Spotlight on Coins

April 26, 2013 -- Despite the sharp drop in both gold and silver in mid-April, this is probably not the final end of the precious metals bull market and silver coins present a particularly interesting opportunity, wrote finance columnist Scott Burns on AssetBuilder.

He suggested that gold’s current decline could simply be the result of slowing economic growth in India and China.

“People in both countries have long believed more in gold and silver than in paper money,” he wrote. “But when they have less paper money, they buy less gold and silver.”    

In his positive review of Shayne McGuire’s new book, The Silver Bull Market: Investing in the Other Gold, Burns concurred that silver, and silver coins specifically, were a particularly important and often overlooked part of a well-conceived and diversified investment strategy.

April 11, 2013 -- At the turn of the month, a $1 1995-W American Eagle silver dollar coin was auctioned off for $86,654 by GreatCollections auction house, CoinWorldmagazine reported.

The coin was part of a run that has been heavily noted for minor flaws in a majority of its pressings, with relatively little of that quality being today. This particular coin had been graded Proof 70 Deep Cameo by Professional Coin Grading Service, a rare find for the 1995-W American Eagle silver dollar run.

“Deep Cameo” is a measurement on the offset of the raised and frosted area of a coin, which is often the profile of a head, and the flat mirrored surface behind it. In the case of the American Eagle silver dollar coin, the head side of the coin features Lady Liberty, while the tail side of the silver coin appropriately features an American Eagle. Generally, the greater the contrast between the raised detail and the background, the higher the Deep Cameo proof will be.

"The 1995-W is the ultimate key to the series with the lowest mintage and is notorious for imperfections, explaining the low percentage graded at the perfect Proof-70 DCAM grade," said Ian Russell, President and founder of the auction house that sold the record-setting $86,654 silver American Eagle coin.

April 10, 2013 -– As silver and gold reach two-year lows, Americans are waking up to the value of diversifying their precious metal assets into silver and gold bullion coins, the Christian Science Monitor reported this week.

Their recent article cited investor Will Mitchell, who started buying silver and gold bullion coins in 2008, following the U.S. banking crisis. Mitchell had initially begun buying silver bullion bars, but made the switch to coins since they are significantly easier to trade. As a result of this move, he finds his assets largely intact now, despite the dip in the price of gold and silver bullion. 

“… My holdings of them are up about 100 percent since early 2008," Mr. Mitchell, the owner of Startupbros.com in Tampa, Florida. "You can't ask for more than that."

Mitchell’s company is an online resource for entrepreneurs looking to build a business online.

Interest in precious metals and precious commodities began to soar five years go, but the enthusiasm for silver and gold coins has been off the charts since the start of 2013.

April 2, 2013 – Legendary commodities investor Jim Rogers reportedly acquired 14 one-ounce coins from North Korea, reported Business Insider and the Wall Street Journal.

An assistant of Rogers purchased the coins at a Singaporean coin fair at a price of approximately $2,014 each, or more than $26,000 for the lot of 13 coins. Rare coins typically increase dramatically in value, particularly when they are difficult to obtain or replace.

“The idea that someone would buy goods from or invest in North Korea is likely to outrage some people as the transactions would probably directly or indirectly finance the controversial government,” wrote Sam Ro in Business Insider.

However, in his article Ro went on to explain that Rogers’ past comments indicate he thinks that the North Korean government will fail, and he wants to make that happen and benefit in the process.

In an older interview, Rogers had said, "Coins and stamps are the only way I can invest in North Korea."

February 4, 2013 – Coin-grading service PCGS announced they are offering a $10,000 bounty to the first person who can present them with an authentic 1964-D Peace Dollar from the U.S. Mint. One of the most famous and most controversial modern coins, the historic silver 1964-D Peace Dollar was never officially released into circulation.

"Mint records indicate 316,076 1964-dated silver Peace dollars were struck at the Denver Mint in May 1965, but they were all were supposed to be destroyed," said Don Willis, the president of PCGS.

The firm, which often conducts business with the United States Gold Bureau, stated that it would present the reward to anyone that presented the coin to them in person, so that they could verify it and photograph it. The final verification is subject to PCGS and its experts.

