My 1st St. Gaudens Purchase

[GoldFinger1969]

All Mine: Well, I bought it....shouldn't have given my uncertain work status but I don't see too many Saints at my local dealer (maybe 20x as many Liberty Double Eagles as Saints). I thought it looked pretty good.

 

Bought the coin but the grade was a comfort too.

 

Here are a few more pictures in addition to the ones a few posts above. Would appreciate any comments on this coin especially compared to the 1924 MS-65 pictured at the top of this thread. Thanks ! (thumbs u

 

[Walkerfan]

Beautiful coin!! Congrats!! I have always wanted one, too. I like the 1927 a little better than the 1924 issue. Yours looks like a real GEM. :thumbsup:

[CSdot]

All Mine: Well, I bought it....shouldn't have given my uncertain work status but I don't see too many Saints at my local dealer (maybe 20x as many Liberty Double Eagles as Saints). I thought it looked pretty good.

 

Bought the coin but the grade was a comfort too.

 

Here are a few more pictures in addition to the ones a few posts above. Would appreciate any comments on this coin especially compared to the 1924 MS-65 pictured at the top of this thread. Thanks ! (thumbs u

 

 

Beautiful saint. I think if you google it you can find a trick for rotating the coin in the holder so it goes back to it's original position.

[CSdot]

No that you have a couple you can start a registry set.

[GoldFinger1969]

Beautiful coin!! Congrats!! I have always wanted one, too. I like the 1927 a little better than the 1924 issue. Yours looks like a real GEM. :thumbsup:

 

Thanks Walker....maybe I'm lucky but it seems that my best purchases are the ones where I usually financially strapped and say "what the hell am I doing ?" I remember buying some bullion coins while I was out of work at $280 each 12 years ago.

 

So I'm hoping the 2 Saints are similarly looked at like that years down the road.

 

 

[GoldFinger1969]

Beautiful saint. I think if you google it you can find a trick for rotating the coin in the holder so it goes back to it's original position.

 

Thanks CS (thumbs u ....believe it or not, that was my biggest hangup in going ahead with the purchase. Then I said....."who cares ? It's off by a little....if the coin appreciates or gold skyrockets I can probably resubmit it or get it fixed by PCGS. If not, most people probably won't care."

 

Yeah, it'd be nice to get it oriented correctly. But even though I am usually fussy about stuff like that, I'm actually just gonna just enjoy it for a while (don't want to screw it up, also).

[Walkerfan]

Beautiful coin!! Congrats!! I have always wanted one, too. I like the 1927 a little better than the 1924 issue. Yours looks like a real GEM. :thumbsup:

 

Thanks Walker....maybe I'm lucky but it seems that my best purchases are the ones where I usually financially strapped and say "what the hell am I doing ?" I remember buying some bullion coins while I was out of work at $280 each 12 years ago.

 

So I'm hoping the 2 Saints are similarly looked at like that years down the road.

 

 

I really think that they will. With scarcity and the inflation of the US dollar---it isn't getting easier---that's for sure. There are very few coins that I've regretted purchasing and I have almost always made money on resales of others in the long term. You did well.

[CSdot]

For what it's worth, here is the YouTube video showing how to rotate a coin in a PCGS holder. I have never tried this before, so I can't say if it will work or if it does anything to the holder?

 

[GoldFinger1969]

Beautiful coin!! Congrats!! I have always wanted one, too. I like the 1927 a little better than the 1924 issue. Yours looks like a real GEM. :thumbsup:

Thanks Walker....maybe I'm lucky but it seems that my best purchases are the ones where I usually financially strapped and say "what the hell am I doing ?" I remember buying some bullion coins while I was out of work at $280 each 12 years ago. So I'm hoping the 2 Saints are similarly looked at like that years down the road.

I really think that they will. With scarcity and the inflation of the US dollar---it isn't getting easier---that's for sure. There are very few coins that I've regretted purchasing and I have almost always made money on resales of others in the long term. You did well.

 

Thanks.....cheap things can always get cheaper but I think that most of the 'fluff' in premiums was wrung out the last 5-10 years. Prices are sticky to the downside so even when the Coin Balloon burst in 1989/90 the premiums fell by half but still were elevated.

 

Gold numismatic coins and gold stocks did HORRIBLE as gold went up 3-5 fold 2001 onward. Most would have thought they provided leverage to the gold price but like an elevated stock with too high a Price/Earnings ratio, they got the fundamentals right but lost out on price and value.

[CSdot]

Before you know it you will have twelve Mint State $20 Saints with different dates and you'll ask yourself, "I wonder how that happened?"

