Bullion awakens but needs more oomph

Scarce to rare coin prices continue in a horizontal holding pattern. With a surging stock market and booming economy, tangible collectibles simply aren’t attractive as an investment. The opposite side of the coin, pun intended, is that if you are a true collector, you should see this as a buying opportunity.

Scarce to rare coins are selling; they just aren’t selling at price levels that make them attractive to noncollecting individuals who have a primary interest in their appreciating value.

Spot prices of both gold and silver appear to be more attractive, but both have a ways to go. The current precious metals appreciation is due to weakness in the dollar. The 2017 dollar index gave its worst performance since 2003. While this helps the U.S. economy, it does nothing for coins whose values are impacted by their intrinsic composition. Investment-oriented buyers haven’t forgotten gold was at significantly more attractive price levels and silver was over $18 an ounce not that long ago. Demand for U.S. Mint bullion coins has been dropping since 2015. The gold American Buffalo one-ounce coin, as an example, dropped 54.6 percent in 2017 from sales of one year earlier. There appears to be a wide gap between bid and ask for many collectible but not particularly scarce coins.