GoldFinger1969

FYI, lots of good stuff on the 1920 Saints, first ones minted since WW I KO'd production in 1916, in Roger's book.

I continue to think that AI and hi-def computers should be able to scan and analyze and be able to scan for fakes in mass volumes and relieve the burden on human graders.

You think the 67's are overgraded or yours are just nicer ? I find them very good, very large....good pixel quality. Almost as good as HA's -- you don't think so ?

Don't recall that post and in what context Zad said it....but obviously gold price is correlated with any Saint that trades off gold, from pure bullion subsitutes to coins that might sell up to 2-3x the price of gold with a numismatic premium embedded. I agree that for more expensive coins -- like an MCMVII High Relief -- a $100-$300 move in gold might not affect it at all. But a $500 price move will. That's why I am curious to what happens with condition rarity commons I posted above. One of the 1928's isn't getting any bids, but the other one $500 lower is.

That Saint-Gaudens silver round is not well-struck and really not a good likeness of the original Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle. They're pricier and have a big premium, but look into the National Park Foundation Saint-Gaudens Commemoratives. Some of the "unused" Saint-Gaudens designs that didn't make it into regular production in 1907 were utilized. Premiums are high on the PF-70's but you can always buy a 69 or Gem Proof a bit cheaper. Not a substitute for buying silver the metal but if you want a real nice tribute to Saint-Gaudens, buy 1 or 2.

Just as an example as of Sunday Night/Monday Morning........the 1st Page in the Newbie section goes back to Friday Sept. 17 @ 12:30 AM. The 1st Page for U.S., World, & Ancient Coins goes back to September 6th. Many more active threads going back 2 days in the former vs. 13 days for the latter.

The Lansom Winery hoard from WW II was auctioned off a few years ago: https://finestknown.com/ww-ii-gold-hoard-lanson-champagne/

Speaking of Saint prices...... I saw that a few MS-67 Saint commons over at GC didn't get bids. This 1928 got no bids @ $14,500 starting: https://www.greatcollections.com/Coin/1029487/1928-Saint-Gaudens-Gold-Double-Eagle-PCGS-MS-67 No bids so far for these twin 1924 MS-67's: https://www.greatcollections.com/Coin/1053937/1924-Saint-Gaudens-Gold-Double-Eagle-PCGS-MS-67 https://www.greatcollections.com/Coin/1053938/1924-Saint-Gaudens-Gold-Double-Eagle-PCGS-MS-67 This 1928 MS-67 got 1 bid so far @ $13,500. I usually consider the 1924, 1927, and 1928 to be similarly priced at the MS-65 grade, curious to see what happens to them all at MS-67: https://www.greatcollections.com/Coin/1053939/1928-Saint-Gaudens-Gold-Double-Eagle-PCGS-MS-67

Doesn't NGC just put a ribbon around the OGP for Morgan GSA's ?

Which coin ? The MS-69 19098 NM ?

They are the ONLY MS-69 Saints out there. At least that we know of. I understand their desire for privacy but if they are brand-new to collecting it would go along way to generating interest and buzz for the hobby if we knew who they were. As it is now, we don't know if it's some 70-year old who finally sold their business after decades and are now pursuing their long-delayed hobby.....or if it's some 30-something Silicon Valley kid with too much $$$ on his hands.

Wow.....one of the 10 MS-69 1908 NM Saints sold for $171,000 ($192K with bp), which is double the prices I see on HA going from 2005-2020. Someone really wanted an MS-69.

Is it actual prices like with the GC and HA auction archives ?

Is there a CAC price guide ?

For a small number of coins like you have, Challenger, it appears that GC is perfect for you. HA and the others could probably do a good job but I see lots of traffic for gold coin buying with the Sunday-end GC auctions. And they have a cheaper commission structure.

Nuclear war happening ?

Clean coins by definition can't have luster, right ?

Suppose a lousy die was used for a run of strikings and an image was not sharp....they then used lots of "good" dies with a super-sharp image. Would the non-sharp coins still grade MS70 ?

I've posted about hoards here before and especially these "mini-hoards" that I see being referred to anectdotally without any corroborating evidence. Still, the people posting about them in articles or blogs (like Doug Winter) have reputations that I don't think they would just willy-nilly make up information or regurgitate what 1 person only told them. You would assume they'd look for independent confirmation via a 2nd source and/or look to see if market prices indicate a sudden increase in supply. Or maybe their contacts and sources have proved reliable over the years and that's just it. An esteemed contributor here noted a recent source for these mini-hoards: unclaimed safe deposit boxes (SDBs) held by banks and escheated to cities/states. Sometimes the coins are certified/graded; often they are raw and within the expected grade range. I don't know how often these auctions of unclaimed property/SDBs happen but you clearly have a few dozen to a few hundred coins annually running the gamut from generic common Saints in the AU's or lower grades, up to MS65 (raw or graded) as well as some scarce coins and rare ones (a few hundred total survivors). Who knows, maybe we'll find ultra-rare ones hitting the market worth 6-figures even in AU condition. You probably have similar lost property disposals over in Europe, too. I would guess that maybe you have children/families/beneficiaries of inhereritances who just want a few coins or maybe a few dozen coins sold. I have a few family/friends who have a few dozen (mostly common) Saints/Liberty coins and I can attest their wills do NOT specify that the coins be sold via auction or through a dealer or collector or other expert. Basically, the inheritors are on their own and will probably just go to a coin dealer rather than seek out an expert and delay a sale a few months just to squeeze out a few more thousand dollars or so.

Sounds like a useful addition, thanks. I have been using the HA website for a bit over a year and while not an expert on bidding or use of the website, I have won a bunch of auctions and can navigate around pretty easily. My one quibble is when searching for Past Auction Results I often get a highest price for a member of that group, but not the specific year or mint mark. For instance, when asking for past auctions for 1924 Saint-Gaudens and then once I have the list and then further sort by Highest Price....the 1927-D from January 2020 invariably comes up to lead the board, sometimes with a few other outliers. Though in fairness the bulk of the items , especially as you scroll down, will be the 1924 Saints or whatever you search for. All-in-all, though, I find the HA archives a great resource.

Baseball Cards on HBO Real Sports: If you get HBO or can find it online, the August show had a segment on the soaring baseball and memorabilia card boom. Check out the trailer: https://www.hbo.com/real-sports-with-bryant-gumbel/all-episodes/august-2021

I've been told that 80% of the dealers business is dealer-to-dealer before the shows even start. It's almost like the show dealing with the public/retail is mostly for show and/or fluff. If that is the case, then unlike my club's vendor show, show organizers have less leverage with the dealers. However, you would hope that the dealers realize it's good for the show itself and the hobby to "stick around." Each show is diffferent. At FUN 2020, by the 4th day (Sunday) you clearly had winnowed the dealers and folks were often packing up. I didn't have a problem with that because they had been there for 3 days already, 2 weekdays and Saturday. Plus, they didn't charge admission either so you really can't gripe about who was there and who wasn't. Very few dealers packed it up after Thursday only but a few were gone after Friday or early-Saturday. Shorter shows are obviously different.

Yes, the strikes would be different.....qualities like luster would be affected by the microscopic surface of alternative metals.

I'm going to do some research on this and report back. Wonder why they don't use stronger metals like titanium, aluminum, etc. Must be a reason.

A 1928 MS-66+ CAC Saint sold for $6,250 (w/out BP, $7K with BP) this past weekend: https://www.greatcollections.com/Coin/936251/1928-Saint-Gaudens-Gold-Double-Eagle-PCGS-MS-66-CAC