Coins We Love: As the Coin Turns
While many of you know my background, some of the newer readers of the CWL don’t exactly know my role at DLRC. Yes, I’m the President, so I get to sign off on a lot of uninteresting documents, but my background is as a coin collector and a coin trader. Our team at DLRC does a fantastic job with managing their departments, so my interactions there are few. Jason handles all of the daily affairs and operations, Brian handles all of the accounting, and Mike runs the shipping department.
However, I do oversee all of the actual coins at some point or another. I’m not the only buyer, Matthew, Julia, Jason, and I work hand-in-hand in the office on a daily basis and I get to see every deal at some point (save for the bags of silver, or bullion-related items). As a result, I have to keep my ear to the ground with whatever is going on in the coin market and I try to stay up to date with pricing trends, etc.
While I frequently get asked “what’s the hot series” or “what should I buy right now?” those questions are almost impossible to answer. The hot series can change tomorrow…it’s broadly based upon the activity of collectors on a given day. The “what should I buy right now” question is one that I always answer, “Whatever you like! If you like it, odds are someone else will appreciate it down the road as well.” Unfortunately, as John Feigenbaum stated in his recent publisher’s message of the Greysheet, the coin market is very imperfect. While certain “generic gold coins” can be traded on a buy/sell spread, it’s still not a seamless market. In his blog there’s also some good information as to why the values in the Greysheet aren’t immediately adjusting on a regular basis. This causes a lot of frustration, heartache (and work!) for coin dealers, but I can also understand where he’s coming from in the reluctance to make adjustments so quickly. We see in the sports card market right now how cards have jumped 300-500% and then dropped 50%. That’s a scary market to follow and it makes me thankful for the maturity and stability of certified coins.
The most popular feedback we got from last week's survey pertained to relaying and commenting on the status of the coin market. So, how is the coin market you ask? It’s the same as what we’ve been reporting in recent weeks. After my quick trip to the show in Sarasota, there are still no coins to buy. I did come home with a box of new pieces, but the prices were certainly higher and the folks that would typically have 5-6 boxes of inventory had 1 or 2. Attractive certified coins have left the market and it’s not an easy time to replace inventory. This is fantastic for the collectors that are selling, but frustrating for all of those that are buying (or challenging to say the least). I’d suspect that we’ll continue to see prices rise as the demand has increased exponentially, while the supply is dwindling.
As Jason mentioned last week, we’re starting to see shows gaining steam and popping up again. The ANA World’s Fair just announced that it’ll be happening in a reduced form in August! PCGS is continuing to hold their regular Invitational Events in Las Vegas, and thanks to the vaccinations, we’re starting to see an uptick in travel opportunities. Hopefully we’ll stay on this trend and we’ll find our way back to normalcy, but as for now, we’ll have to hold on to our hats in this coin market as the ride sure seems to be getting bumpier (in a good way!).
Please enjoy these offerings in this week’s Coins We Love. You’ll also see on our website that we’ve launched our next Super Sunday Sale, featuring a near complete set of $3 Gold being offered without reserve, and some new selections that have been deaccessioned from the D.L. Hansen Collection. All-in-all, it’s an exciting auction and we hope that you enjoy the latest offerings!
Numismatically Yours,
John Brush
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