Five additional RLM pedigreed coins that I purchased after the original Heritage RLM auctions are shown in the pictures above.  The data for these coins are shown below, including the dates when I purchased the coins as well as the change in the price that I paid for the coin compared to what the coin sold for in the original RLM auction.  Other interesting information is also included.

•    Brazil, 1832-R 6400 Reis, gold, NGC 55, NGC census (33 total, 8 in, 24 better)
  •    I purchased it in January 2018 for 14% less than the original price.
•    Brazil, 1847-R 10,000 Reis, gold, NGC 53, NGC census (10 total, 1 in, 5 better)
  •    I purchased it in January 2018 for 37% less than the original price.
•    Brazil, 1790-B 6400 Reis, Plain Headdress, gold, NGC 55, NGC census (3 total, 3 in, 0 better)
  •    I purchased it in August 2021 for 55% less than the original price.
•    Brazil, 1729-B 1600 Reis, gold, NGC 12, First Variety Arms, NGC census (2 total, 1 in, 1 better)
  •    I purchased it in August 2022 for 74% less than the original price.
  •    This RLM coin is now in a NGC holder with a Petropolis Collection pedigree
•    Brazil, 1731-B 800 Reis, gold, NGC Clipped, the only other coin in NGC census is a MS 62
  •    I purchased it in August 2021 for 52% less than the original price.
  •    This RLM coin is now in a NGC holder with a Petropolis Collection pedigree

Here are my observations about the three Heritage RLM auctions and the subsequent sales of the RLM pedigree coins.

•    My observations are based on the 11 RLM coins I purchased following the completion of the three Heritage RLM auctions.
  •    There was a total of 474 items sold in these three RLM Heritage coin auctions.
  •    The 11 RLM coins correspond to a 2.3% sampling, which is low. 
  •    I focused on buying rare coins, so my observations may not hold for the more common coins that were sold in the RLM auctions.
•    There were many very rare coins in the RLM collection.
  •    It looks like many of these coins may have been cracked out and resubmitted to NGC.
  •    These resubmitted coins probably no longer have the RLM pedigree on the slab.
  •    The NGC census is probably inflated for these rare coins because of these resubmissions.
  •    If many RLM coins have been cracked out, then I probably have other RLM coins in my collection and don’t even know it.
  •    Many of the really rare Brazilian coins have problems and reside in “details” holders.
•    It seems like the realized prices for the rare Brazilian coins in the three RLM auctions were pretty high and the prices have been falling since that time.
  •    Considering that I had just recently started collecting Brazilian coins and the only Brazilian coin that I had was purchased four months before the first RLM auction, I didn’t have a very good understanding about the Brazilian coin market at the time of the RLM auctions.
  •    The eleventh RLM coin that I own, which I didn’t have the space to show, was a Brazil 1733-M 800 Reis gold coin that I purchased in June 2016 for a 20% discount from the original purchase price.
  •    The only RLM coin that I purchased for a premium (25%) was purchased from a coin dealer shortly after the last RLM coin auction.
  •    The other ten RLM coins were purchased at discounted prices from future Heritage auctions.
  •    The discounts that I received on my RLM coins tended to increase (i.e., coin prices have fallen) as the amount of time increased from the time when they were originally sold in one of the three RLM auctions.
  •    It looks like the three Heritage RLM auctions may have marked a temporary peak in the Brazilian rare coin market.
  •    I’m not sure how strong the Brazilian coin market was before these auctions, so it’s possible that these auctions produced prices that were outliers to the upside. If anyone knows about this, I would be curious to know what you think.
  •    The prices may be falling because additional rare coins have appeared on the market.
  •    Or prices may be falling because people were overly excited about the original RLM auctions and they just bid too high on the coins.
  •    There are a number of reasons for the high prices that were realized in the RLM auctions.  The most important reason probably is that the RLM collection contained many coins that are very rare and seldom seen, so if you missed the opportunity to get some of these coins then you may have to wait a long time to get another chance to buy them.
•    At the time of the RLM auctions I was very frustrated because I didn’t win any RLM coins.  However, in hindsight, things worked out very well for me.  This experience reminds me of a song by Garth Brooks called “Unanswered Prayers.”
   

I would love to hear about other people’s experiences with the RLM auctions or prices of Brazilian coins following the three Heritage RLM coin auctions. Also, does anyone think that it’s pretty cool to know that a pedigreed coin was once owned by a great collector?