This time market freeze due to weather

This article was originally printed in Numismatic News.
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Made it to the Long Beach Coin and Stamp Expo. “Will the coin market weather the snowstorm?” Last night I stood there at setup looking at a pathetically quiet bourse floor with a newly printed dealer bid sheet in hand that said there was a busy dealer setup. Was I in the same place? What really went on was a very quiet session with many dealers shut out by the massive snowstorm. There was business being done and some bargains were to be had from those who disappointedly needed to raise funds. Remember many dealers come to these shows just to liquidate items that are excess inventory, dead stock, or just plain not carried in the normal course of their regular business, but came in with other deals that are.

Although generic U.S. gold type has gotten cheap here, my sense is that the overall market is just fine and this simply represents an opportunity of being in the right place at the right time.

The trend in cheaper generic gold seems to be a follow-through on weakness in the bullion sector, which I firmly believe is a bull market shakeout that may continue for a while. After all, the stock market looks pretty rosy and our new Congress is going to fix everything. I think the groundhog disagrees.

The Flying Eagle cent varieties along with their copper-nickel counterparts of the Indian Head series are showing good activity in nearly all Mint State grades. Classic Head half cents are in good demand, and not to be outshone, MS-65 Barber halves have gained some interest.

E-mail harrymkrause@optonline.net.