Revisiting The 1841 Quarter Eagle

A few years ago, I wrote a blog about 1841 quarter eagles that basically stated that the currently-accepted belief that all of the known examples were Proofs was wrong. After recently being able to examine no less than four 1841 quarter eagles at one time, I am now totally convinced that this issue exists in two distinct formats. Numismatic tradition states that the 1841 quarter eagle was struck only as a Proof. This has never made sense to me. With as many as 15-17 pieces known, why would the Mint have made so many Proofs in 1841 when virtually none were struck in any other year between 1842 and 1853? And why would most of the survivors be in such low grades (EF40 to AU50) when most of the Proof gold coins from the 1840's that still exist tend to be in reasonably high grades?

This enigma has become a semi-obsession of David Hall's and when you are the head of Collector's Universe/PCGS you can get things done. David was able to wrangle four different examples of the 1841 quarter eagle including a PR60 illustrated below. A few weeks ago, one of his security detail flew the four coins up to my office in Portland and I am now more convinced than ever that 1841 quarter eagles exist in two formats.

First, a few words about the Proofs. One of the main reasons that you can determine that a Proof 1841 quarter eagle actually is a Proof is that is “looks like one.” These coins are not weakly struck, nor is there any question about whether they have squared edges or incomplete reflectiveness to the fields. These coins look just like other Proof gold coins from the 1840's. They may have some mint-made flaws such as pits in the planchet or lintmarks but their appearance is not much different than Proofs from the latter part of the 19th century either.

There appear to be just three or four Proofs known. The finest is a PCGS PR64 owned by a prominent Texas collector that is ex Heritage 6/04: 6204 where it brought $253,000; it was earlier in the Eliasberg sale and it sold for $82,500 in October 1982. The second Proof is owned by a customer of mine and it is graded PR60 by PCGS. I purchased it out of Bass II in October 1999 and paid $110,000 for it. A third Proof is in the Smithsonian. I have not seen the coin in person but it has been confirmed by Jeff Garrett whose opinion I respect. A possible fourth Proof is the ex Davis-Graves coin that was last sold as Superior 2/91: 2664 at $66,000. This coin might be the piece that appears in the PCGS population report as a PR62.

When I recently examined the Eliasberg and Bass Proofs, I made the following observations about them. I’m certain they apply to the other one or two Proofs as well.

*Proof 1841 quarter eagles have fully reflective fields that look like Proofs should. They are not "semi-prooflike" or "mostly prooflike." They are Proofs, no ifs and or buts.

*On Proof 1841 quarter eagles, there is sharpness of strike on the curls below the ear of Liberty. This sharpness does not appear on business strikes.

*The texture on the face of Liberty is different on Proofs. This may be attributable to the fact that the luster pattern on the cheek has not yet been worn off as it has on circulated business strikes.

*The curls on the back of the neck have a bold, almost three-dimensional look on Proofs. On business strikes they are not as sharp.

*On the Proofs the edges are sharp and fully squared. They are not as sharp and clearly not fully squared on business strikes.

I can quickly summarize why I think the lower grade 1841 "proofs" are not proofs at all and were clearly produced as business strikes (but using the same dies as the Proofs).

First of all, logic dictates that there are just too many 1841 quarter eagles known for all these coins to be Proofs. The number of coins that I feel are real Proofs (three or four) is consistent with the number known for other Proof quarter eagles from the 1840's. It just doesn’t make sense that the Mint would have made 30 or so Proofs in 1841 but five or so (if that) in every other year during the 1840's. Could they have been struck for a special occasion? It's possible but I have always doubted this reason and until documentation is found that states that they were made to commemorate an event or to give to VIP's, I am skeptical at best.

Secondly, many of the surviving 1841 quarter eagles are very low grade; in the Fine to Extremely Fine range. I have never seen or heard of another Proof quarter eagle from the 1840's that was this impaired.

Thirdly—and I believe most importantly—the business strikes, while Prooflike, just don’t "look" like Proofs. The marks on them don't fall in the same pattern that you see on Impaired Proofs; i.e., they look like circulated business strikes. As I stated above, they are not as well struck as the unquestionable Proofs and lack the squared rims and bold central details that are found on the true Proofs. They just don’t look or "feel" like Proofs.

In my opinion, David Hall and PCGS are to be credited for bringing this issue out into the opinion. It will be interesting to see if PCGS starts categorizing 1841 quarter eagles as Proofs and circulation strikes/business strikes and it will be interesting to see if the market starts according a premium to the Proofs as there should be, given their greater rarity.

What Makes Certain Coins Popular--and Others Unpopular?

I often make buying decisions based on a coin's popularity. As an example, I will buy a coin like an 1839-O quarter eagle for stock because it is popular and I know it will sell. But I might pass on a rarer coin like an 1862-S quarter eagle because it is not a popular issue and it will be a harder coin to sell. This got me to to thinking: what makes one coin popular and another unpopular? Certain 20th century series are popular with collectors because of a strong nostalgia factor. I would imagine most of the collectors who focus on Lincoln Cents or Mercury Dimes remember collecting them as a kid and the sense of accomplishment that they get from completing a set is an act of closure that extinguishes the nightmares they felt as kids about filling those pesky 1909-S VDB Cent and 1916-D Dime holes.

