I
hope all is well. I know it’s been
a while since you’re seen anything
in print from us and I’m sorry about
that. I promise to write more updates
and Mike plans on writing an article or
two as well and he’s a good researcher
and numismatist so this will be welcome
to all!
There’s
lots’ going on round here! We have
been experiencing a very busy post summer
season and several projects we've been
working on for nearly a year are just
now getting close enough to a formal announcement
in the coin papers and press that I’ll
leak information about 2 of them here.
The gold markets have been an exciting
area to be in and watch lately and it
seems that collectors are in pursuit of
coins of all kinds, particularly early
and better date gold, Carson city gold,
proof gold, anything early really that’s
solid for the grade, all areas that yours
truly has been heavily into for 2+ decades
so. Not only has there been a steady increase
in the numbers of collectors interested
in early numismatics there’s also
been a good percentage of folks who are
growing into early coins after many years
of collecting this and that, are now getting
more focused. Some collectors and investors
are going from having footlockers and
closets full of coins to a few dozen really
good coins maybe, but please follow my
advice and when you do this, choose quality
coins as though they are the last coin
you're going to buy. Own quality and rarity
and make it your mission to be happy with
the coins that you do have and go after
the rarity and quality. That doesn’t
mean paying the type of premiums that
some are charging for A quality coins
but that also means not paying premiums
for B and C quality coins which appears
to be the type of material the giant sales
organizations in California, Louisiana,
Minnesota etc where there’s a prevalence
of these phone rooms that have “account
executives” calling you at dinner
time to pitch coins to investors. These
are not the places to find quality. But
that will be the subject of an up-coming
newsletter. Far as the rarity and quality,
please scroll down to view a few specimens
of some really great rare coins and spend
a little time looking at the dozens of
newps ( new purchases) being listed on
the website almost daily with full descriptions
and images if not already there, soon
to follow.
Did
you know that we have been working diligently
on our new archives and that now there
are almost 2,000 coins listed? That's
right we have been working on an archive
of coins bought, sold and traded and while
it's sad that we didn't have much use
for cameras in the business a decade ago,
the good news is that the inventory of
rare thru spectacularly rare coins is
growing every day and that includes images
and full descriptions. There are at least
a few entities in the business who have
built or are in the construction of archives,
most are auction sales, but in our case
while the archives represent a much more
consistent array of rarities to collectors,
dealers, investors, perhaps what’s
more important is that while an auction
archive may indeed show a finest known
or several of a particular date, it is
all one auction company while our archives
show rare coins hand picked from hundreds
of millions, even billions of dollars
of coins, cherry picked in many cases
from every major coin show, coin auction,
and private sales. Some of these have
been off the market for decades for example
we recently purchased several really neat
early coins that were off the market for
many decades. These coins have already
been absorbed by the American Independence
Collection of early US coinage.
This
archive is sure to become a solid source
of pricing information for quality coins,
with what is building into a great source
of information about Colonials, early
and better date gold coins, territorial
gold, pattern coinage, early silver dollars,
proof gold, extraordinary world numismatics
and all the types of coins that we have
become known for over the years. Here
you'll see more choice to gem 1857-S double
eagles from the SS Central America than
any other dealer on earth. Ditto on 1907
High Relief's. We buy and sell a lot of
these coins and place many in long term
collections and investment portfolios
with some coins being removed from the
market for decades into the future. Therefore
as this archive is added to over time
we think it will become an integral part
of your pricing and other important research
whether you're a dealer, a collector or
an investor in coins.
P.S.
We are learning a new camera system and
hope to provide you with top quality enlarged
images for you to really be able to fully
research the coins on our website. Also
note that we are striving to include a full
description for every coin imaged and as
we learn this new camera you'll be seeing
even more images.
