GoldFinger1969

It's the condition. The MM 1952 sold was graded 9.5 out of 10. There are supposedly three 10 cards out there that would command a premium but apparently the sellers have no interest in selling and are wealthy enough for that to not be considered a bluff or a selling strategy. No more "hoards" either, as the 9.5 MM was found in an attic in Massachusetts in 1985. A real fluke.

Smart move. I think if all the "best doctors" were in Big Pharma's pocket, their stock prices wouldn't be flat over 2 decades. Also "Small Pharma" hasn't done much to create life-saving drugs and other wonder drugs so God Bless Big Pharma.

In the immortal words of sportswriter Oscar Madison...."What are these, plans for Apollo 15 ??"

Nice going, and thanks for spending time contributing to these forums !!

No argument, WC....but that 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle -- and I am fully willing to say it is an outlier -- went from $50,000 in 1991 to $12.6 MM today. That's 20% a year for 31 years !! Now, let's see what happens to all those NBA and MLB collectibles, cards, NFTs, etc. that went from a few hundred or few thousand dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars practically overnight. I think the speculative element in cards and collectibles can sustain price rises for authentically rare cards like the 1952 Mickey Mantle and some others, but NOT for hundreds or thousands of various cards.

Warren Buffet thinks cryptos are bad and he's not a conspiracy theorist. It's about intrinsic value and whether these things can deliver what they promise.

I just find it interesting that all the bball cards bought in bulk -- the moderns -- from about 1988-1994 are STILL underwater as I understand it. I remember my young cousins stockpiling them in their closets. The rare stuff has made a spectacular comeback. The stuff made during the bubble has not. Might be a good lesson there for coins.

I think that is true of LOTS of threads here that many of us don't read. This thread is no different. OTOH, it does analyze the intersection of low-interest money, hobbies vs. investments, NFTs and baseball cards vs. coins, and other variables that affect our little niche.

Beautiful coins, enjoy. There's something to be said for the moderns, but the reverse of a Saint-Gaudens with the eagles' wings double-imposed with a side view is breathtaking to me.

I just noticed that the 20 FR Rooster is about the same size as the quarters that we need to put into the slot on Pac-Man, Space Invaders, Defender, and all the cool games I grew up with !! Either that, or use that plastic protective device that was on many household products like Pledge, waxes, cleaners, etc. It was the same size as a quarter and if you slipped it up the change slot it would trigger a credit for a free game. Unfortunately, the pinball operators wised up and put some gizmo on the slot so after a few months they wouldn't work.

Or....wait for gold to move UP and maybe the price boosts here lag. Good Luck !! P.S. I don't think the asking prices are outrageous but I agree wth your being patient. Coins -- like stocks -- are always there (unless you are chasing a unique coin).... so you can always buy....so patience is worthwhile.

Eagle, this question of yours never got directly answered. I'm just going by the price matrix in Roger's book, not recent auctions.....but I am seeing the 1907 getting scarce in MS65 & above. If you stick to MS63-64, it should trade at a 20-25% premium to lower-rated or bullion coins that track gold. Go lower in grade and you can probably pick it up for a 10% premium to spot I would think.

When is/was the 2nd Edition of FMTM put out ?

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Since you want to steer this back to the OP (a valid request)....let me ask you if you are seeing more beginners/newcomers who got into coins during Covid at these big national shows like ANA ? What about at more local shows you might attend in Southern California ? I'm sure you talk to other dealers...are they finding out that the Covid boom has some staying power as folks stick with it as things return to normal ? Initially, everybody said 2020 and 2021 was GREAT for business -- probably the only ones besides stay-at-home stocks/businesses that benefitted from the shutdown of 2020. Interested in any feedback you can provide, Charmy.

Exactly....if I was a teenager buying inexpensive Whitman-type coins, no great risk. I buy commemoratives, Saints, other gold coins, Morgans, and other silver coins. Greater risk of being burned for me without TPG certification.

December 8th, 1948 ? So the SanFran football team should be called The 48'ers ?

You don't want to handle an $800 eyepiece with thick gloves !!

Yet that card produced a 20% compound annual return the last 31 years. Wow..... Let's see if this sale drags up the price of my Tom Seaver and Nolan Ryan cards.

I think you make it known you want a trusted friend who will either spend the time OR already knows gold coins/Roosters so that your loved ones/estate see a fair liquidation/sale of your more illiquid assets. Providing specific instructions on how to dispose of a collection -- in pieces or whole -- would also help. An estimate for bullion value and also a range for market value can't hurt, either.

All credit to the great QA !! Thanks Mike, I'm poking around the internet finding out more about these beautiful coins. For instance, I just read WHY the coins have roosters....dates back to their Gallic past.

True, but I'm not sure I have the time or inclination to learn grading...go to seminars...spend the time reading....etc. Even if I educated myself, I might get caught buying a counterfeit coin that costs me thousands. So....I do think that TPG grading has expanded the universe for those who simply don't want to become good at grading....or more like me....simply don't have the time. Same thing with astronomy in a way: people like myself used to get frustrated having to find objects manually and with maps, etc. Today, you get a computerized scope or one with tracking/finding and you just punch some buttons and the scope slews to wherever you go. Instead of having to fumble with maps in the cold and not know where to point the scope when it's late....I hit some buttons and can go to 5 or 6 objects in 3 minutes....then go inside and warm myself.

Your choice is YOUR choice. I'm not denigrating it, so why should you denigrate others ? I disagreed with your legal views on the 1933 Saint, but that didn't prevent me from LIKING your posts that were 180 degrees opposite mine on these forums. I can appreciate someone's POV even if I disagree with it. So even if Roger's style is not your cup of tea, it doesn't mean you have to attack it. That said, if you want to, fine. Doesn't negatively impact me. I think his other books -- most of which I HAVE NOT read -- are very good reads, full of information, and they've gotten good reviews from folks on these and other forums. And while I am glad you gave him his due for the Peace Dollar book the amount of work on his SAINTS DOUBLE EAGLES book probably dwarfs that (but I haven't read the Peace Dollar book so I'm taking a leap of faith ). It's a great book and I'd say that even if I didn't have an interest in Saints and/or Double Eagles. The fact that we have a thread on the book and it's approaching 70 pages (not all the posts by me ) shows that the book and the topic got people talking about coins....and isn't that why we are all here for, Kurt ? BTW, I found FMTM very tedious by comparision....much more difficult to read...but still a damn good book and if that topic in that detail is what interests you, you're gonna love FMTM. Just because I didn't like it as much as his Saints book doesn't mean it stinks. Not every book by a favorite author or every film by your favorite actor or actress is going to get an A+.

Could be insurance scam, but I'm betting no. I'm betting higher-end smash-and-grab types looking to sell this stuff on Ebay, Craigslist, or even Alibaba. I'll wait for the autopsy.

Wow, I didn't know that Alan "Mr. Mint" Rosen had passed away over 5 years ago until clicking around reading articles about the Mantle card sale. I must have totally missed it, but by then I had stopped writing my newsletter and listing famous people who died in the Off Topics section so I wasn't scanning the obits as much. I found it interesting that apparently in his best year during the Baseball Card Bubble, Rosen said he did about $5.6 MM in transactions and made about $740,000 in (gross) income. So basically he made about 12-15% margins buying and selling high-end cards.