The nostalgia factor does not really apply to gold given the fact that circulation for these coins ended in the early 1930's. There are certainly some collectors who can remember being given an Indian Head quarter eagle for the holidays by their grandparents or aunt and uncle. But I'm willing to bet that the majority of gold coin collectors are not working on a set of Charlotte half eagles because it rekindles pleasant childhood memories.

The word "promotion" gets a bad rap in numismatics. Yes, there are naughty promotions where worthless modern trinkets get hyped and sold to unsuspecting people for multiples of their true value. But in the better sense of the word, coin promotions can turn formerly unpopular series--like Type One Liberty Head double eagles--into popular ones. The key to a coin promotion is that it has to be sustained and it needs more market participants than the first wave to regenerate its initial success(es).

I mentioned the Type One double eagles series in the last paragraph. One of the most brilliant coin promotions of all time was the S.S. Central America.. The marketing group that owned the coins not only was able to sell them, they were able to generate enough new interest in this denomination that it impacted all Type Ones, not just the few dates that were included in the hoard.

A coin that is historic is always going to be popular. What represents "history" to be may not be what represents history to you. But I'm almost certain we can both agree that a gold coin produed in the 18th century--the first decade of the operations of the new U.S. Mint--is clearly historic. This is one reason why a coin like a 1795 half eagle or a 1799 eagle, while not truly "rare," is still always going to have a very high level of demand among collectors.

Other coins are historic due to numismatically significant factors. In the first paragraph I mentioned the 1839-O quarter eagle. This is a coin that is fairly common in lower grades yet I still really like the issue and will buy nearly any problem free example I can find. Why? It is a first year of issue coin, it is a one year type and it is a visually interesting issue in that it has the short-lived Classic Head design paired with the obverse placement of the mintmark. These factors give it broad appeal and it is one of the few New Orleans quarter eagles that would be of interest to a non-specialist.

Another factor that makes a coin popular or unpopular is its design. A coin like a High Relief is extremely popular because it is beautiful and its design appeals to virtually all collectors. "Plain Jane" coins like three cent nickels and liberty head nickels get little respect from collectors because, to be frank, they are not especially attractive designs.

There is an element of geography with certain types of coins that makes them popular. Dahlonega gold coinage has a large following in the Atlanta and North Georgia area due to having been produced in this part of the country. This isn't to say that a collector from New York City might not become a major collector of Dahlonega gold but the majority of interest in these coins tends to be in the south.

A factor in determining the popularity of a coin has to do with the availability of good reference material. Without tooting my own horn too loudly (OK, at least not blaring it...) I'd like to think that part of the reason that Southern branch mint gold is popular has to do with the fact that I have written easy to use basic reference guides that are updated every few years, inexpensive to purchase, readily available and easy to transport to coin shows and auctions. This might be a coincidence, but the two least popular 19th and early 20th century gold issues (Philadelphia and San Francisco mints) are the ones that I just happened to not have written books about. At least yet...

Size has become an important factor in making gold coins popular or unpopular. Double eagles are more popular than gold dollars mostly because they are much bigger. People like bigger coins and new collectors feel more justified in spending $3,000 for a big, hefty double eagle than they do for a small gold dollar. As the age of collectors continues to climb, it seems inevitable that even more people will shy away from small coins; if only because they will have trouble seeing them.

These popularity factors are just a few of the reasons why certain coins are popular and others are not. If you ask many collectors why they specialize in a certain area, the reason may be hard to determine. Often, these individuals collect "what they like" and there is no clearly definable reason; it's just a gut instinct that, say, tells them that they should focus on Proof gold dollars or Gem Saints. And that's the beauty of rare coin collecting.

How the Internet Has Changed the Rare Coin Market

The year was 1995. I can remember my wife Mary telling me that it was really important to establish a presence on the Internet; that it would be the future of the coin business. No way, I thought, people are still going to want to read print ads and receive mailed price lists. The Internet was slow and bulky and you could basically die of old age waiting for each coin image to come up on screen. Sixteen years later, it seems that, as usual, she was right and I was wrong. The Internet has, along with third party grading, changed the coin market like nothing else in history. Why has the Internet been so good for the coin market and what are some of the changes that it has wrought?

The best thing about the Internet for all hobbies has been the dissemination of information. 10 to 15 years ago, if you wanted information about rare coins you had to dig for it. You could open a Redbook and get mintage figures and you could find information about die varieties in various specialized books. But like the man behind the curtain in the Wizard of Oz, in the past, information was strictly controlled. If you were lucky, you were invited into the secret circle and given some of the information you needed. If you didn't know the secret handshake, you were pretty much on your own.

The impact of the Internet can be felt in a numbers of distinct ways. One is the newest phenomenon of the Internet (better known as Internet 3.0): social networking. Back in the pre-web days if you wanted to meet and talk with other collectors, you had to join a local coin club or, if you were lucky and lived in a town with a good coin shop, you met at the bid board on Saturday and talked coins with other interested locals. Now, it is reasonably easy to connect with fellow collectors and share information, buy and sell coins, talk about which dealers are good or bad, etc. I would expect that Facebook will become a much more important platform for coin collectors in the coming year.

