1816, 1817 and 1819. We can say that with some certainty as the numbers of Mint State examples of the dates found at the grading services showed the 1818 having been seen 296 times at the Professional Coin Grading Service and 288 times at Numismatic Guaranty Corp. in Mint State, while the 1820 was seen 267 times at PCGS and 391 times at NGC. In comparison, the lowest numbers for any of the five dates were posted by the 1819, which appeared 81 times at each service. In the case of a date with a similar mintage from the period the combined total at the grading services was basically under 50.

Clearly the 1818 and 1820 are available in significantly higher numbers. Back in 1998 in MS-60 the 1818 was priced at $250 while the 1820 was $275. Today, in the same grade, the 1818 is $270 and the 1820 is at $300. It would appear that the dates are not doing well except for the fact that the large cents of the period in general have moved very little. The 1816 for example was $420 in 1998 and still is $420. Other dates have increased and usually more than the 1818 and 1820, so while perhaps increasing in price at a below average pace, it would be hard to say that the Randall Hoard dates are very different from other dates of the type.

The 1857-S double eagle found in such large numbers on the S.S. Central America, which sank in 1857 off the North Carolina coast, certainly has to be seen as an extreme test in terms of double eagles. It is not simply a case where the numbers are large, but it is also a case where the S.S. Central America is a relatively recent hoard.

The market has had very little time to really absorb what was over $100 million in sales. It is probably too early to expect the 1857-S, which was basically an available date in circulated grades but not a readily available date in Mint State, to show any signs of price increases. In fact, with very serious doubts that there are even 5,400 collectors of Mint State Coronet Head double eagles to absorb the supply, it would not be at all out of the question to expect the 1857-S to show some potentially serious price declines.

If you check the prices for the 1857-S back in 1998 in MS-60 it listed for $2,600 while an MS-63 was $10,000 with no price listed in higher grades. Today in MS-60 the 1857-S is at $4,500 while an MS-65 is at $7,250. It’s a very interesting situation and a somewhat volatile one as prices are all over the board depending on the price guide. The consensus, however, is that in MS-60 the 1857-S seems to have increased in price perhaps as publicity over the sale of the S.S. Central America coins encouraged some to want to acquire a lower cost example of a famous date.

The price decline in MS-63 may well be a case of this grade was actually hurt because there were suddenly significant numbers of higher grade examples. It is definitely an opposite trend from other Coronet Head double eagle dates. The question for the next few years is likely to be not what happens to the MS-60 or MS-63 prices, but rather how does an MS-65 or MS-66 fare at their current levels.

Another recent double eagle was one involving Saint-Gaudens double eagles. Called the Wells Fargo Hoard, the hoard involved 19,900 examples of the 1908 no motto double eagle. The number was extraordinary and so was the quality of the coins. The breakdown given to Q. David Bowers for his book A Guide Book of Double Eagle Gold Coins by Ron Gillio, who purchased the hoard, had 6,000+ in MS-66 with 1,700+ in MS-67.

These high grades were not just wishful thinking by the person buying the hoard. The coins have gone through the major grading services with stunning results. At PCGS, 793 Wells Fargo hoard coins were called MS-67 compared to 38 that were not from the hoard.

At NGC the number of Wells Fargo MS-67 coins was 941 compared to 94 not from the hoard. There were similar numbers in other high grades. The impact of so many top quality examples of a single date almost had to have an impact.

The MS-65 listing of the no motto 1908 back in 1998 was $1,350 and today in MS-65 the price is $2,350. This is the cheapest of the “No Motto” type.

If MS-65 were the top grade available, then there would be considerable pressure on buyers to find and buy an MS-65. The Wells Fargo Hoard, however, has made MS-65 an average grade for this one date. Combined NGC and PCGS have graded over 6,400 Wells Fargo coins as MS-66 and 1,700 more as MS-67. Under the circumstances, buyers will seek those upper grades and not the MS-65 so there are more than just numbers potentially working against the MS-65 price of the “No Motto” 1908.

A dramatically different situation involving gold coins would be the gold dollars of 1879, 1880 and 1881. The three were low mintage, with the 1879 having a mintage of 3,030 while the 1880 was just 1,636 and the 1881 was 7,707. The three should have all been tough dates, but back at the time they were released someone saved examples. In fact. they saved hundreds of each.

