QUARTERLY REVIEW: DATED GOLD COINS REMAIN IN DEMAND

BY JOHN FEIGENBAUM, PUBLISHER & PATRICK IAN PEREZ, EDITOR

With our presentation of the final Quarterly edition for 2017, it’s fitting that this is the one issue that is entirely devoted to gold coinage. Since our last QIII, published in September, gold prices are almost exactly where they were 90 days ago. In some ways, this is very telling about the state of the “generic” gold market which has largely been flat all year. Prices move up a few dollars, only to settle back, and the movement flows in and out like the daily ocean tide. This predictability has generated a general lethargy in the hobby for pre-1933 common date gold, which has failed to excite buyers outside the hobby. Add to this a net influx of these same coins coming in from European hoards and the premiums are at the lowest point today than we’ve ever seen.

An aggressive buyer can pick up $20 double eagle gold coins from the late 1800’s at, or near, melt. This is in itself an historic moment and one wonders if would-be gold buyers are missing the boat on these coins.

By the same token, we are seeing strength in better date gold coins, especially key-date and rare issues. The hoards do not have any of these coins so, by relative measure, their scarcity is increased as coins are imported. High grade coins, especially the better dates, are doing quite well in auction and you will see plus signs for this material. At auction, buyers are increasingly fussy, and CAC-approved coins often exceed our indications by a significant margin. Freshness and quality are the rule of the day, and when the right coins appear in auction they have the potential to blow away the price levels.

ADDED PRICING COLUMNS IN MOST SERIES

Take a quick look inside these pages and you will see added pricing columns for most of the series we cover. We’ve been tracking grades like XF45, AU53, AU55, AU58, MS61 and MS62 for several months now, but this is out first opportunity to publish these numbers in print. We’ve also added Stellas in PR66 grade.

NEW PRICING COMING: TERRITORIAL GOLD

By the time you receive the next Quarterly III, we hope to complete our initial review of Territorial gold coins. This historic and important area is under-reported, yet a mainstay of the collector market. If you have any contributions to make, please send us an email to: editor@greysheet.com.

GET THE APP

Hopefully by now, you’ve downloaded our pricing add for your iPhone or Android device. Greysheet subscribers get CDN data free during on the app during this initial launch phase. You’ll find auction records from Heritage, Stack’s Bowers, David Lawrence, Legend and others with easy links to those lots, as well as price history charts. Over 2,000 people have downloaded the app so far, and we’re about to launch version 2.0 soon. Check it out at www.greysheet.com/mobile-apps.