May 12, 2015

Sold by Douglas Winter Numismatics: Very Rare Uncirculated 1862-S Half Eagle

May 12, 2015/ Doug Winter

The 1862-S is the second rarest Civil War era half eagle from the San Francisco mint, trailing only the 1864-S. Of the 9,500 struck, only 45-55 are known with most in lower grades. The reasons for this low survival rate include heavy use in commerce, pervasive meltings, and a lack of local collectors or dealers to save any pieces, as occurred with certain Philadelphia issues from this period.

April 16, 2015

The Newest Level of Rarity: The Appearance, or Eye Appeal, Rarity

April 16, 2015/ Doug Winter

If you’ve been around the coin market for a while, you know that there are many different types of rarity. In this blog, I’m going to discuss the types of rarity you might already be familiar with, and one which you might not: the eye appeal or “appearance” rarity.

February 27, 2015

How Consistent Does Your Set Need to Be?

February 27, 2015/ Doug Winter

I had an interesting email exchange with collector M.N. who asked me, in a nutshell, if his technique was “wrong” because the set which he was building had a broad range of grades. After I gave him my answer (which was basically “there is no wrong way to build your specific set since the coins you are searching for are all rare to very rare”) it got me thinking about the consistency of a set of coins when it comes to grade and appearance.

February 16, 2015

Vertical Coin Collections

February 16, 2015/ Doug Winter

I was having a conversation with client JF, and he told me about a way he collects coins which I thought was novel and neat enough to share with you. If you are familiar with wine collecting (and drinking) you know about verticals. A vertical wine collection is when an individual pursues different vintages of the same wine type (Bordeaux, Burgundy, etc.) from the same winery. An example of this would be a vertical set of Bordeaux from Chateau Lafite Rothschild bottled between 1985 and 2015.

February 05, 2015

How I Became a Coin Collector (...Again)

February 05, 2015/ Doug Winter

Around six months ago, a client and friend emailed me a photo of a very pretty 1838 quarter. He wasn’t soliciting an offer; he knew that I liked the series and would no doubt appreciate the originality of said coin. Without really thinking, I answered him with an inquiry asking if the coin was for sale and if so how much it was. He quoted me a price; I said yes and didn’t give the transaction a second thought.

January 14, 2015

Sold by Douglas Winter Numismatics: Extremely Rare 1821 Half Eagle

January 14, 2015/ Doug Winter

Around a year ago, I was outbid on an amazing PCGS MS63+ 1821 half eagle. I was pretty bummed at the time as this was a coin which I truly wanted to own. But the final price realized was just too much and I walked away from the coin.

December 22, 2014

Sold by Douglas Winter Numismatics: Very Rare Proof 1872 Double Eagle

December 22, 2014/ Doug Winter

I have handled some really amazing Proof gold coins in 2014, and one of the rarest and most interesting is this PCGS PR64 1872 double eagle. I’d like to share some information about this specific coin and about Proof Type Two double eagles in general.

December 10, 2014

What's Hot And What's Not: End of the Year Thoughts, 2014

December 10, 2014/ Doug Winter

Instead of merely summarizing the year, I thought it might be more productive to look at what areas in the market are, as of the end of 2014, in demand or which are not.

November 21, 2014

Is There A "Best Time" to Buy Coins?

November 21, 2014/ Doug Winter

As a dealer, I know there are certain times of the year during which I am able to buy more coins than others. As someone who does the majority of his buying at shows, the two most fertile times of the year for me are at the FUN show in January (this is a show which I tend to come to with few coins and loads of cash) and the summer ANA show in August (the traditional “best” show of the year).