You'd be surprised how often I see or hear of people doing things to their coins that will absolutely damage them. I mean flat-out knock 30% or more of the value off the coin. I'm not talking about drilling holes into the coins, colorizing them, or something else crazy like that. No -- I'm referring to things that to a non-numismatist seem benign but to seasoned collectors are downright damaging and possibly even catastrophic to coins and their value.
Gold and silver prices have climbed back to mid-October levels, but how long will bullion values sustain at this level? American silver and gold eagle coins seem to be languishing at the moment, as nobody can really tell where the bullion market will be tomorrow, next week, or next month. It seems this market uncertainty is persuading many investors to hold their wallets and purses tight, because as this U.S. Mint report for American silver and gold eagle bullion sales shows, there was relatively little activity this past week. Of course, some of that may have to do with the coming transition over to year 2015 American eagle coin production.
It was another busy week in silver and gold trading. Over last weekend, both metals stumbled in price, with silver at one point in the low $15 range and gold trading in the $1,140s. By Monday and Tuesday, a recovery brought prices of those metals respectively back into the $16 and $1,200 range. Meanwhile, the United States Mint is transitioning into 2015 American eagle coin issues, and release dates for those coins have been announced; the U.S. Mint will begin accepting orders for 2015 American silver eagles on January 12, 2015 while allocations for American eagle gold coins bearing the new date will begin on January 20.
American eagle silver and gold coin sales figures for November 2014 appear strong, though overall the numbers weren’t quite as high in November as they were in October 2014. A very small part of this may be due to the fact that the U.S. Mint was closed for the Thanksgiving holiday.
December 1 marks Cyber Monday in 2014, and perhaps you're wondering if you should buy silver and gold bullion coins while you're shopping for your family and friends. While silver and gold decorations may be on every Christmas tree, silver and gold bullion coins are stacking up in coin dealers' and bullion brokers' cases as they stock up on inventory to meet increasing demands over the holidays.
While Americans recovered from tryptophan lows and Black Friday shopping highs, the bullion market quietly slid back just a tad for the week ending November 28, 2014. Silver now rests at $15.56 while gold settled to $1,167 – just a bit off last week’s bullion prices of $15.75 and $1,175, respectively. As bullion prices reclined a tad in the easy chair (and who didn’t last Thursday or Friday?), the U.S. Mint closed out the month of November 2014 with some respectable numbers in terms of American silver and gold coin sales.
The Walking Liberty half dollar, designed by Adolph A. Weinman, is commonly considered the most beautiful silver coin ever made by the United States Mint. It’s also a beloved collectible coin and a popular series on eBay, where thousands of circulated and high-end specimens are commonly traded each month. A look at the October 2014 eBay sales data shows more than a dozen Walking Liberty half dollars sold for more than $1,500, and all of the Top 25 most expensive specimens sold for $985 or more.
The Standing Liberty quarter, designed by Hermon A. MacNeil and produced from 1916 through 1930, was the design immediately preceding the Washington quarter and remains a popular collectible today. The Standing Liberty quarter had a relatively short production run yet presents numerous challenges to collectors. Most notably, it has three distinct design types: Type I quarters show Miss Liberty’s exposed right breast, Type II quarters depict a fully clothed Miss Liberty and a slightly redesigned reverse, and the third type of quarter has a recessed date.
Mercury dimes are a favorite series for many collectors of 20th-century United States coinage and are commonly collected by date and mintmark, much like other series from the middle of the 20th century. Mercury dimes enjoy brisk sales on the eBay auction site, though for the most part the series is not considerably expensive to complete as a set, at least in circulated grades. Only a few issues in the Mercury dime series are categorically rare, and by far the most sought-after of the scarce issues is the 1916-D Mercury dime.
Buffalo nickels are very popular with old-time coin collectors and younger ones alike, and many of these classic five-cent coins did very well on the eBay auction site in October 2014. In fact, one Buffalo nickel sold for three grand on eBay in October, and all the rest of the Buffalo nickels on this Top 25 list sold for $1,025 or more – very respectable prices indeed.
Lincoln cents are one of the most popular collectible American coins, and they always do big business on eBay. October 2014 was no exception, as dozens of rare, expensive Lincoln cents hit the popular online auction block. The usual suspects all were all among the Top 10 most expensive Lincoln cents sold on eBay in October, though surprisingly the 1922 no-D does not show up until the 12th spot. You will also see a few supreme-grade coins represented across the Top 25 and, of course, a heaping helping of 1909-S VDB Lincoln cents to round out this list.
Closing out the week of November 21, 2014, bullion coin sales were once again robust riding on a slight stabilization of silver and gold prices over the past week. If you’ve been following bullion prices in the past few weeks, you’ll recall that the price of silver briefly fell below $15 on November 7 and held in the $15 range for much of the following week.
It’s always educational for Morgan dollar collectors and investors to look over eBay sales data and see what various issues in the series have sold for over the past month. This glance at the Top 25 eBay sales for Morgan dollars in October 2014 shows many of the usual suspects claiming Top 10 spots, along with a few encapsulated high-grade specimens that are otherwise “common dates.”
The first week of November saw silver and gold prices slide even further into four-year lows, but during the second week, it appears that a slight correction may be in the works. While we were talking about gold plummeting down to $1130 and silver dipping below $15 in the first week of November, this bullion report shows metal prices are edging northward again.
Here at Coin Values, we’ve been working hard to unveil a new site feature that we think you’re going to love. It’s the eBay coin sales chart, and it gives you updated price data for all types of coins sold on the popular auction site. We’ve decided to release this amazing new module for Morgan silver dollars first, which are among the most widely bought and sold coins in the coin collecting and bullion investment markets.
The October 2014 American eagle coin sales report is in, and what a wild month it has been. Apropos for a Halloween report, it was an October of both tricks and treats in the bullion coin market.
Last week’s American eagle silver and gold coin sales report from the U.S. Mint was written before the tumble that gold and silver prices took over the past few days. For the record, at this moment, silver is trading at $16.24 and gold is at $1,175. This same time last week, those two metals were priced at $17.20 and $1,231, respectively.
When I went to sleep last night, silver was at $17.04 and gold was trading at $1210. All morning long today, I’ve been watching prices for both metals trend downward, and where it will end up is anybody’s guess. This event, of course, is causing some discomfort for bullion investors who purchased American silver eagles and American gold eagles over the past couple weeks, as metals prices looked to be rebounding from lows in early October.
Take a look at the top eBay sales of Mercury dimes from September 2014 and you'll see a good mixture of high-end common dates, circulated key dates, and a few minting varieties. Perhaps most interesting about the Mercury dimes on this list are the number of super-grade pieces – those that grade Mint State 67 or higher.