As I mentioned above, the Internet has given collectors access to information that was formerly difficult to acquire. Pricing information from auctions is easier to source than ever before. A decade ago, the only place that compiled annual auction data was Krause Publications' annual auction prices realized book(s). These were expensive, not always complete and only provided a one-year window into specific series of coins. Today, sites such as Heritage.com and PCGS.com enable collectors to see 10 or even 20 years of auction results for a specific coin in a specific grade. This is critical information for determining what to pay for a coin or what to price a coin at when you are ready to sell. I would expect that better, more sophisticated coin pricing sites will be introduced in the coming years as well.

As recently as ten years ago, many dealers did not have a website and many of the ones that did featured clunky, slow moving sites. Today, coin websites are considerably more sophisticated and offer much better quality images and descriptions than before. The fact that collectors now feel comfortable enough to buy coins sight-unseen is a result of better technology (hello cable modems!) and it has greatly broadened the size and scope of the market.

One of the biggest changes we have seen in the last decade as a result of the Internet is a restructuring of the auction market. One coin auction firm responded better to technological advances in the last ten years and as a result they have basically decimated their competition. Ten years ago, the vast majority of coins sold at auction were purchased by dealers who were sitting in the room. Today, most lots sell to Internet bidders. Its a little unnerving for a new collector to walk into a coin auction and see it basically empty (with the notable exceptions being the FUN and ANA sales which still attract good crowds or very important specialized collections) but to be told that the auction is in fact a rousing success and that there are hundreds of active bidders participating.

I would expect that we will see similar changes with coin shows in the next ten years. I'm not certain we will have an actual "virtual bourse" but with coin dealers and collectors getting older, travel becoming harder and more expensive, and the number of shows simply too great to be sustainable, I'd think we'll see very different types of shows than what we have now and that they will be far more Internet-based.

How has the rise of the Internet changed the way that I do business? I can think of numerous ways in which it has and there are a few that stand out in particular. I have always sought to purchase pretty, high end coins but now a major consideration for me is if the coin is "photogenic." I might pass on a very dark or somewhat splotchy piece because it won't image well on my website and will be hard to sell as a result. It is very important for me to get my new purchases listed online as soon as I can after I return from a show. Instead of spending the weekend following a show relaxing and decompressing from an intense two or three days of trading coins, I know spend the next few days writing descriptions and having my new coins imaged.

The Internet has improved my cash-flow as it has sped up the amount of time it takes to sell a coin. In the pre-Internet days, I would create price lists and mail them out or put my new coins in print ads. The process would take weeks. Now, I put new coins on my website and often they are sold within hours and shipped within a day to their new owner. By the same token, it's made my concept of what's "fresh" change. I can have a coin on my website for thirty days and if it hasn't sold, it's no longer fresh and I have to rethink the pricing and selling process(es). The Internet has sped up the business cycle in ways which can be great but which can be a little scary as well.

I can foresee some exciting changes to the coin market as a result of the Internet. I would expect that dealer websites will become more interactive in the near future and that there will be more video and customization. If 3-D imaging ever becomes a reality, the inclusion of such images on coin website would be fantastic. I would expect there to be more social networking, more specialized auction sites and, as I mentioned above, more and better access to pricing.

I'd love to hear your input about the Web and its impact on your collecting habits in the past decade.

Smart Collecting 101: Is It Ever Right to Buy the Wrong Coin?

In the first installment of Smart Collecting 101 I discussed the "coin churn" and how to avoid it. One reader made a great suggestion for the second topic and I'm going to discuss it at length here. The topic involves buying the "wrong" coin and if there is ever a right time to buy a coin that you clearly know is not optimal for your collection. The brief answer is yes. It depends on what sort of coins that you collect and what your ultimate goals as a coin collector are. Let's look at a few scenarios.

If you are a die variety collector there will probably be a number of instances that you'll be offered a coin that is a major rarity but which is either ugly or damaged or harshly cleaned or maybe even a combination of all three. But you may still have to buy the coin. Let's say you collect die varieties of early quarter eagles. There are a few varieties that are exceedingly rare and might literally be available once per decade; even once in a generation. In this case, if you aspire to have a truly complete collection, you'll buy whatever becomes available for the extreme rarities; even if the coin is damaged. And you'll probably be thrilled just to have the chance.

Let's say that you are a date collector and you are focusing on a series with major rarities in it. If the series that you are pursuing has some incredibly rare issues (say Fat Head half eagles) it certainly wouldn't be "wrong" to purchase a decent looking but cleaned example of a coin that you know might not be available again for years or which may exist in decent condition but which might be ungodly expensive if ever offered. My feeling here is that if you are someone who likes high grade coins you should avoid specializing in a series that has certain issues that almost never come in high grades.

This leads me to another scenario. Let's say you are a person who hates flatly struck coins. You have waited many years to fill a hole in your set and the date in question finally becomes available. The only problem with the coin, and let's say it's fairly decent in terms of overall quality, is that it is flat as a pancake at the centers. What should you do?

