GoldFinger1969

8 minutes ago, RWB said:

RE: "Thanks Roger.  What made you have "Circulated-62" as one of the groupings ?  Most articles/books I see usually keep the AU's separate from the MS's.  I don't really care, I was just curious."

That is the grade range where double eagles are largely bullion pieces. Gold collectors prefer higher grade pieces than real MS-62 (not the inflated AUs labeled "MS-62"). It also helps separate out coins that knocked around European banks and ended up very scruffy and dirty.

Totally agree...in fact, here and on CT we discuss how many AU58's are better-looking than banged up MS62/61/60's.

I bought an MS63 1915-S at FUN for bullion purposes. 

Thanks, DW, that looks promising and useful !

27 minutes ago, RWB said:

A typical press run ranges from 200-300 to 1,000 or a few more. However, many are now being printed based on pre-orders and might have less than 50 made, or are done through print-on-demand companies where the total printed is not fixed. A couple of books by Dave Bowers ("Garrett Collection") had 5,000 or more printed and sold. Large scale publishers such as Whitman Publishing LLC (Anderson Press) have extensive retail distribution systems and likely print large quantities. It's interesting to realize that some hobby books - J.H.Judd's original pattern book is an example - can still be bought by the case  in new condition. I understand that Krause Publications used to print large quantities then shred any not sold when the next edition came out.

As expected, the per-book cost is greater when the press run is smaller. In fact, most of the cost of printing is in preparation and setup.  Accurately estimating demand for a coin specialty book is difficult. A slight mistake can be very costly. 

I think books that can serve as references like Akers and Bowers' Gold/Double Eagle books have to have runs of tens of thousands since they are still good years later, even if the prices are off.  The commentary is still valid years later with minor exceptions.

A book like this thread's focus is going to be more limited time-wise from an interest POV.

I think your Saint Gaudens book will be very popular going forward with any serious Saint collector because it is 100% on Saints (Akers book is also on Indian Heads; Bower's book covers Libertys).  Only headwind will be the price, but if someone has interest in Saints the cost is small relative to the coins.  JMHO.

13 minutes ago, RWB said:

Glad you found the 1927-D section interesting. The auction database at Heritage was very useful as were those from other large companies and the NNP historical data (although much of that is repetition and speculation).

I went to my 1st big coin convention this past January, FUN.  And as you know they sold the 1927-D owned by Dr. Duckor.  It was really thrilling to be there, and I really lucked out to see one sold at my very first FUN and big coin show.

I was taping the auction on my smarthphone with the phone held over my head....my friend sitting next to me says if I raised my hands any higher they were gonna think I was bidding on the coin at the $1.6 MM level !!!   

9 minutes ago, RWB said:

Glad you found the 1927-D section interesting. The auction database at Heritage was very useful as were those from other large companies and the NNP historical data (although much of that is repetition and speculation).

The section on 1933 might prove disappointing - no "drama" - just facts and data similar to the others. This had to await Supreme Court action on the Langboard appeal for complation.

Thanks Roger.  What made you have "Circulated-62" as one of the groupings ?  Most articles/books I see usually keep the AU's separate from the MS's.  I don't really care, I was just curious.  

Do you know of any book or articles that gives a short bio on all the key coin collectors whose names I am slowly picking up but really don't know that much about ?  Mehl....Eliasberg....Norweb....Kelly..... Paramount and Superior Coins.....Price....Ira and Larry Goldberg....Duckor.....Simpson....etc.  I keep seeing their names in your book and other books/articles but I've never read a few pages solely on each to know what they collected, when they started, when or why their collections got sold, etc.

1927:  A Great Year for the NY Yankees and Murderers Row, and also for the 1927, 1927-D, and 1927-S Saints.  I thought the Commentary section for the 1927 was a bit short, but it IS a pretty nondescript common Saint. 

But the book hit one out of the park with the bases loaded with the 1927-D:  2 pages of Commentary talk about the rarity of the "D" and then 3 pages of sales/pedigree of all of the known 1927-D's that exist.

Probably get through 1928 by today, and then I can hit the 1929-32 dates over the weekend.  Since every year in that group is super-rare, should be very interesting to see what the book has.  Especially looking forward to the 1933 section.

What's the runs for these books, Roger...a few thousand or tens of thousands ?