We can see evidence in hundreds of each in Mint State reported by both PCGS and NGC. The hoards of the three were not all that well known, although it is a case where relatively few study and collect gold dollars. While we do not know the details of the hoard, we know that hundreds of each of the three dates are known and the MS-60 price of the three back in 1998 saw the 1879 at $700 while the 1880 and 1881 were each at $400. Today in MS-60 the 1879 is $525, the 1880 is $425 and the 1881 is $410.

There is simply no good way to make sense of that change. Ironically, the 1879 which declined the most in price is the least often seen of the three in highest grades, while the 1881 which actually increased in price in the highest Mint State grades has been graded more often than either of the other dates. There is no good way of explaining the changes, but every so often strange things happen in the market and this would have to qualify as one of those times.

If there is such a thing as a blue chip hoard coin, it is ironically a pattern as the 1856 Flying Eagle cent could not have been a coin even though it circulated simply because the law authorizing the Flying Eagle cent was passed in 1857. Over the years, few coins have been hoarded like the 1856, which seemed to always inspire speculation or at minimum a hoarding instinct.

George Rice of Detroit probably won the prize for the largest hoard of the 1856 with his accumulation numbered 756 pieces while close behind was John Andrew Beck of Pittsburgh, whose total included some from the Rice collection, reached 531.

In the case of the 1856 the numbers are small, but the percentage of the total mintage is large. Produced both in proof and also with a small number of business strikes there is no certainty regarding the 1856 mintage although perhaps 1,500 to 2,500 pieces would be a good range. Back in 1998 the 1856 was at $4,000 in G-4 and today that price is $6,250. In MS-65, the 1998 price was $21,000 and today that price is $65,000. Clearly as hoard coins go, the 1856 Flying Eagle cent continues to defy the other patterns by surging strongly to higher prices and in all grades.

There was a great deal of hoarding during the Civil War and some of that even reached down to copper-nickel cents. As a result, small groups of the copper-nickel cent dates have been reported over the years. The largest was discussed by Q. David Bowers in his book American Coin Treasures and Hoards” The group of probably 1,000 Mint State specimens of the 1862 was offered in a Thomas Elder auction in 1918. The group was significant based on the fact that PCGS has seen about 675 Mint State examples of the 1862 while NGC is at roughly 850. The 1998 prices for the 1862 in Mint State were $80 for an MS-60 and $575 for an MS-65. Today those listings are the same for an MS-60 but $1,050 for an MS-65. For a hoard coin that is not heavily publicized, that’s a strong MS-65 increase, although in reality it reflects a general increase in copper-nickel Indian cents prices in MS-65 as all dates have done basically the same thing in terms of price.

One of the more interesting dates that was heavily hoarded was the 1883 without “CENTS” Liberty Head nickel. No particular hoard can be discussed although groups of 100 or more were known. The 1883 without “CENTS” was simply hoarded by many as a new design. It was an unusual time for hoarding, but people then also hoarded the last couple years of the Shield nickel series. We see the proof in the fact that there are thousands of Mint State 1883 without “CENTS” nickels reported at the grading services and that produced 1998 prices of $32 in MS-60 and $300 in MS-65. Today those prices are $25 in MS-60 and $260 in MS-65, so clearly the extremely large numbers reported by the grading services are keeping the price down.

In his book, Bowers reports on the mysterious appearance on the market of hundreds of Mint State 1877-CC quarters in Mint State. It was an odd situation as traditionally there was very little saving of new coins at Carson City and even if there had been, the 1877-CC quarter with a mintage of nearly 4.2 million would have been an odd choice. That said, the observation of Bowers is supported by grading service totals, which show hundreds of examples of the 1877-CC in Mint State.

Since 1998, the 1877-CC which was at $375 in MS-60 has dropped to $325. Interestingly enough, that is still a premium over the most available Mint State Seated Liberty quarter dates of the type. Realistically the 1877-CC is one of those most available dates, but it happens to have a “CC” mintmark, which may be the only thing stopping it from further declines.

There is no doubt there have been a few Lincoln cents that were hoarded. It was reported that John Zug had some 25,000 examples of the 1909-S VDB, although that hoard was allegedly broken up before 1920. There were at least 10 or more rolls that hit the market in the 1950s, but the demand for the 1909-S VDB is so great that such numbers were drops in the bucket when it came to meeting demand.