I'd suggest that you research the series and learn what percentage of the issue in question comes with this sort of strike. If every known example is weakly struck, then you just need to buy it. If some examples do exist with decent strikes, I'd say that you pass and wait for a sharper example.

There are some issues that are just so rare or so popular that I will compromise my standards and purchase problem coins now and then. As an example, if I saw a decent looking but cleaned 1870-CC eagle for sale I think I'd buy it; as long as it were priced fairly. It's rare, its in demand and its a cool first-year-of-issue. Plus I think its undervalued in comparison to other high profile Carson City issues. But I wouldn't buy most of the other CC eagles with problems. The reasons for this are simple: they would be hard to sell, they aren't in great demand and nice examples are available with enough frequency that the wrong coin makes no sense. I would take this even further with scarce but not overly rare issues. I'd be patient and wait for the exact coin I wanted.

My high degree of standards would also slacken on great rarities (notice I didn't say "expensive coins." I said "great rarities.") I would have no interest in a damaged ex-jewelry Stella but I would consider an 1864-S half eagle or an 1875 eagle if it were cleaned, very well worn or heavily abraded. In fact, these two issues are rare AND undervalued so I would probably not only buy one "wrong" example, I'd buy as many as I could find.

In the case of truly rare coins like the 1841 quarter eagle or the 1854-S quarter eagle, appearance is almost not an issue. Take the case of the 1854-S. There are around a dozen known with three of these actually being "nice." But in this case, "nice" means EF or AU. The others range from very heavily worn (the discovery coin, ex Eliasberg, is a Good 4) to "not as worn but very messed up from scratches or other non-mint damage." You don't get to be fussy with an 1854-S. You see one, you don't hate and you can afford it...you buy it.

Let's say you are one of those collectors who doesn't really have a super narrow focus and your strategy is "best available coin." You don't aspire to finish any series although you might have a preference for San Francisco half eagles or Philadelphia eagles. In such an instance there is really no reason to buy coins that are not right. If a specific issue is too expensive, just pretend it doesn't exist; you aren't completing a set of Liberty Head quarter eagles so don't sweat it if an ugly but rare 1842 Phildelphia becomes available. Sure, it's rare but another will come along and wouldn't you rather pay $8,000 for a really nice example than $3,000 for one that looks like it was gnawed on by numismatic rats?

The "best available" collector may just want to focus on branch mint issues that grade MS60 and above. This might eliminate a host of issues that do not exit in Uncircuated. It might take other issues that are exceedingly rare in Uncircuated and make "compromise coins" very important. Let say there is an issue like the 1859-S half eagle of which just two or three are known In Uncirculated. If the one nice Uncirculated example is sold (which it was, last year, by DWN) this leaves one or two marginal MS60 to MS61 coins in NGC holders that are the best out there. They may not be "new" in the strictest sense but are a good degree better than the coins that exist in AU55 or even AU 58 grades.

In series like the gold coinage from Charlotte, Dahlenega and New Orleans, there are very, very few coins that are rare enough or ones that come ugly enough that a major compromise must be made. The 1849-C Open Wreath dollar is extremely rare with just five known and I would be happy to own one of the two lower grade pieces at the right price. There is really no Dahlonega issue that is so rare that buying the wrong coin might be right although I'd lower my standards on the 1861-D dollar, the 1854-D three dollar and the 1861-D half eagle given their great demand. In the New Orleans eagle series, I would be willing to buy "wrong" examples of the 1841-O and 1883-O because they are relatively inexpensive and because even the "right" coins have eye appeal related problems. Two others that would cause me to compromise would be the 1854-O and 1856-O double eagles. Sure, I'd want my set to contain lovely Choice AU examples and if you have the $1,000,000 to $1,500,000 it will cost to purchase Condition Census or Finest Knowns of this pair than I'd say go for it. If you have budget constraints a lower grade coin or an example that is genuine but cleaned might make sense. But not for the more common 1857-O and 1858-O. Catch my drift?

So, in summary, I'd say that buying the right or the wrong coin is not necessarily set in stone but is, rather, dictated by the collectors needs and circumstances. Just remember that if you buy an expensive problem coin for your set at some point down the road you'll need to convince another collector that he, too, can't wait for the right coin and that he needs to pull the trigger on this "coin with an asterisk."

Smart Collecting 101: Avoiding the Churn

When talking to collectors, I often find myself giving them advice as to what makes a "good collector." I thought it would be interesting to share some of my thoughts and observations in a series of blogs entitled "Smart Collecting 101." These will run, from time to time, over the next few months. One of the mistakes that many collectors make is allowing themselves to be "churned;" either by their dealer/adviser or by themselves. Churning is an expression that means too much buying and selling from an account (or in this case a collection) by a salesperson in order to generate profits for the company and commissions for the broker.

Many of the big marketing firms in the coin business (and some of the better known boutique retail firms) are notorious churners. They will sell a collector a coin and then, a few months later, encourage him to upgrade it.

