GoldFinger1969

HC, I'm confused...if there are no coins above MS-68, why await notification of an MS-70 ?  I would think you'd want to be alerted for anything MS-67 and above, no ?

Interesting, a generous poster here sent me some auction catalogs (thanks again !!  ) and I noticed that Ron Gillio now works for Stacks-Bowers Galleries. 

Maybe he's been there a while, but I didn't know it.  I know over time many of these 1 or 2-man shops are very fluid...changing ownership...merging or de-merging...etc.

Maybe David can get him to give up more details on the WF Hoard. 

Crypto/Bitcoin seems to be trading inversely to interest rates lately.  When rates were super-low at the short and long-end, the opportunity cost was nil.

Now when you can get 5.4% on a 6-month T-Bill or 6-8% on bonds and bond funds....you have to consider the cost of buying a non-interest earning asset.

SUMMER DOLDRUMS:  Interesting activity in recent weeks for Saint bidding (all PCGS unless otherwise noted and includes bp of ~ 12%).....

• An MS-67 1927 Saint went for $17,400 (includes bp).  Lots of bidders.
• A 1923-D NGC MS-64 CAC Saint went for $2,544
• A 1909 MS-62 NGC Saint went for $3,000.
• An MCMVII High Relief MS-64 Wire Edge went for $36,700.  Lot of bidders.
• An MCMVII High Relief XF-45 Wire Edge went for $9,500.  A few bidders.

ASG stuff is hot, but paying 4 or 5 figures for a $20 DE is tough....so it was interesting to see an Indian Head Double Eagle commemorative from the National Park Foundation go for $190 with PF-70 UC.

I never heard of the Lincoln Highway Hoard....gonna have to do some DD. 

The 1903-O got crushed by the early-1960's Treasury Hoard.  Price went down 95-97%....not sure it ever got back up there ever again.  That's not a price decline to absorb a large, 1-time increase in supply of a few hundred or few thousand coins....that's a radical re-valuation of the entire market.

On 8/25/2023 at 8:08 AM, NeverEnoughCoins09 said:

That's pretty cool that you buy for research. Are you in the process of making some kind of book or something?

Roger is a voluminous publisher...multiple books, articles, etc.

We have THE definitive thread on Saint-Gaudens Double Eagles thanks to his contributions here and also via his book (2018).  Even if you don't collect the coins, you might find the back-and-forth interesting (it's also one of our largest threads).

On 8/25/2023 at 8:08 AM, NeverEnoughCoins09 said:

Those pictures are from GC and when you look up to verify. I appreciate all the info.

GC and HA both have great pics, Ebay's are all over the place.

On 8/23/2023 at 7:55 PM, EagleRJO said:

Every once in a while a big stash of Morgans is discovered, like the more recent NY Bank and Great Southern hoards. And look at what happened with the 1903-O Morgans, that had a higher mintage but very low availability or estimated number of "survivors", which was formally the "king" until a stash of them was discovered.  Imagine if you dropped a boatload of cash on one before the discovery, and them BAM you just have a somewhat better than average value Morgan at a monumental loss.

The 1903-O's were more of a "new" hoard that nobody was aware of and really crushed the market.  Most of the others, like the NY Bank and Redfield Hoards, were previously purchased coins on a relatively smaller scale which really didn't change the market as I understand it. 

But large, unknown supplies can change the pricing structure.  That's what happened with the 1960's Treasury Morgan hoards.

On 8/24/2023 at 7:31 PM, Hoghead515 said:

Ive made several buys off Ebay.  Ive got some very nice coins from there. Some of my better coins have been off Ebay. Ive got burned a couple times also. No counterfeits yet but I got a couple cleaned and tooled on coins. And one that was not the coin in the description. Its still a great site but you just have to be careful and deal with reputable dealers.  

Did you ask for a refund....credit...or reduction in price...for coins which turned out to be cleaned, altered, etc. ?

On 8/7/2023 at 3:23 PM, Hoghead515 said:

Thats a beauty. I can see why Henri likes them. Thats a lovely coin. 

Vatican coins are nice too...don't see too many Italian gold coins floating around.

Trade dollars were just Silver Dollars intended to be used overseas, right ?

On 8/22/2023 at 3:27 PM, VKurtB said:

Many of them on ads with washed up actors on FOX channels.

Hey, William Dafoe is an underrated actor.....great in "MARATHON MAN" and I also liked him in "24" 

On 8/22/2023 at 8:04 PM, RWB said:

In any normal calendar year, dimes would have been made in large quantities for circulation. But in 1894 where was an excess of dimes on the West coast, so none were ordered by the US Treasurer. The Treasury was on a strict Fiscal Year base while the mints operated on both Fiscal and Calendar years. When people asked how many such-and-such coins were struck in year YYYY, they were as likely to be told FY as CY quantities and from all mints combined.