56 minutes ago, RWB said:

All were individually calculated using a wide set of data from multiple sources. Akers' numbers were based only on his experience as a coin dealer and broker.

OK, if there's no link to pages that resemble those in the Akers book, I'm gonna re-create them in Excel.  You did a great job.  I'm going to rank them by Production, Survivor, and MS65 and above totals.  Will be nice to have them in my smartphone if I'm buying or looking at a coin that's in the middle of the scarcity factors and I want to know where it stands on the Survivor/MS65 rankings.

Thanks.

52 minutes ago, RWB said:

RE: "Izzy Switt had like 100 gold coins (mostly Liberty DEs) just taken from him,..."

78 coins. Had he simply renewed his license nothing would have happened.

I thought his license got taken away.  You mean he let it lapse or he was protesting the Executive Order ?

Seems rather harsh.....that's some serious change.  No wonder he didn't trust the Feds.

Roger, were your Production and Survivor Ranks updated or changed from Aker's 2008 book ?  If yes, I may put them into an Excel Spreadsheet so I have the latest rankings (unless there's a website somewhere with even more updated info). 

I'm assuming you don't have the tables in the back of the book somewhere (I'm trying not to peek !  )

55 minutes ago, RWB said:

This got shot down quickly when it was realized that paying the public $20 for a double eagle, and then reselling it for $45 or $50 would not generate good public reactions.

Did they think forcing the public to turn in their gold at $20/oz. and then saying it was worth $35/oz. was good PR ? 

I've read about the famous gold cases and other incidents.  Izzy Switt had like 100 gold coins (mostly Liberty DEs) just taken from him, even though he was a jeweler/dealer.  Others had larger coin/bars sums taken, too.

Thanks for the info, Roger...I'm gonna try and find that article on the failed attempt to save coins.  Guess I'll just have to get a 1927-D the old fashioned way.....

Reading about coins for which we have < 2,000 coins or even less....the wholesale melting of some of these coins by year/mintmark.....I keep asking myself WHY the Treasury and Mint officials couldn't save 1 damn bag for every year/mm for future collectors.  Probably no more than 30-35 bars.

No, they had to melt every damn coin. 

6 minutes ago, RWB said:

I am responsible for all content except variety numbering and pricing. Those, along with some general light copy editing/layout, were provided by Heritage authors as shown on the cover.

 

Great job....I'm getting a bit disappointed though knowing that I'm about 75% done with the book.  Almost over !! 

It's a great book.  I really commend you.  Will be my go-to Bible for all my future Saint purchases.  Wonder if I can get the yearly Appearance/Commentary sections somehow on my smartphone.  Easier than lugging the book around at FUN. 

The Roaring Twenties....smack in the middle of the 1920's coin reviews, the 1925-S area.  Hopefully, tomorrow I will get to my final coin that I own (1927) as well as the one I am itching to read about most next to the 1933, that being the 1927-D.

Interesting Stuff, Comments Welcome:  This "Merker Mines" has something to do with the Nazis, gonna have to explore it on my own as it was just 1-line in the book but I never heard of it before, had to Google it....Virgil Brand with 1,000 1923-D's was a numismatist and collector in the early-1900's but I knew nothing about him, had to do another Google....I was gonna ask who the "unidentified elderly New York Woman" was in the list of 1925-S owners and then Roger had a perfectly placed entire page on David Akers Comments on Exceptional Specimens (p. 459) which explained who she was.  Not sure where this 1988 commentary came from, it's not in Aker's Gold book, at least the 2008 Ambio re-edit.  Maybe it was from the original 1988 book. 

I love how sometimes the Commentary sections are Roger's thoughts and other times it's comments from others like Akers, Bowers, etc.  Sort of like "The Tonight Show" in the 1980's when Johnny had multiple Guest Hosts so he could only work 3 nights a week.    Serioulsy, why re-invent the wheel all the time in a 600+ page book....I really think having paragraphs or pages with comments from Bowers, Akers, etc. al is a real strength of the book.  Get diverse opinions, and it changes up the pace.  Kudos to whoever thought of this style format.

26 minutes ago, RWB said:

Wizard Coin Supply is the distributor of RAC 1916-1921. If they don't have copies then the book has sold out. Collectors will have to go to the secondary and book auction market for copies. (I have one set for each of my kids, plus the copyright certificates.)

