S.S. Central America expertise requested - question for Gold Rarities, etc.

[James_OldeTowne]

I've been asked to research the current market value of an 1857 "Spiked Shield" in PCGS MS-64, housed in all the original S.S. Central America packaging. It was inherited by my client. Can you please tell me who buys these, and what my client might be expected to get for it? What did these originally sell for? What's the best venue for resale?

 

Thanks, in advance.

[MBA101]

Heritage is selling, and has sold a bunch of these SS Central AMerica '64 $20's. the appear to go in the 7-9K range. As far as what dealers buy them, I know not, but dealers will typically pay GreySheet levels, which is 7K currently, so I wouldn't sell for anything less than around that level.

[xJack]

At the January F.U.N., Monaco Rare coin had a beautiful Civil War Display, and was promoting the S.S. Republic and S.S. Central America stuff - they also had nice Full Color Pamphlets with their (then) current product offering.

 

Maybe you could call them for a "retail" price?

 

 

edit: They've got a little blurb on their website, no pricing.

 

http://www.zoomcoin.com/insiders-top-picks/shipwreck-treasure/

[MunkyMan95]

I called Monaco Financial and asked for one of their catalogs, they only list a price range. Want to know what the range is? $4,000 - $30,000+

[jesbroken]

James,

Austin Coin has many of these type coins for sale, they list an 1857 S PCGS 64 at $9,950. Perhaps if you contact them they may have what you need. Just a thought. Good luck.

 

Austin Coin

[James_OldeTowne]

It appears my client bought the coin from "Blanchard", and I found the following in a search at www.BlanchardOnline.com:

 

# [100.00%] Shipwreck Coins: SS Central America

Shop : Shipwreck Coins : SS Central America Looking for a particular coin? We have 1000s of coins in our inventory. PLEASE CALL US AT 1-800-880-4653 Coin Grade Service Price 1857-S $20 LIBERTY SSCA (1) MS-64 PCGS $8,570.00 1857-S $20 LIBERTY SSCA

http://www.blanchardonline.com/coinshop/shop2.php?parentid=158&catid=160 - 36.5kb

 

This sounds like his coin. Is Blanchard an authorized resaler of these coins? It seems as if only a few dealers originally had exclusive distribution rights of the shipwreck products.

 

[MBA101]

The coins are out there circulating around, so any dealer can have them in stock. Blanchard may have been the "original" dealer a few years ago. There were hundreds if not thousands of these coins recovered, so given time, they appear everywhere.

 

[James_OldeTowne]

MBA, I'm sorry that my post was unclear. Actually, "BLANCHARD" is embossed on the outer carton that contains all the Central America stuff (coin, booklet, COA, all inside a faux "book"), so I assumed that they played some sort of role in marketing the item. I guess it's possible that it's just a standard "Blanchard carton" housing the items.

 

Maybe I'll get a chance to shoot some pics tonight, so it'll make more sense.

[MBA101]

Oh. OK. I understand what you mean now. I remember the commercials on the tube from a few years back. More than just a coin.

 

I think you would be best of putting it up for auction rather than unloading it to a dealer in any case.

[James_OldeTowne]

The problem is that we don't know how much it originally cost (my client inherited it). He may end up having to just keep it if the secondary market is too weak, but I had an idea of possibly trying to sell it back to "Blanchard" if in fact that's where it originally came from - at a loss if necessary, of course.

[DaveG]

Here's a link that may help:

 

DeFalco column

[MBA101]

That article only lets you know that you got taken if you bought one from a dealer when they were initially offered. They values have come back a bit from the bottom back in '99 or so and today's bid is 7K, so the loss, if any, should be minimal.

[James_OldeTowne]

I've received a communication from Blanchard that helps clarify the likely value of the coin. My thanks to everyone who participated in this thread, and particularly to "Bob" at Blanchard for his help.