[jtryka]

Looks like a nice coin, I've found on gold coins photos tend to really amplify the flaws, making them appear much worse in pictures than they are in person. Enjoy it!

[jtryka]

Before you know it you will have twelve Mint State $20 Saints with different dates and you'll ask yourself, "I wonder how that happened?"

 

That happened to me and the next thing I knew I was working on a set! Only 13 more to go, 14 if you count the '33...

[Walkerfan]

Before you know it you will have twelve Mint State $20 Saints with different dates and you'll ask yourself, "I wonder how that happened?"

 

That happened to me and the next thing I knew I was working on a set! Only 13 more to go, 14 if you count the '33...

 

That's AWESOME!!

[GoldFinger1969]

FYI....I posted in another thread regarding prices for MS65 Saints on Ebay. Since we talked a bit about my just-acquired 1927, thought this might be of interest. Very interesting prices asked and responses when I asked for flexibility:

 

http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=7465742#Post7465742

[GoldFinger1969]

I am wondering, as it isn't clear from my reading: the 1927 is so common but the 1927-D ultra-rare.

Does this have anything to do with the 1927's being on the East Coast (lots of European immigrants and easy access to ports/trans-Atlantic shipping) while the 1927-D's would have been in the Midwest and thus land-locked ?

 

So...when FDR issues his Gold Order, that's why virtually all the 1927-Ds are in bank vaults and melted but so many 1927's (and 1924's, etc.) are overseas, safe-and-sound.

 

Comments, experts ?

[BillJones]

So...when FDR issues his Gold Order, that's why virtually all the 1927-Ds are in bank vaults and melted but so many 1927's (and 1924's, etc.) are overseas, safe-and-sound.

 

 

It might have something to do with the fact that Philadelphia is on the East Coast and an Atlantic port city. Denver is land locked, and for the most part we mostly sent silver to Asia, not gold.

 

In other words ditto with what you wrote.

[GoldFinger1969]

It might have something to do with the fact that Philadelphia is on the East Coast and an Atlantic port city. Denver is land locked, and for the most part we mostly sent silver to Asia, not gold. In other words ditto with what you wrote.

 

Thanks Bill....I did surmise that on my own, I didn't see it anywhere. Just makes sense from my college studies of monetary policy and early-immigrant behaviors that I read almost 30 years ago.

 

Still surprised that the 1927-D is so rare. I could understand so many of them getting returned/stored/melted but you would have thought a larger percentage would have been in private hands that decided to ignore the gold ban, numismaticists who have the exemption, some overseas, etc.

 

Off the top of my head, I believe there are only 2-3 dozen out there. From 180,000 total, that's like 99.99% getting destroyed.

 

Plus, the 1927's almost had 5 years to circulate and make their way around the country/overseas (unlike the 1932's) so you'd figure they'd escape such a wipeout.

 

I'll bet FDR and his cronies probably thought they'd get 70-90% compliance, looks like it was alot higher (certainly was for the 1927-D's).

[CSdot]

Goldfinger- what year do you have your eye on next? Maybe one of the newly discovered Liberty DEs from the California hoard find?

 

I think my next will be a 1909 or a 1916S.

[Walkerfan]

I think my next will be a 1909 or a 1916S.

 

SWEET SET!! First time that I've checked it out! (thumbs u

[CSdot]

SWEET SET!! First time that I've checked it out! (thumbs u

 

 

Thanks. I bet I could have found one of the dates I need at the big numismatic show in Atlanta this weekend, but I told my wife I would take her out for her birthday and I don't think she would appreciate me skipping out to go on a coin hunt.

 

Just checked out your Walkers. You've got a nice set going there.

[Walkerfan]

SWEET SET!! First time that I've checked it out! (thumbs u

 

 

Thanks. I bet I could have found one of the dates I need at the big numismatic show in Atlanta this weekend, but I told my wife I would take her out for her birthday and I don't think she would appreciate me skipping out to go on a coin hunt.

 

Just checked out your Walkers. You've got a nice set going there.

 

Thanks a lot

 

Yeah--you better take the wife out to dinner or you'll be in the doghouse. There's always next time.

[jtryka]

That is a very nice set, I appreciate that you put photos and comments in your coins, I think it adds a lot to the set!

 

Here is a link to my set: http://coins.www.collectors-society.com/registry/coins/SetListing.aspx?PeopleSetID=1948&Ranking=ngc

 

I'm afraid it's been a while since I've made any progress on it!

[CSdot]

That is a very nice set, I appreciate that you put photos and comments in your coins, I think it adds a lot to the set!

