Number One No More!!

For much of the year, I had the honor and pleasure of having the number one registry set for Non-Carson City Morgan Silver Dollars in GSA Holders. Granted, it is kind of an obscure category and not many people collect these coins. Many don?t even consider this category to be a legitimate subset of Morgans. I often wonder myself whether it deserves to be a separate category. Morgan silver dollars are very plentiful in general, and the only thing that separates the coins in this category from other Morgans is the plastic government holder in which they were originally issued.

Only 28,000 non-Carson City dollars were placed by the government in hard black plastic holders for sale to the public in the 1970?s and 80?s, and many were probably broken out of the plastic holders to include in coin books or to be professionally graded. The different dates and the quantity of each date and mintmark included in the 28,000 were never recorded by the GSA prior to sale. The only dates included in the registry set are those included in the NGC population reports (PCGS does not grade them in the original holders). Other dates are known to exist and held by collectors, but have not been graded. As each new date is graded, a new slot is added to the registry set. This is the only registry set category I am aware of where your collection can become less complete, even though you haven?t removed or sold a coin.

All was going well for me until NGC set up a separate category in their registry for these coins in early 2006. Don?t get me wrong. I am glad they did it and I encouraged them to do it. I don?t blame them in the least. I just wish that they hadn?t been so efficient and timely in getting it done. I thought it would take them a lot longer to do it. Since the establishment of the registry set category, prices have taken off, even though many of the collectors of these coins don?t participate in the registry. It may be coincidence in the timing, but I have my doubts. Regardless, pricing pressure is now intense for certain dates.

Prior to the establishment of the registry set category, I was able to obtain some really nice coins for what I thought were fairly reasonable prices. Once in a while, I was able to locate a rare date or a really highly graded coin, and would be able to acquire it. I usually had to overpay to get it, but not significantly (in my opinion). Soon after the establishment of the registry set category, prices of these coins, especially the rare dates, really started to accelerate. More players entered the market. Some collectors I know threw in the towel and sold out their entire collection to cash in on the big bucks. Others are considering it. The premiums over retail value for the rare dates have increased dramatically since the start of the registry set category.

While it is fun and rewarding to see and share my set in the registry, the difficulties of acquiring new coins increase as more money flows into the category. Winning a rare date coin at public auction becomes very tough, unless you are prepared to open your wallet wide and empty it out. Buying privately is challenging too because locating these rare date coins is almost impossible as a part-time collector. When you do find one, the seller wants the last inflated public auction price plus 20%. There are more collectors and not enough coins to go around. That is the new reality.

Alas, I am number one no more. It was fun while it lasted. The big money and big dealer have moved into the neighborhood. I won?t pay the new prices. As a result, I won?t be as active in the future as a collector. The growth of my coin collection has slowed dramatically. The consequence of these events is self evident. Take a look at the registry. I got flattened. I got steamrolled. I got left in the dust as the locomotive roared past. The big money and the big dealer won.

I trudge on, knowing that I will not likely be number one again. Nevertheless, I enjoyed my time at the top, and intend to continue collecting the GSA dollars. They remain my favorite coins. After all is said and done, it?s still fun, even if not number one.

1904-O Obv