What many new (and even old) collectors fail to realize is that there are hidden transaction costs involved in any numismatic transaction. Most collectors who deal with the larger marketing firms are paying at least 20% over cost and in many cases more. Now this isn't meant to imply that a 20% or 30% markup is unfair; it's not. But what the collector needs to understand is that the market has to rise at least 20-30% in a short period of time in order to break even on a transaction.

And this fails to take into account another hidden cost: selling. A firm that churns isn't expecting to take back a coin at a price level in which they can break even. Typically, though, they will mask this in a cunning way.

Let's say a dealer sells a coin for $10,000 and his cost is $8,500. And let's say that the current wholesale value for the coin is still around $8,500. What a clever salesperson might do to churn a client is to tell him that his coin is now worth $12,000 or $2,000 over the collector's cost. The salesperson has a coin in stock that represents an upgrade. It's worth $15,000 on a wholesale basis. He charges $19,000. He knows he will lose money on the trade-in but he is selling the new coin for enough of a profit that he is still able to generate a healthy profit. There is nothing really "wrong" with this but what it means is that the collector now has a new $15,000 coin that he is way upside-down on as opposed to an old $10,000 coin that he is only slightly upside down.

Not all churning is the result of sleazy or even "aggressive" dealers. Much of it is self-imposed by collectors.

One of the pieces of advice I try to give to new collectors is that they should "but the right coin the first time." What this means is that instead of impulsively rushing through a set of, say, Dahlonega quarter eagles an then upgrading their mistakes as they go along, they should take their time and buy the coin they will want in their set for the long term the first time.

Of course there are exceptions to this rule. You might have bought a great AU55 1854-D quarter eagle that has pretty natural color and surfaces as well as a great strike. But a few years later, a really superb MS61 becomes available; a coin with an even better strike, a nice pedigree and fantastic coloration. In this case, an upgrade might be a very smart move.

My feeling is that there are clearly times when an upgrade does make sense. Obviously, it is sensible if there is not much of an increase in price. As an example, if you bought a coin in your set for $2,000 and you are able to significantly improve it for $3,000, that's a no-brainer. Or, you might have a coin that you paid $5,000 for a number of years ago that's worth $9,000 today. An upgrade costs you $11,000; you can roll your profit into the new coin and downcost it to $7,000. (Yes, that's how coin dealers think...)

Sometimes, new collectors start a set tentatively and are not ready to spend $10,000 or $20,000 per coin; say on the aforementioned Dahlonega quarter eagles. Their comfort level to begin with is $2,000 or $3,000. This is understandable but my advice in this situation is to not rush headlong into the set. I have seen many great collectors start with small steps and grow into buyers of serious Condition Census-level pieces after they become more sure of themselves and more comfortable with the dealer they are working with.

Even if you are not working on a specific set, you can still get caught-up in the World of Churn. I've talked to a number of collectors over the years who have had their entire "portfolio" changed around by their expert adviser a number of times. And some of the changes that they made were ill-advised to say the least. As an example, I recall talking to a man who had owned some fantastic coins like a Gem Proof Stella, a high grade High Relief and a sensational 1907 Wire Edge eagle. He had bought them at a low point in the coin market, held them for a few years and was in a great long-term position. The salesman at the firm he was working traded him out of these great coins not once but three times over the course of five years and had taken what would have been a small but superb group worth around $1 million and turned it into a bunch of mediocre, overgraded swill that would have been hard to liquidate at half that amount.

I think one of the best signs of a good, reputable dealer is the individual who tells you "no" from time to time. This is a dealer who is interested in a good long-term relationship but will tell you that a coin he has in stock that is a small upgrade over the one you currently own just isn't worth spending a few thousand dollars on. Desperate dealers always say "yes." Stable, dependable dealers sometimes say "no."

In closing, I'd like to ask you, as a collector, for some suggestions about topics for future editions of Smart Collecting 101. What questions do you about collecting that you'd like answered? Feel free to email me at dwn@ont.com with your questions, comments, etc.

The DWN Online Rare Gold Coinapedia

For many years, it has been my strong belief that the best DWN client is one who is educated. An educated collector is a confident collector and a confident collector is a more active collector. This is one of the reasons that I have tried to share as much of my knowledge about United States gold coins as possible. I’ve written the standard reference books on Charlotte, Carson City, Dahlonega and New Orleans gold as well as hundreds of specialized articles and blogs that can be found on my website www.raregoldcoins.com. With few exceptions, I don’t think there are many other dealers who can make the claim that they are as interested in educating their clients as much as I can.

My current work-in-progress is something that I am especially proud of. I call it the DWN Online Rare Gold Coinapedia and I am proud to officially announce that it is available for collectors to use immediately.

What this online project consists of are hundreds of high-quality images (obverse and reverse) of 18th, 19th and 20th century United States gold coins along with descriptions of each. These descriptions, while taken from write-ups that originally appeared on my website, are informational as opposed to commercial and should provide the new collector with lots of basic facts about the coins they are interested in.

The beauty of this project is that it is totally non-commercial. None of the coins that appear on the on-line encyclopedia are currently for sale. No hype, no sales pressure, just useful facts about coins. And the quality of the images is superb.