 

Here is a link to my set: http://coins.www.collectors-society.com/registry/coins/SetListing.aspx?PeopleSetID=1948&Ranking=ngc

 

I'm afraid it's been a while since I've made any progress on it!

 

Thanks. Great set!

 

While I understand that some folks might not have digital cameras or the computer skills, I certainly appreciate it when members take the time to include photos in their registry sets.

[Walkerfan]

That is a very nice set, I appreciate that you put photos and comments in your coins, I think it adds a lot to the set!

 

Here is a link to my set: http://coins.www.collectors-society.com/registry/coins/SetListing.aspx?PeopleSetID=1948&Ranking=ngc

 

I'm afraid it's been a while since I've made any progress on it!

 

Thanks. Great set!

 

While I understand that some folks might not have digital cameras or the computer skills, I certainly appreciate it when members take the time to include photos in their registry sets.

 

+1

[DaveG]

GoldFinger,

 

In general, double eagles never "circulated" because they were just too large a coin - they represented too much money for almost anyone to have or spend at one time. Probably the only times they were actually used for commerce would have been prior to the restoration of gold convertibility in 1879, when import duties had to be paid in gold - a merchant would have gone to his bank (or bullion broker, depending on the time period), gotten gold coins and then taken them to the customs office to pay duty. The normal means for paying for large purchases were currency or checks.

 

In general, throughout their lives, double eagles were primarily exported - to pay for imports or to pay interest on debt held by foreigners, that sort of thing. In addition, as RWB has mentioned, the Treasury started discouraging gold from circulating domestically starting during WWI and by the mid-1920s, most people were comfortable using currency (except perhaps in California, which had opposed currency from the mid-19th century).

 

As you know, most of the branch mint double eagles from the mid-1920s onward are rare, mostly because they were either in Treasury or Mint storage or acting as bank reserves when gold was recalled in 1933. The Philadelphia-mint coins that survived were exported, usually from New York - the city of Philadelphia wasn't really a factor, because the big banks and the busier port were in New York.

 

For example, while the 1927 is readily available (Bowers gives an upper-end estimate of 650,000 survivors out of 2.9 million minted or a 22% survival rate), the 1927-D (17 out of 180,000 or .0094%) and the 1927-S (250 out of 3.1 million or .008%) are not.

 

Today, we know that the surviving coins were exported (and not melted) at the time, because so many coins were brought back from Europe, Latin America, etc. after WWII.

[GoldFinger1969]

Goldfinger- what year do you have your eye on next? Maybe one of the newly discovered Liberty DEs from the California hoard find? I think my next will be a 1909 or a 1916S.

 

I really need to get cracking on my job search but now my friends want to drag me out to the Parsippany Show.

 

I hope I don't find some killer 1911 or 1914 Saints that will make another hole in my pocket.

 

I believe I could get another MS65 for the 1914 but no way on the 1911; would have to take that down to MS-63 to have any chance.

[GoldFinger1969]

Today, we know that the surviving coins were exported (and not melted) at the time, because so many coins were brought back from Europe, Latin America, etc. after WWII.

 

Thanks Dave...outstanding analysis..I'm just surprised just that between non-compliance and coin collectors, you would have thought that more would have made it.

 

There had to be lots of coin collectors in the 1930's as opposed to decades earlier. I realize most people were concerned with surviving The Depression but you would have thought that at least a few hundred if not a few thousand might have made it.

 

Guess not.

[GoldFinger1969]

deleted post -- dupe

[GoldFinger1969]

For what it's worth, here is the YouTube video showing how to rotate a coin in a PCGS holder. I have never tried this before, so I can't say if it will work or if it does anything to the holder?

 

CS, thanks for this spot, I missed this post a while back and just noticed it now. (thumbs u

 

Edit: Ummm...after watching the video, I think I'll live with the coin off 30 degrees or so. I'm not sure I want to bang a $2,000 coin like that.....$200 maybe.

[GoldFinger1969]

Next Hunt: Thanks to all the suggestions from the site....I scouted a 1923-D from a dealer....MS-65 & CAC.....$2,800.

 

I'm not entirely sure where the market is for this mint-marked Saint, but it is at least 25% higher than even Ebay prices (offers/BIN) that I see, so could be 30% over completed sales which still might be above the non-Ebay market (haven't seen this issue at other places to compare).

 

Is a 25-30% premium for a Green CAC sticker (~$500) reasonable, in your experts' opinions ? Is this customary for most coins....most coins that cost about $2,500....or Saints ?