The fact that gold is trading at levels not seen since 1980, raises a question as to just what is the record price for gold.

$850 a troy ounce seems to be the popular figure, but others can justifiably cite $875 or $825.

What are these?

Well, the $850 is the mark achieved in London on that record setting bullion run. At the time, a generation ago, the London market was still looked upon as the most important bullion market because of its historical role in bullion trading.

New York had only resumed gold bullion trading in 1975 after it became legal to own gold in the United States again, Dec. 31, 1974.

The New York record trading price was $875 a troy ounce, but it was not a closing high Jan. 21, 1980. The actual close that day was $825.

All three prices have legitimate reasons to be cited as the record, but because of the importance of London at the time, Numismatic News has always cited the $850 price as the high. It is a handy round-sounding number that just happens to split the difference between $875 and $825.

Since the heady days of 1980, New York has gained more importance in gold trading and Numismatic News adopted New York prices as the benchmark rather than London. Those are the numbers I have used for many years.

It is fair to say that any market that sees gold hit and one of those three numbers will probably be cited by headline writers. But for historical comparison purposes, it is always nice to have at least one set of numbers that is an apples to apples comparison.

For me the numbers to use as a yardstick are New York numbers.

The gold market and the stock market seem almost giddy. A rate cut on the overnight federal funds rate of one-half of one percent Sept. 18 have sent both metals and stocks rocketing higher.

Gold has pushed through the May 11, 2006, high and returned the precious metal to a level not seen since Jan. 21, 1980, the date of its all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is nearing its all-time high, which was just over 14,000 hit on July 19 of this year.

Enthusiasm from both markets has a tendency to spill over into the coin market, but because there isn’t a publicly reported average like the Dow, it is more difficult to pick up on it.

Rising gold prices tend to improve coin dealer cash flow and they attract an investor crowd into numismatics. When dealers have more money and investors are chasing specific coins, coin prices tend to rise.

The stock market part of this deal affects collectors themselves. Because so many of them are in retirement plans that benefit from stock market gains, collectors can feel more free to spend money on their coins.

About the only thing that remains to be seen is what happens to house prices. Rising home prices also make collectors feel pretty optimistic and more willing to buy coins.

The timing of the Long Beach Coin, Stamp and Collectibles Expo, which starts Sept. 27, couldn’t be better. It will be an opportunity for all of the market players to assess the state of things in light of the new reality in the gold and stock markets.

I was lying on a doctor’s examination table not long after I posted yesterday’s blog. Dramatic it was not, though the importance of vision to successfully collecting coins was a thought not lost on me.

I got something in my eye Sunday night. Monday morning it was still there. After the blog was done, the little particle shifted and made further work difficult and a trip to the doctor’s office a goal of some urgency.

I seem to have gotten off fairly lightly. The doctor showed me the particle and diagnosed a small scratch on the cornea of my right eye. There was really nothing to worry about, but standard operating procedure is to prescribe antibiotic drops to be administered every four hours when I am awake for seven days. An eye infection is something to be avoided.

I have never taken my vision for granted. I started wearing glasses when I was eight years old, the same age as when I started collecting coins. Could there be a connection? Who knows? If there is, I have given up a great deal of my seeing ability in the pursuit of my hobby.

While I have written often about the beneficial effects of coin collecting on health, I have never turned it around and pointed out that good health makes the hobby that much more enjoyable.

Don’t take your eyes for granted. A scratch on one of them can do more damage to your life than one found on the cheek of an otherwise beautiful Morgan dollar.

I can turn this episode into a numismatic story, but what I was really thinking as I tried to glance through the waiting room magazines was that this blog would be more popular if I had something to say about Britney Spears.

Football season has me thinking. A good team has both a first class offense and a first class defense. Teams with one or the other don’t make the playoffs.

Coin collecting is a bit like building a good football team. Collectors need to know how to buy, but they also need to know how to sell. Many tend to ignore the selling part, but they do so at great cost to themselves and their heirs.

If a collector does not know how to sell, he is at the mercy of strangers. I get calls from frustrated heirs who need help and don’t know how to get it. I know they have a problem, but there are not enough hours in the day for me to do my job and run a coin selling consulting service. I have to refer heirs to their local coin dealers, and tell them they need to prepare for the encounter by getting some books and price guides to try to get a ballpark idea of what they have. It isn’t easy for them.

If you are a collector who hasn’t worked on a sales game, it is time to start. Sell something, anything. You choose. Then pick the method you want to sell it.

Like the shampoo directions, lather, rinse, repeat, you do this over and over again until you are good at it. Then you can rest easy that you will get maximum value for your holdings when the time comes.

Where do you go to sell? Well, consider the following:

A collector can drop by the local coin shop and do a deal right on the spot. Not every locality has a coin shop, so that may not be the way to go.

Collectors can visit local coin shows as they occur. Some areas have monthly shows. Others have annual shows in the VFW Hall, or other convenient spot. Checking the Show Directory in Numismatic News for your area should reveal shows just about every weekend within easy driving distance.

There is the Internet  auction alternative. Many buyers of the First Spouse gold coins turned right around and offered them on eBay even before they received delivery of the coins.

Coins can be offered for sale to advertisers in Numismatic News. Give them a call, send them an e-mail or even write them a letter to tell them what you have and what price you might be looking for. These dealers might buy. They might not. They are busy. There are some dealers who run regular buy ads, so this would be the place to start.

Other Numismatic News readers like the free classified ads that are given to subscribers. They enjoy the give and take. (It is as much fun to read what is for sale as it is to offer something for sale to others.)

Collectors with larger holdings have even more options. They can consign their holdings to auction companies. They can ask a major dealer to meet them to discuss a purchase.

Like a good football team, you need to practice both parts of the game, buying and selling, to maximize your hobby performance.

My job of delivering news to collectors is an ever challenging one. One aspect of it is to determine how much information is too much and how much is too little. That is not as easy as you might think.

Consider some phone calls last week. One had to do with the Metals section on Page 4 that Numismatic News publishes every week. When markets are moving, collectors want to know what the reference point is. Advertisers put caveats in their print ads that bullion coin prices are subject to change without notice because of daily fluctuations.

The prices on Page 4 provide a useful reference point as to what prices prevailed as the paper was being put together. Gold, silver, platinum and palladium have been there for years. In recent months staff decided to add nickel, copper and zinc because of all the stories we have been running when these base metals were hitting new highs.

A phone caller asked what unit of weight was being quoted. I was startled. I admit I wanted to joke that gold isn’t sold by the quart, but I didn’t. The caller had a good question. Everyone has to find out this information at some point, but I had not figured on the possibility that even with the many published stories this year, someone would not know that copper, zinc and nickel trade by the avoirdupois pound and gold, silver, platinum and palladium trade by the troy ounce.

Another caller said he had driven 500 miles to Wyoming for a debut of that state’s quarter because of a box on the Mint Statistics page that said, “Wyoming Quarter Release: Sept. 4, 2007.” The caller interpreted that as the ceremony date when it fact it was the date the coins were released to the banking system and when the Mint began to sell bags and rolls.

When that box has been dropped out occasionally for space reasons, I get called by another reader who tells me he relies on that box.

What to do? It is simply a signal to me that my work is never done. Every week is a new one with a potentially new audience and I must do my best to keep the veterans engaged and yet help bring others along on the grand ride that is this hobby.