At this point in time there are around 300 different images posted. These include the following:

*Over 40 gold dollars

*Over 65 quarter eagles

*Over 15 three dollars

*Over 85 half eagles

*Over 55 eagles

*Over 60 double eagles

And, there are miscellaneous images of coins such as Territorials as well.

As time passes, I will be adding images and descriptions to this resource. I hope to double it in size by the end of 2010. While it will never be totally complete (there are clearly a number of very rare issues that I will not be able to image in the near future) I anticipate that it will become an important, widely used reference in the months to come.

Please visit the DWN Online Rare Gold Coinopedia. Use it often and give me input as to how to make it better and more useful to you. I look forward to hearing your comments.

Which Gold Coins Are Popular and Why: Part One

A question that I am often asked by new collectors is "which gold coins are popular?" I think this is a great question and one certainly deserving of a blog. I'm going to not only answer this question for each denomination, I'm going to give a few reasons why I think certain coins/types are or are not popular. I. Gold Dollars

People tend to be in one of two camps when it comes to gold dollars: they either love them or they hate them. This is mainly due to these coins small size. I am clearly in the "love 'em" camp and have, over the years, handled many finest known and Condition Census pieces.

In my experience, the most popular gold dollars are the Dahlonega issues. Produced from 1849 through 1861, they are very collectible and a number of the issues are quite affordable. The most popular is the 1861-D which, at this point in time, is the single most popular gold dollar of any date. This is clearly due to this coins historic significance.

At one time, the Type Two issues were extremely popular with date collectors. But the values of the 1854 and 1855 Philadelphia issues have dropped considerably in recent years. At the same time, the branch mint issues of this design (1855-O, 1855-C, 1855-D and 1856-S) have become exceedingly popular.

Type Three gold dollars tend to be overlooked but offer the collector a number of very good values. The best known--and most popular--issue is the ultra-low mintage 1875.

II. Quarter Eagles

As a denomination, quarter eagles are fairly popular and they are clearly increasing in popularity each year.

The pre-1834 issues are all rare. They are not as popular as the half eagles and eagles of this era but there are a number of people who specialize in them and they are seldom overlooked when offered for sale. The most popular early dates are the 1796 No Stars and the 1808. Both are one-year types that have low original mintage figures.

The dates in the 1790's are always popular due to their historic significance and their overall rarity. I am personally a big fan of the Capped Head Left type produced from 1821 to 1827. There are only five dates, and these are hard to locate in all grades.

The Classic Head quarter eagles have become quite popular in the last few years and I expect that they will continue to grow in stature as more becomes known about them. The branch mint issues are the most popular. None of these is really rare (except in the upper Mint State grades) and collectors appreciate the unique positioning of the mintmark on the obverse. There are a total of ten Classic Head issues.

The Liberty Head quarter eagle series is popular as it is one of the few 19th century gold series that can actually be completed. There are a few rarities: the 1841, 1854-S and 1863 are all six-figure coins and many of the branch mint issues are very rare in Uncirculated.

In my experience, the most popular Liberty Head quarter eagles are the Dahlonega issues. The rarest is the 1856-D. None are common in higher grades but this series can be completed with time and patience and this makes it popular with specialists.

The San Francisco quarter eagles seem to be the least popular issues of this type; discounting, of course, the very rare 1854-S. I attribute this lack of popularity to the fact that there is no published reference work on San Francisco gold. These coins tend to be relatively available in lower grades but nearly all of the issues from the 1850's, 1860's and the early 1870's are very rare in Uncirculated.

The Indian Head quarter eagle series is probably the most familiar type of quarter eagle due to the availability of these coins. Unlike the 18th century issues, the Indian Head coins are readily available in higher grades.

For a number of years, this series was extremely popular due to an excellent promotional effort by one firm. This firm is no longer focusing as much attention on these coins and prices have dropped.

I personally like the design of the Indian Head quarter eagle and I find fresh, high grade examples to be very cosmetically appealing. But, to be honest, the availability of these coins make them a bit boring to me and I have never really found locating any of the dates to be enough of a challenge to get me interested.

III. Three Dollar Gold

The popularity of this odd denomination tends to ebb and flow. A few years, Threes were very popular with collectors. Today, they are not as popular and appear to be an excellent area for the contrarian.

My guess is that most people would agree with me that the 1854-D is, hands-down, the most popular issue in this series. It is the only Three from this mint and it has a small original mintage of 1,120. It is certainly the only date of this type that seems to have broad appeal outside of the realm of specialists.

The 1875 and 1876 are Proof-only issues that are rare and popular. But many three dollar collectors feel it is OK to exclude these from their set and focus exclusively on circulation strikes.

The ultimate three dollar is the 1870-S which is unique and housed in the ANA money museum in Colorado Springs. When and if this coin becomes available for sale, I would expect it to sell for a strong seven-figure price.

Some of the demand that was created for this denomination a few years ago was artificial as it was generated by telemarketers. I would expect that if a really nice specialized collection of three were to become available, new collectors would come back to this series and you'd see a more "pure" level of demand.

IV. Half Eagles

This denomination has incredible variety and breadth. Some collectors find it overwhelming while others appreciate the challenges afforded by the half eagle.

