Bullion up, $20s down; which is right?

This article was originally printed in the latest issue of Numismatic News.
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We have a new all-time high in gold. Did I write that last week? You bet I did.It is $1,278.90 an ounce as these numbers are compiled, up about one percent in 24 hours.

Where is the long anticipated correction? It seems that the market in U.S. double eagles is certainly anticipating one because they were down across the board in active wholesale quotes. I have traded coins and bullion professionally for over 44 years. The only thing for certain is that when you think you know the market in precious metals it will most definitely catch you with your pants down.

Silver and platinum have both done nicely with a three percent gain over the past week and both have broken away from the gold market with several instances of trading higher while gold was soft or flat.

There is one noteworthy item regarding U.S. 90 percent silver coin where the bag market seems to have some significant sellers into these higher levels.

The better date $20 gold Saint-Gaudens market seems to have several dates under pressure and we have a number of downward revisions. The affected dates are 1908-S (I still like this one), 1920-S, 1921, 1927-S, 1931 and 1931-D.

On the other end of the rare date scale, the key 1877 Indian cent has come down in the lower grades and Mint State Barber coinage continues to gain along with several Seated type issues.

E-mail harrymkrause@optonline.net.