Author Archives: Pat Heller

Easy to lose money on proof gold

Posted on February 28, 2012 by Pat Heller

  In late 1986, when the American Eagles debuted, a lot of people asked me if they should purchase the 1-ounce gold proofs at the then high price of $585 each. At the time, retail customers were purchasing the bullion … Continue reading →

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Buyers trade up

Posted on February 10, 2012 by Pat Heller

There were some strange retail customer silver and gold bullion trading patterns at my store at the end of January and during the first three days of February. All week long it seemed like we were buying back U.S. gold American Eagles while other customers were purchasing large quantities of Canadian gold Maple Leaves. In silver, we purchased significant quantities of U.S. silver Eagles from the public, while buying demand was heavily skewed toward U.S. 90 percent silver coins. Continue reading →

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How did coins do in 2011?

Posted on January 23, 2012 by Pat Heller

A question frequently asked of coin dealers is how the rare coin market is doing. If you asked 10 different dealers, you would get 10 different answers. To try to take the subjective element out of evaluating the state of rare coin markets, indices were developed to help answer such questions. Continue reading →

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Another good year for gold

Posted on January 6, 2012 by Pat Heller

Gold prices rose in 2011 for a 12th consecutive year. It started the year at $1,388.50 a troy ounce on the London Fix at the close of business Jan. 4, 2011, according to historical data at the Kitco website, www.kitco.com. Continue reading →

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Silver $50-$60 by year end

Posted on September 20, 2011 by Pat Heller

Silver will likely rise by 25 percent to 50 percent by year end. That would take the price to roughly $50 to $60 a troy ounce. My reasoning follows:In mid-August, I wrote that the Federal Reserve’s weekly report of the money supply showed it rising by its greatest percentage in history except for two other weeks (those being the week including Sept. 11, 2001, and the week in 2008 when Lehman Brothers failed). I pointed out that this increase was almost certainly in anticipation of some looming major financial crisis. Continue reading →

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Premiums fall for classic gold coins

Posted on June 27, 2011 by Pat Heller

There was a golden opportunity in Baltimore. Buyers of classic U.S. gold coins were the beneficiaries. The June occurrence of the thrice yearly Whitman Coin & Collectibles Expo Baltimore was held June 17-19. Each of these events is among the larger coin shows in the country, though the one held in June is normally the least active of the three. Continue reading →

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One more big precious metals fall?

Posted on June 23, 2011 by Pat Heller

In the first two days of May, gold and silver prices dropped sharply. By mid May, silver had fallen about one-third from its end of April peak, while gold lost about 10 percent. These moves were a greater percentage fast decline than had been experienced in the previous two years. The size of the drop and the subsequent price volatility has left a number of our customers concerned that there may be one more major price drop before prices resume their overall upward trend. Continue reading →

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Snow hurts dealer show attendance

Posted on February 14, 2011 by Pat Heller

The Feb. 3-5 Long Beach show dealer attendance was hurt by the major snowstorm that hit the eastern half of the United States. A noticeable number of Midwest and East Coast dealers who would normally attend never made it. Continue reading →

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