The early dates (pre-1834) are generally divided into two categories: the semi-affordable and the not-very-affordable. The Small Eagle coins from 1795 to 1798 include few of both. The most popular issue is the 1795 Small Eagle due to its status as the very first half eagle produced. It is can be found without a great effort.

The Heraldic Eagle type of 1795-1807 includes a number of great rarities but many of the issues (especially those struck after 1799) are available and surprisingly affordable. The Capped Bust Left type of 1807-1812 is very collectible and there are no "stopper" issues.

Almost nothing but "stoppers" can be found in the 1813-1829 Capped Head Left issues. The best known issue is the 1822 of which just three are known. Many of the other issues (like the 1815, 1819, 1821, 1825/4 and 1829 Large Date) are extremely rare and almost never offered for sale.

The reduced size Capped Head Left issues of 1829-1834 are also extremely rare, despite relatively high original mintage figures.

For many collectors, the earliest half eagles that they focus on are the Classic Heads of 1834-1838. I really like this series as it is short-lived, nicely designed and a nice bridge between the expensive "old gold" issues and the more ubiquitous Liberty Head coins. The two branch mint Classic Head half eagles (1838-C and 1838-D) are extremely popular but affordable and available in circulated grades.

Liberty Head half eagles are found with two types: the No Motto issues from 1839 through 1866 and the With Motto issues from 1866 to 1907.

No Motto half eagles range from not very popular to very popular. As one might expect, the most popular issues are those from the southern branch mints. The order of popularity seems to be Dahlonega solidly in the lead followed by New Orleans and lagged by Charlotte.

Branch mint No Motto half eagles tend to be seen usually in the Very Fine to Extremely Fine grades. Even the common dates tend to be hard to locate in properly graded About Uncirculated and all are scarce to rare in Uncirculated. I personally believe that there is some excellent value to be had with both the branch mint and Philadelphia No Motto issues, especially in higher grades.

The With Motto half eagles are less popular with collectors with one big exception: the Carson City issues that were produced from 1870 through 1893. The 1870-CC is far and away the most popular Carson City half eagle due to its status as the first year of issue from this mint.

There are a few very rare issues in the No Motto series including the 1875 and the 1887 but these tend to be somewhat overlooked due to the extreme availability of many of the post 1880 Philadelphia and San Francisco dates.

The final half eagle design is the attractive Indian Head made from 1908 to 1929. Despite this coin's beauty, it is probably the least popular of the four "modern" 20th century gold series. I'd say part of this lack of popularity has to do with the rarity of many Indian Head half eagles in high grades. Even the most common Philadelphia dates are scarce in MS64 and above and nearly all of the San Francisco issues are very rare to extremely rare in MS64 and above.

The most popular Indian Head half eagle is the 1909-O. It is well-regarded due to its status as the only Indian Head half eagle from New Orleans.

In part two of this article, we'll look at eagles and double eagles.

The Not-So-Secret Secret 1883-O Eagle

About a month ago, I received an auction catalog from Olivier Chaponniere and Hess-Divo, two well-known Swiss firms located in Geneva and Switzerland, respectively. I often toss these catalogs directly into the recycling bin but thought I'd check this one out; if only because Hess-Divo has the reputation of selling some exceptional ancient and European coins. I went right to the United States gold section and started browsing. A few minutes in, I was startled to see an 1883-O eagle that had been graded AU58 by PCGS. From the photo, the coin looked very fresh and very nice and I was, needless to say, very interested.

For those of you that are not familiar with the 1883-O eagle, a little background information is in order. This is the single rarest eagle from New Orleans with an original mintage of only 800. There are around 35-45 known in all grades including a unique Uncirculated piece that I sold around three years ago. There are a total of five graded AU58 at PCGS with none higher. I did a little bit of research on this specific coin and learned that it was new to the PCGS population report and, in all probability, totally fresh to the market.

At this point, I was feeling pretty cocky. After all, it was a European auction and not many American dealers were even going to know about the coin, right?

I started feeling a lot less cocky when I saw these two firms at the Central States show with the American gold coins from the auction on exhibit. My hat goes off to Chaponniere and Hess-Divo. I can't think of many times that European firms have brought American coins to an American show to market them to an American audience. And especially at a non-ANA show; can you imagine the excitement that these Swiss guys must have had regarding four days in Milwaukee? (But that's another story...)

I viewed the coins in person at CSNS and loved the 1883-O. It was fairly baggy but it had nice color, attractive semi-prooflike surfaces and a virtual absence of wear. It was the best 1883-O eagle I had seen in a few years and I felt it was at least the third or fourth finest known; and certainly the only one that was going to be available.

Now I had to determine what to pay for this coin. In regards to the 1883-O eagle, this date is a sort of Numismatic Rare Date Gold Franken-coin. No one cared about this date as recently as a few years ago but I've told collectors for years how rare and desirable it was. Around three years ago, low quality examples started to sell for three or four times more than they had only a few years before this. The last two AU58 examples that I handled were an nice AU58 (ex Pinnacle collection) and a beautiful NGC coin that I sold to a Washington, D.C. collector. I had sold them for less than $40,000 each but figured that in this market that they were going to bring around $60,000. So I bid $55,000 (which translated to $60,000 with the 10% buyers premium).

