The Coin Market Remains Strong in a Digital World
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The truly rare sector of the coin market has once again demonstrated its continuing strength. A 1652 NE Massachusetts threepence discovered in 2016 in an old cabinet was recently sold by Stack’s Bowers Galleries for $2.52 million, in what auctioneer Ben Orooji described as “an exhilarating ride and a career highlight.”
The bidding for this, one of three known of its type, lasted 12 minutes. An 1870-CC $20 Liberty double eagle realized $1.44 million. The double eagle, the finest known, was last sold to Bernard Richards in 1986 for $23,101. Results of the Heritage’s November 20-24 US Coins Signature® Auction were not yet available at the time this commentary was being written.
The market's balance continues to hold its own; however, more available gold and silver composition coins continue to fluctuate in price, as has the spot price of these metals. This is unusual, as metal prices are normally more stable. An interesting survey commissioned by NatWest presents a window through which we can see how the general public is dealing with physical cash. According to the survey, 36 percent of those who use cash exclusively are of lower income status.
Many of these people worry about fraud. About eight percent of those surveyed use cash “all the time,” while 76 percent of those favoring digital payments acknowledged they still carry some physical cash. About 38 percent said they would rather receive change from a cash transaction in the form of some mobile app or card rather than in physical currency. We can conclude that coins, collector coins or otherwise, aren’t about to go away.
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