Since 1998 the 1909-S VDB has gone from $720 in MS-60 and $1,800 in MS-65 to a current $1,825 in MS-60 and $6,850 in MS-65, proving that with enough demand no hoard can keep prices from rising. The situation with the Philadelphia 1909 VDB is slightly different. Its total numbers hoarded were much, much larger. There is solid demand for the 1909 VDB, also. Its 1998 prices of $9 in MS-60 and $39 in MS-65, respectively, have risen to $25 in MS-60 and $195 in MS-65.

A final Lincoln cent worth noting is the 1931-S. With a mintage below 1 million we know the 1931-S was hoarded. We can dispute the numbers hoarded with a Walter Breen claim that the Maurice Scharlack hoard had 200,000 pieces, which would have been about 25 percent of the entire mintage, but there is no doubt the 1931-S was heavily hoarded in Mint State and upper circulated grades. Since 1998 in Mint State the 1931-S has moved from $53 in MS-60 and $215 in MS-65 to a current $163 in MS-60 and $685 in MS-65.

Probably the most famous hoard coin of all time would be the 1950-D Jefferson nickel. We frankly do not know what percentage of its 2,630,030 mintage was hoarded initially, but somewhere on the order of 50 percent or more would be in the ballpark. A.J. Mitula of Houston, Texas, reportedly had 1 million pieces while another 320,000 were reported in Wisconsin and there were others with larger numbers involved.

The 1950-D soared in price during the 1950s and 1960s probably in part because all were tied up in hoards. Then it simply went into a coma, not moving for decades. In 1998 the 1950-D was $6.50 in MS-60 and $9.50 in MS-65. Today it sits at $18 in MS-60 and $30 in MS-65.

It is certainly a mixed bag when it comes to prices of hoard coins. Greater numbers should hold prices down, but a good story or heavy demand for the whole series can still lift prices higher.

Auction prices show pause in ’09 results December 31, 2009
by  Mike Thorne

Summary

“Gold Hits All-Time High,” “Unemployment Tops 10 Percent,” “10 Percent of Homes Are in Foreclosure,” “Dollar Rises, Gold Falls,” screamed the headlines in 2009. But how has the uneasy economic situation affected you personally?

“Gold Hits All-Time High,” “Unemployment Tops 10 Percent,” “10 Percent of Homes Are in Foreclosure,” “Dollar Rises, Gold Falls,” screamed the headlines in 2009. But how has the uneasy economic situation affected you personally?

And how has it affected the coin industry? It would certainly make sense for coin collectors to cut back on hobby purchases because of the troubled economy.

But has this really happened? One way we might be able to tell is to take a look at numismatic auctions in 2009.

The year certainly started well enough for Heritage Auctions, one of the industry giants, as the Heritage FUN auctions in early January brought in $65 million in sales of rare U.S. coins, U.S. paper currency, and ancient and world coins. Highlighted in their U.S. coin sales were pattern pieces from the Queller Family Collection. (David Queller’s 1804 dollar realized $3,737,500 in a Heritage sale in 2008.)

One of the Queller collection’s better patterns was an Numismatic Guaranty Corp.-graded PR-62 1880 $4 gold Stella, Coiled Hair type. With just 18 pieces known, this popular rarity realized $575,000. The auction record for the type is $977,500, achieved by a PR-66 Cameo example in 2005.

— — —

One metric I’ve used in recent years as a gauge to the health of auction activity is the number of $1 million coins crossing the auction block. In 2008, for example, I noted four such coins. In 2007, I counted five million-dollar sellers, and in 2006, the figure was again four.

For 2009, I counted only three million-dollar coins, although a fourth coin came really close. With one exception, the million-dollar coins are not ones you would have predicted to receive such exalted amounts.

The one you could have predicted, however, is sometimes called “The King of Coins.” It’s an 1804 dollar sold by Heritage Auction Galleries at its April 29 to May 2 sale in Cincinnati, Ohio, at the Central States Numismatic Society Convention. The coin was part of the Joseph C. Thomas Collection.

Once owned by Amon G. Carter, Sr., who paid $3,250 for it in 1950, this is a Class III 1804 dollar, of which just six are known. Class I, or original, 1804 dollars were minted in the 1834-1835 period, and eight are known. Restrikes were made in 1859 and have a slightly different reverse than the originals; Class II, of which there is only one piece, has a plain edge.