So how did I do? Not well. The coin sold for an amazing 90,000 Swiss Francs which, according to my on-line currency calculator, is around $78,225. I'm assuming the consignor was even more amazed as the catalogers had estimated the coin to bring 10,000 CHF.

I learned a few valuable lessons from this experience.

The first is, that in this day and age, you could hold a coin auction on the third moon of Saturn and it would still be publicized. The Internet means that the secret auction(s) of yore are now well-attended and the information that is available to collectors regarding pricing makes formerly secret dates not so secret anymore as well.

The second is that good coins will always be found by good collectors. I know the buyer of this coin very well and he was likely to have have bought it no matter where the auction was. The fact that the coins were brought to the CSNS show was amazingly helpful to him and I'm guessing it added at least $20,000 to the bottom line; if not more.

The third is that there are still really cool coins lurking in Europe. You'd think that with American dealers having scoured Switzerland, France, Luxembourg, etc. since the 1950's that there wouldn't be much left anymore. Not true. While coins like this AU58 1883-O eagle don't show up everyday, there are clearly still some eyebrow-raising coins left overseas.

The (Very) High End of the Coin Market Needs Feeding

With less fanfare than in past cycles, the super high end of the art market has suddenly gone ablaze. In the past few months, two iconic works have broken records. On May 4th, Christie’s sold the Picasso painting “Nude, Green Leaves and Bust” for $106.5 million. This painting was owned by the Lasker estate and it was fresh to the market, not having been offered in many decades. I don’t claim to be a Picasso expert (nor have I ever seen this work in person), and my gut tells me that while it was a very nice quality work, it was not considered to be an A+ quality painting, unlike some of the early masterworks painted by Picasso in the early part of the 20th century) that were sold for epic sums last decade.

In February 2010, Sotheby’s garnered considerable attention when they sold Giacometti’s iconic “L’Homme qui Marche I” for $104.3; an all-time record for a sculpture at auction. I personally love Giacometti’s work and though this was an amazing piece of art it was one of five known and it was a challenging, complex sculpture that I think most people just don’t appreciate.

These two sales bring up an interesting question: if a flashy but non-masterpiece Picasso can bring $106.5 million and an iconic but odd sculpture can sell for $104.3 what would fresh, undisputed masterpieces bring in today’s market?

What these two sales have shown is that there is still an incredible amount of wealth in the world and an incredible desire to put this wealth into something tangible like art. This is probably all the more so due to the Greek debt crisis which has impacted European buyers even more than Americans.

These upper market sales have interesting applications to the very high end coin market. Now, obviously, coins don’t sell for $100 million dollars. But there are a number of coins that have brought (or would bring) $1 million or more if they were offered for sale.

It has been a long time since a truly great, truly fresh collection filled with $1 million plus coins came to market. Despite all the amazing coins that have been sold in the last three to five years, just a handful of these were “fresh.”

You’ll notice that I use the expression “fresh” a lot. What exactly does this mean? A coin that has been off the market for ten, 20, 30 or 100 years is “fresh.” This is especially true if it was owned by a specific collector or family and it was not shopped around in the interim. The aforementioned Picasso was fresh to the market as it had hung in the Lasker house since at least the early 1960’s and hadn’t been surreptitiously offered to a few big collectors by sneaky family representatives.

Back in the 1970’s and 1980’s, it was not uncommon for amazing multi-generational family collections to become available. We dealers were spoiled by these collections and almost grew complacent when they were offered. But since the Bass estate was sold in 1999-2000, I can’t think of many “old time” collections that encompassed a broad scope having been sold at public auction.

That’s not to say that some great specialized collections haven’t been made available; both at auction and via private treaty (and don’t let the auction firms fool you into thinking that all the great coins sell at auction. They don’t...) but the very top end of the market hasn’t been tested since the middle of the 2000’s and the amazing top-end results in the art market art exclusive to painting and sculpture.

There are a number of potentially huge buyers waiting in the wings of the coin market if the right coins were to become available. Let’s say, for example, that the coins in the ANA museum (the Bass core collection) became available in 2011. I think you’d see absolutely amazing prices for these coins and I’m not so sure that they would all sell to the usual suspects.

All of a sudden, there seems to be a small “perfect storm” brewing in the world of collectibles. Gold is at an all-time high and I wouldn’t be stunned to see it race past $1,350-1,400 before it cools off as the result of profit taking. The economy is certainly not strong but it has recovered enough that people are spending money again. The wealthy have gotten even wealthier in the last year as a result of a robust stock market but seem uncertain what to do with their profits. The demand for great tangible objects (be they coins, sculptures, paintings, etc.) appears to be quickly rising with very little in the way of supply to satisfy consumers.

What I think this basically means is that if the right collection of coins were to come around in the next year or two, it would completely shatter all existing price records. This would be especially true if this collection met the following parameters: the coins were totally fresh, they were gold, they were interesting, they were well-pedigreed and they were properly marketed. In fact, I think these coins could even bring more than they might have at the peak of the market in 2006 and 2007.