Auctions Tell Hobby Strength

There are various ways to judge the strength of the market for coins. When the market is doing well, those collectors holding individual or sets of truly rare coins become tempted to offer these items back into the market and take their profits. This was clearly seen in January during the auction and bourse at the Florida United Numismatists convention.

This trend appears to be continuing as the Eric Lane collection of early silver dollars is now scheduled to be sold through Heritage Auctions. This may not be an “old time” collection, but it has been assembled throughout at least the past 15 years. Considering that coins are being increasingly viewed as an asset class by investors, this is a long time for these coins to be off the market. The prices to be realized will measure their true participation in this sector of the market.

Bullion coins, be they gold or silver, continue to sell well. The spot price of platinum has been weaker, this being reflected in slower sales of these coins despite the low mintages of virtually the entire series. The value of better grade and date Morgan silver dollars appears to be holding its own, but prices have leveled off recently. Some dealers are anticipating a year of regrouping, with sales results being inconsistent.

So far, 2024 is demonstrating otherwise not only for older coins but for recently released new U.S. Mint products. The strength of the market may come from unanticipated places, one of these being the circulating commemorative quarters. This ongoing program has people looking at their change, some of them becoming coin collectors in the process. Collectors rarely look at it this way, but the U.S. Mint might actually be your friend!