Graded PR-58 by Professional Coin Grading Service, this coin is the best of the three Class III dollars available for private ownership. It sold for $2.3 million, “a new world record for its class,” according to Greg Rohan, president of Heritage. “Thursday [April 30] night’s price made this particular 1804 dollar the seventh most valuable coin ever sold at auction.” (Note that all figures given in this article include the buyers’ fee, which is typically 15 percent of the winning bid.)

Although $2.3 million sounds good for a Class III 1804 dollar, the same coin sold by private treaty in a deal brokered by Heritage for $2,475,000 in 2006. Thus, it’s possible that the current buyer, NGC founder John Albanese, got a bargain in a depressed market.

The second million-dollar coin sold on May 29 at a Heritage auction conducted at the Long Beach Expo, in Long Beach, Calif. The winner was the finest known 1856-O $20 gold piece.

Graded Specimen-63 by PCGS (and also by NGC earlier), the $20 gold piece realized $1,437,500, more than double the $542,800 it brought in 2005. (“Specimen” refers to coins that are neither business strikes nor proofs but are obviously specially made, with some characteristics that distinguish them from business strikes.)

Is this coin actually worth the amount it brought? Bob Green, a specialist in Liberty Head double eagles, “was very surprised that this coin sold for $1,437,500. I would not have bid more than $1 million.”

Similarly, Greg Reynolds, a numismatic researcher and expert, said, “In my view, the price realized was a little high, given current market conditions. A circulated 1856-O could probably be purchased, at some point over the next 18 months, for less than $475,000.” His prediction proved prophetic, as an NGC-graded AU-58 1856-O sold for $460,000 at a Heritage auction in Los Angeles in mid-summer.

Amazingly, the third coin that sold for more than a million dollars was a large cent. Specifically, it was a 1795 large cent with reeded edge, which is typically listed along with normal varieties, so it’s considered enough of a regular issue to be included in a complete collection of large cents.

This particular 1795 reeded edge cent was PCGS-graded VG-10 and was part of the Dan Holmes large cent collection. The collection was sold in an Ira and Larry Goldberg (with Chris McCawley and Bob Grellman) auction held Sept. 6-8 at the Beverly Hills Crowne Plaza. When the bidding stopped, the coin, which is the best of the five or six pieces known of this variety, had realized a whopping $1,265,000. The pre-sale estimate was just $250,000.

Another coin in the Goldberg sale almost achieved the million-dollar mark, a 1799 large cent graded MS-62 by NGC. This coin realized $977,500, again with a pre-sale estimate of $250,000.

In an article about the Holmes collection sale, Greg Reynolds noted that the 1799 cent now resides in a PCGS holder with a grade of MS-61. Reynolds himself grades the piece AU-58, and McCawley and Grellman consider it AU-55. I view  this as a good illustration of the grade inflation that often occurs at the certification services when a scarce or key date is involved.

Two other coins worth mentioning are a pair of 1793 Strawberry Leaf cents. One (NC-2 variety) graded Fair-2 by PCGS sold for $264,500, and the other (NC-3 variety), optimistically graded G-4 by PCGS, went for $218,500. Surely the Fr-2 coin is one of the lowest-grade coins ever to sell for more than a quarter million dollars.

— — —

2009 must have been the year for large cents, as another example of the 1793 Strawberry Leaf (NC-3) variety became the most valuable large cent (until later in the year) when it sold for $862,500 on Jan. 5 at a Stack’s auction in Orlando. After the sale, the coin received a grade of VG-10 from PCGS. It’s the finest of just four known examples of this variety.

Another auction with record-breaking large cent sales occurred early in the year, at Ira and Larry Goldberg’s Pre-Long Beach auction held Feb. 1-3. Featured was part of the Ted Naftzger Collection of large cents consisting of middle date cents (1816-1839). Highlights included an 1823 cent graded MS-66 Brown by PCGS. Against an estimated value of at least $35,000, it realized an astounding $299,000.

Another key in the Naftzger collection was an 1839/6 PCGS-graded MS-65 Brown. This cent was described in the auction catalog as an “indispensable piece for anyone trying to assemble a Mint State ‘Red Book’ collection of Middle Date … large cents.” With a PCGS population of one, with none finer, the coin was estimated at $50,000 and up. The final price was up, way up, in fact, as the coin realized $264,500.

