Rare Coins Continue Strong Performance

Auction activity is always a strong barometer by which the rare coin market can be measured. Heritage’s November 3-4 World Coins auction saw more than 2,100 bidders pay more than $3.93 million. Considering the market for U.S. coins is significantly stronger than the market for world coins, this speaks volumes about the strength of the overall market for rare coinage. Heritage’s HA.com website now has more than 1.75 million registered bidder members.

Stack’s Bowers Galleries rolled out its new Collectible Market Qualified, or CMQ, grading system, this being what I will call a “fourth party” grading service. This was held in conjunction with the Stack’s Bowers November auction held as part of the Whitman Coin and Collectibles Winter Expo (WCCE) in Baltimore in early November. The WCCE marked 50 years as the event. Stack’s Bowers offered the Olds Collection of U.S. Coins, a collection specializing in Civil War-era gold and colonial and early U.S. federal coins. CMQ will be offering the same fourth-party certification services as does Certified Acceptance Corporation (CAC), but CMQ will use proprietary and patented Coins in Motion (CIM) high-resolution collectible animation technology when examining coins.

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While there is continuing strength in the scarce to rare market, some softening of prices and buying can be seen in the collectible but more available market sector as well as in bullion and intrinsically valued coin buying and selling. The softening of the spot price of both gold and silver has made buyers more cautious and sellers watching to ensure they don’t necessarily sell on a dip. One surprise area of strength is in the modern commemorative gold coin. Although sale prices are heavily influenced by the spot price of gold, many coin types are not available regardless of price.

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