Could a Mint make 2 coins at once...or were all the presses focused on one coin only and doing it ASAP ? 

I'm assuming there were multiple presses that could strike nickels, dimes, Double Eagles, Morgan Dollars, etc.

On 8/22/2023 at 3:05 PM, EagleRJO said:

Unless you are doing a complete set of Morgans, if you want a fairly rare Carson City Morgan at a more reasonable price try looking into an 1885-CC Morgan, like the attached PCGS MS63 for about $1k I saw for sale. The mintage for the 1885-CC Morgans at 228,000 is actually lower than the 1889-CC mintage of 350,000 per the Red Book.  It's just that the high MS 1885-CC coins do not go for ridiculous prices, unlike the high MS 1889-CC coins at 6 figures which I think drags up the prices for the lower 1889-CC grades.

Do both coins have a relatively low number of TOTAL survivors (esp. considering there are many MSD collectors)...or is it just in AU and higher grades that each becomes super-rare and prices skyrocket ?

On 8/22/2023 at 8:27 AM, NeverEnoughCoins09 said:

I was asking because I thought this was a hard coin to come by unless you have big pockets. As you all know it is expensive even in the lowest grades and very costly in higher grades. To my understanding a lot of these coins on the market have been cleaned unfortunately. Ones that have not been cleaned cost a high five or six figures. If money didn't matter I would never consider this coin.

So I thought that if the price was right maybe a cleaned coin of a rarity such as the 1889 CC would be an exception for an average collector that doesn't have deep pockets.  It is a 1889 CC Cleaned AU details. I see the flaws and it is not very attractive but I liked the detail compared to a worn one and was only keeping an eye on it because it is below $700 but I'm sure that will change in the next few days. I enjoyed everyone's take and the varying opinions. I appreciate it and agree with everyone's post.  I will probably just pass and be patient things come and go.

If YOU like the coin...and the price is right....then it's YOUR decision. 

For many of us...where another non-Details coin, at a slightly higher price sometime down the line, will be available....passing on a Details coin makes sense.  If this particular coin, in a non-Details condition is going to cost far beyond your means now and in the future... then maybe you should consider this coin or another Details coin....IF you like them and the "damage" is minimal.

For sure, show HiDef pics here to get the opinion of the experts here.

Good Luck ! 

They must have struck tens of millions in coins, maybe hundreds of millions.....$2.40 was that important ?  

On 8/19/2023 at 12:38 AM, Amruth said:

I am selling in india an coins sir and low price selling who this coins in buyer I will call me any time in iam free and outhe both coin in selling you choice and price

What is this, English as a 3rd language ? 

"There are no such things as BAD coins -- only bad prices !!"  

A derivivative saying of something we say in the financial markets.

On 8/20/2023 at 11:00 PM, Sandon said:

   The 1894-S Barber dime is one of the most famous rare U.S. coins, with approximately nine pieces known to exist today out of a reported mintage of twenty-four as indicated in the 1909 letter. 

Thanks Sandon, I was unaware of that....might I ask why they only struck 24 dimes for a coin intended for general circulation ?  

On 8/20/2023 at 9:10 PM, mlovmo said:

I'll contact the researcher I used.  That'd be easiest.  I'll ask her if she wants another job.  You have to be serious, though.

Probably informational right now.  But would definitely have interest down the line.

On 8/20/2023 at 8:36 PM, mlovmo said:

I did not travel to Maryland.  Just using simple email, I hired a researcher who just found and photocopied the entire box for me.

How did you find a "researcher" and how much did that run you ?

On 8/14/2023 at 5:15 PM, RWB said:

Inquiries about 1894-S dimes were among the most common questions received by the Mint Bureau from 1896-about 1920.

Why ?  Limited mintage ?  Rare ?  1st year ?

That was a Barber coin, right ?

That cameo effect on the 2023's is unreal.  Super-black.  That's what they couldn't do with proofs 100-150 years ago, create that mirrored-black look. 

Are they striking proofs or other types EVERY year for Modern Morgans -- I thought it was a 1-time thing in 1921 ?  What did they do in 2022 ?

Mlovmo, if you see anything on gold coins in general or Double Eagles in particular.....I'd love to see it. 

On 8/19/2023 at 6:17 PM, ldhair said:

Probably only important to just a few but I would be interested in anything you find about all the multi-denominational clash die coins in 1857. Someone had to be playing around with dies and a press. Those in charge must have known about it.  

Yes, from reading the Bowers LH DE book, controls on coinage, dies, strikings, etc.... were sorely lacking until the 1900's.