— — —

Of course, 2009 was the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birth and the 100th anniversary of the Lincoln cent. Thus, it seems appropriate to consider how Lincoln cents fared at auction.

In the sale held March 27-31 in Baltimore by Heritage, for example, one of the top ranked lots was a 1969-S doubled-die obverse cent. Graded MS-63 Red by PCGS, this coin, with an estimated population in all grades of between 17 and 32 pieces, brought $86,250. Heritage sold two more 1969-S doubled die Lincolns at an auction in October. Graded MS-63 Red by NGC and AU-55 by PCGS, the two sold for $57,500 and $54,625, respectively.

At the March Heritage sale in Baltimore, a 1955 doubled-die Lincoln cent, graded MS-63 Red by PCGS, realized $5,750. This amount is nearly 100 percent over the wholesale value given in the Coin Dealer Newsletter (CDN or Greysheet).

A 1917-S cent, graded MS-65 Red by PCGS, went for $12,650 in the Heritage Long Beach Signature Auction held in February. This is more than 140 percent over the CDN wholesale bid. Also, this price illustrates the meaning of “condition rarity,” a common coin in lower grades but rare in higher grades.

An even better illustration of condition rarity can be seen in a Lincoln cent result at the Heritage September sale in conjunction with the Long Beach Expo. There, a 1925-D cent, graded MS-66 Red by PCGS, realized an astonishing $74,750. This is a coin with a PCGS population of just two pieces.

— — —

Condition rarities in other denominations also garnered major amounts in 2009. For example, in the Heritage FUN auction, held in Orlando from Jan. 7-11, an 1892-S Morgan dollar graded MS-67 by PCGS sold for $460,000. In low grades, the 1892-S is worth little more than a common date.

In late March, at the Bowers and Merena auction at the Baltimore Coin and Collectibles Expo, the second highest seller was another 1892-S Morgan. This coin, graded MS-66 by PCGS, realized $201,250. As you can see, a single grading point made more a quarter-million dollar difference. Although I haven’t seen the two coins, I wonder if the MS-67 piece looks $250,000 better than the one graded merely MS-66.

In the Buffalo nickel series, one example of a condition rarity is the 1926-S, a low-mintage date that’s relatively common in grades such as Good and VG, but decidedly uncommon in VF and above. Two uncirculated 1926-S nickels sold in the Bowers and Merena auction at the American Numismatic Association National Money Show in March in Portland, Ore. One, graded MS-63 by PCGS with a CAC sticker, sold for $25,300. The other, PCGS-graded MS-64, without a CAC sticker, realized only $14,950.

CAC stands for Certified Acceptance Corporation, and for a fee, CAC will examine a certified coin and determine whether or not it’s accurately graded. If it is, CAC attaches an oval-shaped green sticker as a stamp of approval. As you can see from the above example, the CAC sticker appears to have made a huge difference in how the two coins were evaluated.

Another Buffalo nickel condition rarity crossed the auction block at the Bowers and Merena auction at the ANA World’s Fair of Money in August in Los Angeles. The coin was a 1925-S nickel NCG-graded MS-66, which realized $87,400. This is a date that doesn’t cross the $100 mark until the grade of XF.

Earlier I mentioned a 1925-D Lincoln cent graded MS-66 Red by PCGS that sold for $74,750. At the same sale, a common (in low grades) 1920-D Buffalo nickel, graded MS-66 by PCGS, with a CAC sticker, brought the same $74,750 as the 1925-D Lincoln.

In the Walking Liberty half dollar series, the 1919-D is a slightly better early date in circulated grades that becomes a condition rarity in mint state. As one illustration of this, Heritage auctioned a 1919-D PCGS-graded MS-66 at the Central States convention in late April, early May for the astounding figure of $253,000. Of course, this coin is considered the single finest certified 1919-D.

The final condition rarity I’ll mention is an 1886-O Morgan dollar. This coin is valued as a common date in most circulated grades but becomes much less common in mint state. At the Heritage Summer Fun Signature sale, held in early July, an 1886-O, graded MS-65 by PCGS, with a CAC sticker, sold for $149,500.

