Silver coins look good, sets don

This article was originally printed in Numismatic News.
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Precious metals gave way under pressure since my last writing and seem to be in search of a bottom to the current correction. A lot of factors came into play concurrently: an overbought market, seemingly good news from Washington on the economy and the DJII improving.

Another factor is the normal early January to February doldrums and the fact that some dealers were quietly concerned that the uptrend would end. However, with the federal debt increasing at nearly $55,000 a second, I see this as a correction and probable buying opportunity.

The silver dollar market is indicating that coins will have a good year. While silver bullion sold off approximately 15 percent from its high, both Morgan and Peace dollars increased. As the sell-off progresses, better date issues of Mint State Morgans have had broad increases in just a few weeks. Generic issues have had much positive play with increased dealer bids in Mint State issues across the board.

“Pathetic” is the best I can say for modern proof sets. The high-flying 1999 silver set is down to the lowest level since a few weeks after it went off sale nearly 11 years ago. The 2005 quarter set is at about one-third issue price. The other silver sets are quiet mostly because many were chopped up for scrap.

E-mail harrymkrause@optonline.net.