Greysheet: DEALERS DESCEND ON CHICAGO FOR CSNS

The numismatic community descends on Schaumburg, Illinois this week for the Central States Numismatic Society convention with buzz in the air about a new coin release from the U.S. Mint and higher precious metals prices. Heritage will be conducting auctions during the show of both U.S. coins and currency, offering over 8,800 lots total.

GOLD MERC DIME RELEASE SELLS OUT IN 45 MINUTES
The United States Mint released the highly anticipated 2016 Mercury Dime Centennial Gold Coin on Thursday, April 21st and unsurprisingly it sold out in 45 minutes. The coin, which had a mintage of 125,000 and is 1/10th ounce pure gold, was priced at $205 and had an order limit of 10 coins per household. The pricing of the coin, along with the future releases of the Standing Liberty and Walking Liberty Centennial were recently added to the Mint’s “Pricing of Numismatic Gold, Commemorative Gold, and Platinum Products,” which dictates the what the Mint charges for its coins based on the gold spot price at time of release. For comparison, a 1/10th ounce proof Gold Eagle would be priced at $175 for the same spot price, 15% less than the gold Mercury. The price is also higher percentage wise relative to gold spot than the $5 commemorative gold coins. As has been the case in recent years, many of the coins were immediately offered in the secondary market by dealers and individuals. Scanning eBay the evening of the release, raw coins in their box were trading between $260 and $320, while certified MS70 coins were being pre-sold in the range of $450 and $550. It will be interesting to follow the population numbers as these coins begin to be certified by the major grading services to see the percentage of coins given the MS70 grade.

METALS CONTINUE TO PLEASE
Silver has been on quite a tear recently. Our April 15th issue had silver spot at $15.32, last week’s issue at $16.20, and this week we find ourselves at $17.21, nearly two dollars higher. Meanwhile the yellow metal has been range bound between the high $1220s and the low $1250s, causing a number of market pundits to predict a large breakout to the upside is imminent. Of course gold and silver generally move in tandem, so this prediction may prove to be accurate. The recent rise in the crude oil spot price is also a positive event for precious metals. Something that is assured is continued high levels of volatility across the stock, currency, and commodity markets.

THIS WEEKS MARKET
Gold Type: As to be expected a slew of higher bids are in this week for mint state generic gold coinage, highlighted by $5 Liberties and Indians and double eagles.