Greysheet: OCTOBER HERITAGE SALE YIELDS SOLID RESULTS

Heritage Auctions recently held a U.S. coin Signature sale in Dallas which offered over 3,300 lots over a span of three days. While this auction was not held in tandem with a major convention, it realized nearly $8.5 million in total prices realized. The most notable offering in the sale was the Walter Greenman Collection, Part I, a selection of 40 coins which contained the majority of the top lots. It contained the single six-figure coin in the sale, a 1794 Flowing Hair dollar, PCGS VF25, which brought $146,875. The next five coins in order of price were gold, with a 1797 $10 Large Eagle, NGC MS62 at $82,250; a PCGS PR50 Flowing Hair $4 Stella at $79,313; the always popular 1796 No Stars $2½ graded PCGS XF45 also selling for $79,313; an 1871-CC double eagle in an AU55 NGC holder for $64,625; and a $50 Pan-Pac Octagonal graded PCGS AU55 for $49,350.

Another notable result from this particular auction was a 1900-S Morgan dollar, graded PCGS/CAC MS67, which sold for a new record (for a non-PL or DMPL) at $39,950. Only one coin of this date has sold for more-a MS67PL which sold in 2007 and 2009, both times for $48,875. There are five coins combined at this grade level, two of which have received the CAC sticker. The other CAC coin sold recently also via Heritage, as part of the McClure collection, and realized $11,750. Such is the nuance of understanding high-grade, low-population coins.

READERS WEIGH IN ON RECENT MORGAN PRICING

Morgan dollars have been a hot topic of late. A combination of increasing populations for certain dates/grades, soft auction results, and lack of sight-seen bidding have led to lower levels on a handful of coins. When reviewing pricing, we find it to be irresponsible for us to leave a coin unchanged if recent auction prices are significantly lower than the current price and there is an absence of a dealer bidder. An example is the 1897-S in MS67. For a while bid had been $5,000, but the two most recent auction prices realized were well below that level. As a buyer using the Greysheet as a guide, it is a disservice if our number is 15% to 20% above what the coin has recently traded at. Other examples include the 1887/6 in MS66 and the 1901-S in MS65. On the positive side, we have already seen increased activity in dealer bids on the electronic exchanges for the Morgan dollar series. See this week’s Bluesheet edition for further analysis.

THIS WEEKS MARKET

Silver Commems: A sprinkling of plus signs for this series this week, as dealer support for a few issues is present.
Gold Type: One-dollar gold types are active, with a fair amount of positive activity. The stability of the gold spot price over the past week has helped this quickly moving market to firm up. Bids for CAC stickered coins are still plentiful.