— — —

Key date coins, coins that are the keys to completing a particular series, also brought in large amounts at auction in 2009. At their Central States auction, Heritage sold a 1918/7-D Buffalo nickel for $253,000. It undoubtedly helped that the coin graded MS-66 by PCGS and was tied for the finest certified example.

At the Scotsman Auction Company’s Midwest Summer Sale held in St. Charles, Mo., the second highest price in the sale went for the big key Mercury dime, the 1916-D. Graded MS-65 FB (Full Split Bands) by PCGS, the coin realized $38,525. This amount is $25 over the current CDN bid price, which means that the coin sold for wholesale.

A high-grade example of the key date 1918/7-S Standing Liberty quarter appeared in the Heritage Long Beach sale in February. Graded MS-65 by PCGS, the coin brought $66,125, which is slightly below the current CDN bid price.

In Morgan dollars, I noted two sales of high-grade Mint State examples of the key date 1889-CC. In NGC-graded MS-64 PL (prooflike), one sold at the Heritage February Long Beach sale for $51,750. A much better example sold at the Heritage January FUN sale for an unimaginable figure of $531,875. The coin was graded MS-68 by PCGS.

For collectors who consider the proof-only 1895 Morgan part of the series, an NGC-graded PR-66 Cameo example realized $57,500 at the Heritage Dallas Signature Sale held in October. This would have to be considered an incredible bargain, as the current CDN bid price for this coin is $75,000. This may be just another example of the sale of a great coin in a down market.

— — —

Unusual items found ready buyers in 2009. Some of the most unusual items were found in Stack’s Americana Sale held in late September in Philadelphia. For example, a 1906 Indian Head cent struck in gold realized $276,000. The coin was probably struck on a planchet intended for a gold quarter eagle. Graded AU-58 by NGC, the coin may be unique.

Another unusual item was a large-size Thomas Jefferson Indian Peace medal struck as thin silver shells. The medal realized $345,000, which was well beyond the pre-sale estimate and set a new record for U.S. silver medals sold at auction.

A 1942 aluminum pattern Lincoln cent realized $126,500 in the Heritage Signature sale in May in which an 1856-O double eagle grossed more $1 million. The Lincoln pattern was graded PR-66 by PCGS, and is considered to be R8 (Rarity 8, 2-3 known).

Last, but not least, another new record was set at an auction sale held in conjunction with January’s FUN event. Held by the Original Hobo Nickel Society, the sale’s 145 lots garnered $47,728.95, eclipsing 2008’s record by more than $11,000.

— — —

Proving once again that Registry Sets (sets of coins certified by either PCGS or NGC and ranked according to average grade and completeness) can bring in big bucks, a complete set of nickel three-cent pieces went for $304,750 at a pre-FUN sale held by Bowers and Merena Auctions in Orlando. The nickel three-cent pieces comprised the top-ranked PCGS Registry Set in their category (Business Strike Three-Cent Nickels). At the same sale, a PCGS-graded MS-63 example of the always-in-demand 1921 Saint-Gaudens double eagle sold for $287,500.

— — —

One way to get an idea of the state of the auction market in 2009 is to look at coins that sold more than once during the year. For example, Heritage offered the same 1933 $10 gold piece twice, first in January and then again in August. Graded MS-65 by PCGS, the coin sold for $488,750 early in 2009 but brought only $460,000 in midyear. Did the market decline more than 6 percent in a little over six months?
As another illustration of a particular coin selling for less later than it did earlier, the 1880 Coiled Hair Stella that I mentioned as part of a Heritage sale in January was auctioned a second time in August. The realization was “just” $546,250, or slightly more than 5 percent below the $575,000 it earned in January.

Instead of asking whether the sale of these two coins represents a decline in the market from January to August, perhaps a better question would be, “Why were the two coins placed in auction again so soon after being purchased?” I’m reminded of the TV commercial in which a man purchases a painting at auction and then immediately tells the auctioneer that he wants to sell it. Obviously, this is not a good way to handle items that are bought for investment.

— — —

That’s my survey of the auction scene for 2009. What does it show? As always, desirable coins brought big money, although perhaps not as big as in some recent years.

Still, given the state of the economy things undoubtedly could have been a lot worse in 2009 than they were. If the recession is really over, as we’re told, then numismatic auctions in 2010 should make banner news. I, for one, will be a keen observer.