There have been times
in the past 50 years of the coin business to which the
writer has spent 30 of those years as a professional
in the rare coin business that have represented never
previously known opportunities for the masses of coin
collectors and in the last couple of decades, coin investors
to take advantage of lower prices. Please see enclosed
yahoo news article, “Flipping a Rare Coin” for some
backround.
1976-1980 was a time
of great change in the rare coin business with the introduction
of what was then known as the greatest collection of
coins ever offered, by way the Garrett Collection of
Baltimore MD. This was an incredible collection of coins,
some of which we may get a chance to buy again for the
first time in decades as a result of, well, keep reading.
On April 15-19th , 2005,
a historic opportunity in the world of numismatics took
place at the Helmsley Park Lane Hotel in New York City.
It was here that the foreign coin section of the worlds
greatest collection was presented and auctioned by American
Numismatic Rarities. This collection, formed over decades
by the world’s greatest coin collector, Louis Eliasberg
Sr. was widely received and the actual auction room,
in the Park Lane Ballroom a sort of Numismatic United
Nations gathered for this incredible offering.
Many of the coins in
this historic offering were one of kind rarities which
were off the market for decades. Many were sold to overseas
investors and collectors, some of whom were on location
in NYC to bid and bring back to their homeland these
fantastic rare coins. Yours truly was very involved
in this event and personally saw some of my own coins
virtually double in value right out of the sale. A couple
of years later many people would exclaim that we were
in one of the greatest bull markets ever.
We will get a chance
to see a similar sale in 2015, this time the world famous
Pogue Collection, a collection of some of the most exquisite
early coins ever formed and one which will take several
years to liquidate with the proceeds estimated to be
in the 100’s of millions of dollars. The sheer size
of this event has many dealers holding on to their wallets
and being very frugal while saving up for this event
which is having an impact on the overall business which
came out of a bull market a year ago. There is no question
that the collector overall is hungry for opportunities
and certainly the size and scope of the collectors wallets
and knowledge of today by far outweighs the wallet and
knowledge base of the collector/dealer of yesteryear
and will be seen in full force in the months following
Pogue, for sure.
What does this mean
for you? What does this mean for prices? If history
is any teacher we can expect hundreds of millions of
dollars to start flowing once this sale begins later
this year. Those hundreds of millions and the excitement
that these types of sales bring to the market will no
doubt have an impact and we at US Rare Coin Investments
believes that the next rung of the ladder, the one which
follows the sales of the Pogue collection will be significantly
higher than where we are today, just like post Elisberg,
Garrett and this one just may dwarf both of those collections.
The answer to the question,
is 2015 a year to buy coins, is yes, and this may indeed
be one that we all look back on and smile as we have
history as a teacher to guide us.
Flipping
a coin: rare U.S. coin market hits records By Patricia Reaney
NEW
YORK (Reuters) - A rare five-dollar gold piece and a
prized silver dollar each could fetch $10 million or
more in upcoming auctions, making the American rare
coin market as attractive, though not nearly as glamorous,
as fine art.
Sales of rare U.S. coins reached a record
of nearly $536 million last year, and now collectors
are turning to the D. Brent Pogue Collection, which
could boost it higher.
Gathered over more than 30 years by
Texas property developer A. Mack Pogue and his son,
D. Brent, it is considered the most valuable collection
of federal American coins dating from the 1790s to the
late 1830s in private hands.
An 1822 Half Eagle five-dollar gold
piece, one of only three known to exist, and an 1804
Silver Dollar dubbed the "King of American Coins"
are expected to be among the top lots when the collection
is sold in a series of auctions in New York beginning
in May and continuing into 2017.
"These two coins in particular,
we think, have a possibility of being up around that
$10 million mark," Brian Kendrella, the president
of Stack's Bowers Galleries, told Reuters.
The rare coin and currency auctioneer,
which is handling the sales with Sotheby's, believes
the coins could shatter the $10 million record set in
2013 for a 1794 Silver Dollar.
Although jaw-dropping prices for contemporary
art grabbed headlines in 2014, rare coins also had a
banner year and are among the biggest collectibles behind
art and antiques.
HISTORY IN YOUR
HAND
Coin sales are driven by the economy,
but Kendrella said investors and collectors are also
lured by the rarity, uniqueness, condition and historical
links of coins.
"They are artifacts that speak
to what was going on in the United States at the time
these coins were made," he said. "That's one
of the main draws."
With a dozen coins selling for
$1 million or more in 2014 and the first gold coin struck
for the United States fetching $4.5 million, the nonprofit
Professional Numismatists Guild estimates the overall
U.S. rare coin market to be worth about $5 billion.
Walter Husak, a retired aerospace entrepreneur
based in California, knows just how lucrative it can
be. A collection of 301 rare penny coins dating from
1793 to 1814 that he gathered over more than 13 years
sold in 2008 for $10.7 million, about double what he
invested in it.
"I never thought it would go up that
much," he said. "There are a lot of people
getting involved in coins."
Barry Stuppler, secretary
of the Professional Numismatists Guild, has seen plenty
of changes in his 52 years in the coin business, with
buyers increasing in recent years.
"It is a combination of the economy coming back,"
he said of the market, "and the fact that interest
rates are very low."
The Internet also has been "a tremendous, tremendous
source of new buyers and sellers of coins that we didn't
have 20 years ago," said Stuppler.
Demand for rare, investment-quality coins, graded and
certified by the guild and the Florida-based Numismatic
Guaranty Corporation, is high and supply is low.
"The rarities do the best, particularly gold and
silver coins," said Stuppler. "The Pogue Collection
is extraordinary."
NEW
YORK (Reuters) - A rare five-dollar gold piece and a
prized silver dollar each could fetch $10 million or
more in upcoming auctions, making the American rare
coin market as attractive, though not nearly as glamorous,
as fine art.
With a dozen coins selling for
$1 million or more in 2014 and the first gold coin struck
for the United States fetching $4.5 million, the nonprofit
Professional Numismatists Guild estimates the overall
U.S. rare coin market to be worth about $5 billion.