The silver Peace dollar coins featured the same design originally created by Anthony de Francisci for the earlier Peace dollar coins issued from 1921 to 1935.

January 30, 2013 – Sales of American Eagle silver coins from the U.S. Mint rose to an all-time monthly high in January, according to Reuters. The milestone was reached after the Mint resumed sales of its highly sought 2013 silver coins.

Sales of the coin were paused earlier this month on January 17, after the Mint ran out of its supply of 2013 American Eagle silver coins in the face of much higher than expected consumer demand. It has been busy pressing new coins, enabling it to resume sales. The Mint is tightly managing its new sales of the 2013 silver coins. These and other coins are not sold direct to the public, but instead are sold through a network of wholesalers and dealers.

Data on the U.S. Mint’s website showed that sales of the coin surpasses 7.1 million ounces on Tuesday, January 29. The prior all time monthly sales record for silver coins was 6.1 million, set just one year ago in January 2012.

Reuters reported that not only were greater numbers of buyers picking up the coins, but that they were also buying in much greater quantities as well. Once source reported that investors are demanding entire 500-ounce boxes of coins, as they come sealed by the U.S. Mint. The Mint sells these boxes, known as “monsters,” comprised of 500 one-ounce coins exclusively to authorized coin dealers.

January 26, 2013 – An extremely rare silver dollar from1794 was sold for $10 million at an auction on Thursday, the Huffington Post reported. The Flowing Hair Silver Dollar coin, which many believe was from the first batch of coins struck by the U.S. mint, brought in more than twice the previous record.

The exact price of the history-making coin was $10,016,875, illustrating the significant appreciation that can be realized by acquiring the right portfolio of coins.

The record-setting coin shows a profile of Miss Liberty facing right surrounded by stars representing each state in the union. The design was only used in 1794 and briefly the following year.

After the sale was complete, the coin’s buyers, a rare-coin firm in New Jersey named Legend Numistatics issued a press release affirming that they had been prepared to spend significantly more to acquire this specific rare U.S. coin.

"We felt in our heart that this would be the very first coin to exceed the $10 million barrier in auction and were in fact prepared to bid much high in order to acquire this unique piece of history," stated the release. The company also affirmed that it had no intention of selling the coin in the near future.

January 24, 2013 – Fifty years after his death in a tragic climbing accident, Mark Hillary gifted more than $353,000 to his family when they discovered and auctioned off a rare U.S. coin from his collection, reported the International Business Times in Great Britain.

Discovered in a matchbox along with about 70 other collectible coins by Hillary’s family in the U.K., the simple rare half-cent coin was pressed at the Philadelphia Mint in the U.S. in 1796. The coin lay undisturbed for 50 years before it was discovered in a family “clean out.”

Hillary, and then a student of the classics at Oxford University, perished at the age of 20. It is not clear when or how the coin came to be in his collection.

During the years that the recently independent U.S. was forging itself into a nation, coin collecting was a thriving pastime in Britain.

"[The U.K.] is the natural place for coins of the former colony to end up," said Daniel Fearon, a coin consultant at Woolley and Wallis. The firm is an auction house in Salisbury and oversaw the sale of the Hillarys’ rare coin.

The coin was sold for £225,700, the equivalent of ($353,000, earning 72 million times its original half-cent face value. Only 1,400 of the coins were made at the Philadelphia Mint in the US.

January 19, 2013 – Scared by the many uncertainties surrounding the U.S. economy, investors have already snapped up all of the 2013 silver coins produced by the U.S. Mint. This represents the highest investor demand for U.S. silver coins in the last five years.

The mint “temporarily” suspended all sales, as it was unable to deliver any more 2013 silver coins at this time. In an emailed statement, the mint told Bloomberg that sales of the coin will resume sometime the week of January 28, after inventory has been replenished.

With increasing fears about the status of the debt ceiling, an incomplete resolution to the so-called fiscal cliff, and the continuing stimulus driven behavior of the U.S. Federal Reserve, investors have been turning to precious metals and to silver in particular.

