Collecting coins | numismatic | coins investment

Demand for rare gold hasn’t skipped a beat 12/11/2006 By Mark Ferguson COIN VALUES Market Analyst Rare gold coins, especially the Coronet $20 double eagle series, have been in hot demand since before the overall coin market bull run began about four years ago. This series has remained one of the most sought after, in all of numismatics, bar none, even during the temporary market pullback this past summer. Numerous collectors of rare gold have been seeking the highest-graded coins of each issue since long before the grading service registry programs began. Through experience, including that of the dealers they work with, collectors of rare gold coins have learned about the condition census for each issue.

As an aid to experience, dealer David Akers published a six-volume set of books during the late 1970s and early 1980s comprising an analysis of auction records of gold coin appearances going back to at least the 1920s. This set of references was extremely helpful to the gold coin collector and dealer. It was a comprehensive study on all U.S. gold coins from 1795 to 1933. A few years later, in 1986, the Professional Coin Grading Service was founded. It began a Population Report of the numbers of coins it graded in each grade for each coin issue. Although the “pop report” doesn’t give information about the characteristics of each coin issue (striking, luster or coin melts) like the Akers books, it and other population reports published by ANACS and Numismatic Guaranty Corp. have become of paramount importance in being able to see what has been graded.

These reports are not perfect because they are skewed by resubmissions, but they show us what the highest grades are for each coin issue, as well as how many have been graded per issue. Those who regularly work with these reports know they’re skewed, but try to adjust for that. As the knowledge base has grown for rare gold coinage, market demand has developed right along with it. Several specialty books about gold coins have been published since the Akers books, most notably, numerous books by Douglas Winter about gold coin issues from the various Mints and series. His 2005 book on Indian Head gold $3 coins, written with Q. David Bowers, greatly stimulated demand for that series – and this may be an understatement. Winter has recently written an updated second edition of Gold Coins of the New Orleans Mint, 1839-1909. He states that “New Orleans Mint gold has become a comparable collectible to Dahlonega and Charlotte gold.”

My market review of these New Orleans Mint gold coins for our valuing section shows the listings are indeed less than market values, so expect those values to increase in Coin Values. Dealer Jeff Garrett and PCGS President Ron Guth have painstakingly put together a mammoth reference titled Encyclopedia of U.S. Gold Coins, 1795-1933, Circulating, Proof, Commemorative, and Pattern Issues, published earlier this year. This is an all-in-one reference, intended to assist gold coin collectors with detailed information about every gold issue. Further stimulating this market is a 2006 book by numismatic researcher and dealer John Dannreuther, based on notes of the late collector Harry W. Bass Jr., titled Early U.S. Gold Coin Varieties, A Study of Die States, 1795-1834.