The Business of Numismatics: May 2025 Greysheet Editor's Letter

The S&P 500 was down 5.75% for the month of March, which represented its biggest monthly decline since September 2022. Friday, April 6 saw unprecedented volume in the stock markets with the number of individual shares traded approaching historic heights, and the S&P lost another 6% that trading day alone, a move not seen since March 2020. Gold has set multiple new all-time highs so far in 2025 to break through the $3,100 per ounce price but has now retreated to trade in the $2,960 range as of this writing. The majority of this price volatility stems from the effect of the buzzword of the year so far, that being tariffs. Wide ranging such as they are, touching nearly every economic sector, we are fortunate that precious metal bullion is exempted from such levies. The National Coin and Bullion Association issued a news alert the week the tariffs were put in force clarifying that within a fact sheet released by the Administration, bullion was specifically exempted. An additional 10% on top of the premiums already charged for foreign bullion coins would have put a severe strain on the market. Tariffs are problematic, however, for United States based buyers who wish to bid in overseas auctions. For example, both Stack’s Bowers and Heritage hold auction sales in Hong Kong. Thus, any coins and paper money in such a sale consigned from within China or Hong Kong are now subject to tariffs of greater than 50% if a buyer wishes to take delivery in the United States. This is in addition to the buyer’s premium and other fees. This certainly impacts how one figures their bid levels.

On the rare coin front, reports from our Whitman Baltimore Expo were mostly all positive, with dealers expressing pleasant surprise with the number of attendees throughout the week. The city of Baltimore has continued their efforts to improve the Inner Harbor area as a safe place to do business. Behind the scenes many show goers may be unaware of the last-minute negotiations that took place to preserve an important aspect of the show. Unlike the tariffs at the federal level, this issue was at the state level, with the Maryland governor pushing a new budget that sought to repeal sales tax exemptions across the board in the state. Maryland has long had a sales tax exemption on the sale of coins and bullion, but this repeal would have meant that all sales at the show would have, in theory, been subject to sales tax. This would also require dealers to file a sales tax return, which few, if any, were prepared to do. Luckily, the exemption specific to coins and bullion remained, and through lobbying efforts there is a long-term solution in the works to protect it.

The week following the sale Stack’s Bowers held their important Spring Showcase auction, which covered U.S. coins, Americana, and paper money. As has been the norm over the past four years, gold coins led the way, with a beautiful Gem 1801 Capped Bust Eagle selling for $264,000, the highest price seen for an MS65 example. Another recent market trend has been the rise in value of rare historic American medals. Perhaps always undervalued, two wonderful silver medals sold for more than $100,000: a PCGS AU58+ example of the famous Libertas Americana and a very rare John Eager Howard Battle of Cowpens medal.

Sincerely,

Patrick Ian Perez, patrick@whitmanbrands.com