How big were the original runs, a few thousand for each, or tens of thousands ?

I may buy a 2nd Saint DE book rather than risk it going out of print or you never doing a 2nd (expanded/updated) edition.  That way I can read one book that takes the damage and have the other preserved on my book shelf.

Hope you get some nice coin (!) from my purchases.

Roger.....folks over at CT are saying they can't find Renaissance 1916-1921 at Wizard.  I presume that means the other 2 books are still available.

Just curious....what was the runs for the trilogy, Girl Silver Dollar, and Saint Gaudens DE ? 

I guess once they're sold out, that's it, huh ?

4,000 banks failed in both 1932 and 1933, Roger.  

20 minutes ago, DWLange said:

He should have polled American citizens. They simply didn't want to carry gold coins. Plenty were minted in 1878-79 in anticipation of their return to circulation after paper money achieved value parity with gold, but most of those coins remained idle in vaults. Simply knowing that they were available upon request made people comfortable using paper instead.

And yet most Americans didn't want to turn in their gold in 1933 when FDR said "hand it over".....and Gold Certificates I had read had mixed popularity.

I think we need to differentiate between wanting gold for everyday commercial use....and for storing one's wealth in an era where banks went under and you didn't have FDIC insurance behind you.

2 hours ago, catman said:

Yes, I’m wondering about the ratio. Normally I would have 2 And mostly 3 out of 3 at PF70. Seems odd to only have 1 of 3. I have been buying every year since it came out they came out in 2006 and 90% come back PF70

Vagaries of grading...maybe you got 2 coins that legitimately weren't PF70....how do they look to you ?  Look at them under a lens.

I wouldn't worry, you can always submit more or buy what you want for a decent premium.

Most modern bullion coins come back as 70 or 69...the floor is usually a 68....I presume they were in fact Proofs which is why they got the PF designation.  Regular bullion that LOOKED proof-like would get a PL.

2 hours ago, catman said:

I had 1 of 3 2020 Gold Buffalo coins graded PF70 and am curious as to what others experienced.

What did the others come back as ?

So it's the size of the coin and denomination he's at odds with, not coins made of gold.

6 minutes ago, RWB said:

RE: " I don't think our Mint records (and therefore probably theirs) would show what the source of gold that was being coined or turned into bars came from:  gold mines, gold bars, or gold coins from another country. "

Many U.S. mint annual reports show the sources and types of old deposited for coinage.

Going back to the miners being delerious at $40 gold.....the big story in the last decade or so was the inability of most of the big mining companies to make money as the price of gold went up 6-fold to $1,800/oz. in 2011 and then stayed above $1,200 for years after.  They actually did better when gold was at $500/oz.  

Their cost structures blew out (the same factors that drove gold up drove up the cost of producing gold) and they made the most idiotic acquisitions and mergers.  The destruction of shareholder wealth was ridiculous.

Just Some Quick Tidbits on the early-1920's Sections:  I liked reading about Frank "Inept" Scoby ....love the discussions on hoards; MTB is still around, they give gold prices in the MarketWeek Section of BARRON'S (been seeing their name there for almost 35 years)....love mentions and reading about the old firms that are no longer around like Paramount and Superior (would love to read a brief, few pages history of their activity, their main players, etc.); these guys helped build the hobby for the Baby Boomers and others.

12 minutes ago, RWB said:

which resemble Miss Liberty after a street brawl with NBA players.

Today's finesse players or The Bad Boys from the late-1980's ?  

Roger, just finished 2 sections on coins I own, 1923-D and 1924.  Loved it....I accidentally skipped towards the end to put my bookmark and saw that you have several sections after 1933 that deal with stuff I was hoping might be in the yearly coin analyses...so I'm looking forward to getting into the mid-500's page-wise (promising myself not to skip ahead ).

You know, Central and South American banks are still so far behind technologically with computer systems tracking their assets and liabilities....you get a small bank in a rural area.... you never know if it might have a stray bag of 1927-D's or some other super-rare year or mintmark of Saints.  But then again maybe the chance to sell at a premium in the 1970's and 1980's when Akers and MTB and those guys were scouring the Big Banks had them all look and there's nothing there.  Oh well, one could always hope.