“With silver, you can benefit from both sides: its safe- haven status and the fact that it’s also an industrial commodity,” said Frederique Dubrion, president and chief investment officer of Blue Star Advisors SA, a metals and energy asset management firm. “Given some positive leading indicators, especially in the U.S., investors would probably prefer turning to silver rather than to gold.”

According to the Silver Institute, 53 percent of all silver mined is used in products, ranging from televisions to batteries.

For those who are fond of collecting rare coins, whether for hobbyist reasons or because they see such collections as an investment, the Barber series of coins minted in the United States between 1892 and 1916 offer a lot of value. For those that buy coins, price is often a factor. The good news is that as of 2012, these coins are not exceptionally expensive depending upon their grade. Proof coins will cost more since they tend to be more visually appealing and usually kept in pristine condition, but these are obtainable coins for the average collector. Barber half dollars in particular are interesting to collectors because they are both accessible and part of building a larger Barber coin collection if they wish to.

Among fans of rare coins, few know that AU grade, which stands for Almost Uncirculated, 1904 Barber half dollars are valued as condition rarities. While there were a number of other Barber coins minted that are more or less well known to those who buy coins, what many do not realize is that Barber halves in attractive conditions have sold for several hundred dollars at auction. Proof coins collected during the 1800's, remain in exceptionally good condition and while less commonly seen, these are both attractive and quite valuable.

Collections of rare coins are frequently sold for extraordinary amounts of money. Collectors and investors alike consider holding these coins to be a very smart investment strategy in many cases. When it comes time to earn the proper value from these coins, many make the mistake of thinking that choosing an auction is better than going to a dealer known to buy rare coins. The truth is there are a lot of factors involved in getting the most money for the rare coins you own. As noted coin market experts at CoinWeek point out, those who rely on auctions to sell their coins may not be getting the prices they could if they took those same specimens to a dealer instead.

(October 2, 2012) - In the wee hours of the morning at a rare coins auction in London, a 1920 gold Sovereign produced by the Sydney Mint sold for an impressive $1.05 million in US dollars, making it the first coin from the land down under to reach this high of a price. It might seem like a peculiar type of gold investment by some standards, but once one considers that only a mere three of these are held in private hands outside of museums, it becomes clear that the price tag was understandable. For those who buy gold coins, having such a rare gem is spectacular and the bidder who won this auction, a man whose identity has not been revealed to the public, is delighted to have this particular coin because it completes his personal collection. According to an article on the event in the Australian Times, this is not only the most expensive collectible coin from Australia, it is also the rarest.

(October 1, 2012) - When a person thinks about rare coins, they are often focused on its value, but there are several other reasons why these coins are prized among collectors. In fact, gold coins from the Greek and Roman empires are considered by academics to be among the finest and most relevant works of art from those time periods. For the first time ever, a collection of 500 coins, many of them gold or silver coins from thousands of years ago, will be on display at the Museum of Fine Art in Boston. According to a recent article in Art Daily, this is the only gallery dedicated to coins at a major art museum within the United States. The new Michael C. Ruettgers Gallery for Ancient Coins was funded by the man himself who also gave of his own collection, including such rarities as the Roman Aureus coin which shows Aelius Verus, minted in 137 AD.

(September 26, 2012) - Millions of people around the world are fans of rare coins, and despite the way that global economies may be dragging, the market for these incredible pieces of history continues to be strong. According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, in the United States alone the annual sales are around $5 billion and people are still buying coins of all kinds regardless of the economic pressures being faced today. This means that when ten exceptionally sought after gold coins were seized by the federal government earlier this year, the news was worthy of making headlines across the nation. These particular coins were from the 1930's and from a time when all gold coins were to be melted down into gold bars by order of the government. The government took the coins' owners to court, the relatives of a coin dealer that had owned them, and won.

The value of these rare coins likely attributed to the government's zeal, noted the WSJ stating, "If the $20 'Double Eagle' coins ever went on the market, they would fetch millions each. One that had passed through the collection of King Farouk of Egypt sold in 2002 at Sotheby's for $7.6 million."

