U.S. MINT RELEASES BURNISHED ASE

Greysheet: THIS WEEK'S RARE COIN HEADLINES

This week saw the U.S. Mint release the 2016-W burnished version of the American Silver Eagle. The release price was $44.95 and this special 30th anniversary edition with edge lettering is an item many silver eagle collectors will be adding to their holdings. The U.S. Mint also announced that it will begin taking orders for 2017-dated gold and silver bullion from authorized purchasers on January 9th.

FUN SHOW FEATURES IMPRESSIVE HERITAGE AUCTION

With the FUN show a few short weeks away, it is appropriate to preview the show and offer a glimpse of the associated Heritage U.S. coin auction. This is the 62nd iteration of the Florida United Numismatists (FUN) Convention and it runs, this year, from January 5-8 in Ft. Lauderdale.. There are over 600 dealers in attendance, along with educational programs for both beginning and advanced collectors. A nice feature of this show is that admission is free to the public, encouraging those who may only have a passing interest in numismatics to attend, since there is no up front cost.

The massive Heritage sale consists of more than 8,200 lots spread across multiple sessions. Last year’s FUN auction brought in $33.858 million, headlined by the seven-figure sale of an 1894-S dime. This year’s sale is full of numismatic blue chips, including a 1792 half dime, a pair of 1796 quarters, a mint state 1884-S dollar, and a 1796 No Stars quarter eagle. An important run of early $5 gold pieces from the Hutchinson collection are another highlight of the sale. Look for further coverage of the Platinum Night session next week.

RARE DOUBLE EAGLES SELL IN MONTE CARLO

In other auction news, it is interesting to note that Gadoury, the French dealer and publisher, held an auction on December 3rd in Monte Carlo which featured more than one hundred U.S. gold coins, primarily double eagles. What made the group noteworthy is that they mostly consisted of early dates, including 1850, 1851, 1852 O-mints and some better San Francisco issues. There are also ten Carson City gold pieces in the sale. We will report on the results next week.

THIS WEEK’S MARKET

Gold Type: While bids in this segment are more stable than in the prior two weeks, levels are still pulled back slightly for certain types. Indian head quarter eagles seem to be the bright spot here. In data just released as this is being written, gold was the fifth worse performing asset during the month of November, and silver was the seventh worst. Only wheat futures and the Japanese yen, along emerging market bonds were worse off. Surprisingly, copper was the best performing asset by a huge margin, returning nearly 20%. However, year to date silver is still the fifth best performer while gold checks in at number nine.