Coins We Love: Current Market Report
We've added another week to the ticker of time being spent in Virginia Beach and not elsewhere on the coin circuit. A few shows have popped up in different areas in recent weeks and attendance (collector and dealer-wise) has apparently been off the charts when compared to recent years. We also heard that people were eager to buy coins and trade amongst each other. This is encouraging to hear (about the activity), but it’s nothing that we haven’t seen here at DLRC over the past few months as well. I was interviewed by CoinWeek in regards to some purchases I made for the Hansen Collection recently and our conversation veered towards the condition of the coin market. Before I could even say it, Charles Morgan suggested that the market was hotter on coins between $7,500 and $75,000… I countered and said that the number starts at $75, so you could remove a pair of zeroes. Yes, that’s where collectors are active and we’re seeing that strength across the board when you’re talking about eye-appealing, quality coins. Now, that doesn’t hold true on unattractive coins, but that’s another story for another day.
So what happens over the $75k level you might ask? The short answer is that it very much depends on the coin. If we’re talking about 1895 Dollars that are attractive, you still can't buy them because they just aren't going up on the market. But if we’re talking about an early 19th Century Half Dime that is scarce but maybe a little dark, that coin is can be tough to find a buyer on despite its rarity. Ultimately, it still comes down to eye appeal, rarity, and the series. The market isn’t as strong on ultra-rarities, however my argument isn't that the coins are worth any less, it’s simply that public, unreserved auctions aren’t the right venues for those coins at the moment. Now, some would consider that to be shooting myself in the foot. I can just hear someone trying to say “DLRC doesn’t want ultra-rarities in their auctions!” Obviously that's not what I mean at all. I’m simply suggesting that in the current environment it may not be wise to have too many ultra-rarities on the market at the same time. There are other methods to find the right homes for these coins, they just might take a little more time.
Otherwise at DLRC we’ve continued to adjust, adapt, and prepare for next year. Typically we don’t plan for the following year until December or so, but this year we are able to continue on our path of what we’re doing and prepare as well. We’ll continue to post some really interesting auction coins on a weekly basis and we’ll keep offering coins of interest as best we can. You'll definitely want to take a look at the two incredibly scarce gold Half Eagles in the writeup below! And as always, if there are improvements to make, we’re going to take advantage of this time and put our best effort forward! DLRC is eagerly looking forward to the next big coin show event, but while we wait out the next few months we’ll just have to put that creative energy to work in other ways!
Numismatically Yours,
John Brush and Your Friends at DLRC
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