Selling at Auction Gaining Appeal
Strong auction results and continued demand for key rarities suggest the rare coin market remains resilient despite recent declines in gold and silver prices.
To describe the market for collectible coins as merely being healthy may be an understatement. This rings true when you look at the more than $12.4 million realized at the Summer FUN auction conducted by Heritage Auctions between July 16 and 18. There were more than 1,400 lots of individual coins listed.
This demonstrates the willingness of consignors to take their chances at realizing an attractive price via auction rather than by some other mode of liquidating an inventory, a collection, or an investment portfolio. The fact that the rare coin market is firing on all cylinders becomes even more eye-catching when you consider the spot price of gold and silver has taken a bath recently, taking many intrinsically impacted yet collectible coin values along with them.
The difference between bullion-impacted and those precious metal coins that have not been impacted is well illustrated by the 1776-2076 Enhanced Uncirculated Gold American Eagle. The initial offering by the U.S. Mint sold out in less than two minutes in late May. The initial price tag was $5,370. On August 3, a CAC Green Sticker Mint State 70 certified example was being offered on the Internet for $7,495. At the same time, examples in their original mint packing, but uncertified, were available for $5,745. The graded example could be termed “investor friendly,” while the price of the raw example is proving to be more volatile to the whims of the spot price of gold plus some significantly more modest additional premium.
The upcoming American Numismatic Association convention will give us the next indicator of the health of the market. At the time this commentary is being written, things look promising.
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