Greysheet: ALL EYES ON WHITMAN EXPO IN BALTIMORE

The Whitman Baltimore Expo gets underway this week, the first of three that will be held this year. Much of the presale buzz has been about the Stacks Bowers sale of the Blue Moon collection, Part 1. The offering is focused around three primary areas: early proof sets, half eagles, and silver dollars. The proof sets range between the years 1865 and 1942, and many were purchased in the 1970s with pedigrees such as Garrett (Bowers and Merena), S.S. Forest, Jr. (Stacks), and the 1976 ANA auction (Stacks). While any complete early proof set is notable, a few from Blue Moon warrant special attention. The 1907 and 1908 sets both include all four gold denominations, and show how the Mint transitioned from Liberty head gold to Indian head gold and the Saint Gaudens double eagle. The 1908 also shows the Mint’s experimentation at the time, as all the 1908 gold are sand blast matte proofs. The 1873 is also very appealing because of the inclusion of a two cent, three cent silver, three cent silver, and half dime, once of the few years all of these coins were struck. The half eagles include early types in high grade and many Liberty head branch mint issues. The silver dollars start with flowing hair and draped bust, including the undoubted highlight of the sale: the PCGS/CAC AU58+ 1794 dollar. Last sold in 1978, experts agree that the coin is uncirculated and is one of the finest known. The nine (9) Gobrecht dollars are all graded PR64 or PR65 and is an opportunity to acquire multiple different varieties of these heavily researched issues. A spectacular run of Liberty Seated dollars is highlighted by coins such as a PCG S MS63 1848, a PCGS PR65+ 1852 Restrike, and PCGS/CAC MS65+ 1864. As has been proven time and again, the market is hungry for fresh coins that have been off the market for many years, and the Blue Moon collection contains many.

PRICING FOR CERTIFIED SILVER EAGLES ADDED TO BLUESHEET

We’ve added PCGS and NGC pricing for MS/PR69/70 American Silver Eagles (ASE) in the March 31/April 1 Bluesheet. Prices for raw coins remain here in the Greysheet. The market for certified ASE’s has matured over the past few years and we’ve received significant demand for these prices. If you are not a subscriber of the Bluesheet, we encourage you to do so today. Weekly and monthly-only subscriptions are now available at a reduced rate. Call us today at 757-656-1055 for introductory pricing.

Correction: In last week’s Greysheet article, we referred to the upcoming Pogue collection sale as part IV, when in fact it is part V.

THIS WEEK’S MARKET

WEEKLY GREYSHEET

Peace dollars:

Extensive review of this series this week with a fair number of minus signs.

MONTHLY SUPPLEMENT

20th Century Gold:

Helped by a higher gold spot price, many coins show increases, along with a handful of better date Saints. It remains to be seen how long the historically-low premiums on generic gold will last.

Indian Cents:

This series continues to receive positive bidding from market makers.

QUARTERLY I

Half Cents:

Much positive activity in the circulated grades for early types, as we bring these series in line to recent market activity.

Half Dimes:

Mostly price increases for this type, mainly for the early Liberty Seated stars obverse type.

Quarters:

Better date Liberty Seated quarters have been performing relatively well as of late, while the proof issues still languish.