According to reports, a recently graded coin may just be the most valuable rare coin in the world. The specimen in question is a Brasher Doubloon, one of the very mysterious gold coins that have long fascinated collectors due to how few facts are actually known about them. Unlike other rare coins, the Brasher Doubloons were struck in New York City back in 1787. This makes them incredibly special for collectors who can appreciate their historical value. The Brasher Doubloon has close ties with George Washington because it is the first gold coin ever produced by the United States; Washington knew its designer personally because they were neighbors.

As mind boggling as it seems, this particular specimen owned by Walter Perschke, was given the rare coin grade MS 63 from the highly respected Numismatic Guaranty Corporation. Now certified, the gold coin is worth $10 million due in part to its role in history, in part to its age of 225 years old, and also because it has survived all this time in such excellent condition, say experts. To have a coin pass through two and a quarter centuries in what some are describing as close to the same condition it was in during its first day, definitely draws admiration.

(July 13, 2012) - Fans of coin collecting are always looking to discover that rare find that leads to considerable wealth. A sale like the 1907 American Eagle Gold coin that went to auction in Baltimore at the end of June, is only fuel for this dream. Discovering rare coins in lots is a grand tradition, but to locate something like the 1907 Proof Ultra High Relief double eagle coin that has a minted value for $20, would send nearly any collector over the moon. While a rare coin like this is expected to increase in value over the course of more than a century, not many would have guessed that its value would increase by more than $2.7 million - a rise of more than 135,000% since it was first created. Among gold coins, double eagles might not be especially rare, but one in this pristine of condition definitely garners not just attention, but real value among collectors.

When it comes to rare silver coins, the Standing Liberty quarter is certainly one that has garnered a lot of attention from collectors and historians through the years. This rare coin was produced right after the Barber quarter, between 1916 and 1930. Its design was not needed at the time, though Robert W. Woolley mistakenly believed that the law required the creation of a new design. In a way, these silver coins have a tragic story attached with them due to the fact that they replaced the previous Barber coin designs.

Charles E. Barber was the Mint Chief Engraver who gave the world many noteworthy coin designs that were not received well by the public. His coin designs were for dimes, quarters and half dollars, which first went into circulation in 1892; not long after the nation's Civil War. Those who know rare silver coins may know that these coins were so unpopular that several presidential administrations tried unsuccessfully to have new coins designed which would feature a more modern look. Not only would Barber's designs be replaced, but he would be required to help with the process of undoing the work he had spent so much time on.

If you are thinking about buying silver coins, there is one choice that is extremely popular with collectors today. The Morgan dollar is a coin that was produced between 1878 and 1904 as well as a limited minting pursuant to the Pittman Act that took place in 1921. These coins are 90% silver. They are the reason that many people who collect them consider the coins to be an investment asset. The history of this coin is in itself fascinating enough to give them value, but in order to really understand them; we need to cover some details that go deeper into how these coins are valued.

Those who are thinking about buying silver coins should really do their research. The grade of the coin will determine much of its value. In order to do this, you can either buy the Red Book, A Guide Book to the Coins of the United States or use a reputable online site which contains coin values. The Morgan dollar is generally considered to be an affordable choice among silver coins available today, but it is exceptionally important that you understand coin grading and how value is assigned in the case of this particular coin. In general, the Morgan dollars minted in Carson City, Nevada are going to be the most valuable.

The Royal Canadian Mint has released a gold coin to honor the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

The first day for orders for the Julia Grant First Spouse Gold Coin and Bronze Medal is scheduled for Thursday.

With less than three months before the U.S. marks the 10th anniversary of the worst terror attacks on American soil, the U.S. Mint announced additional information about the release of commemorative silver coins.

Nearly 61,000 silver coins honoring a Washington State national park sold on their first day of availability last week.

Good news awaits the large amount of buyers of American Eagle Silver Bullion Coins.

Demand is rising for the 2011 American Buffalo Gold Proof Coin.

A copper coin struck almost 220 years ago sold for $5,500 in East Central Pennsylvania.

Chicago is preparing to host the World's Fair of Money, an American Numismatic Association exhibit that features treasures and novelties that are rare and historically significant.