Greysheet: MARKET UPDATE, DEALERS PREPARE FOR CHICAGO CSNS

Gold has rallied nicely in recent days, while equities – especially financials – have waned. The yellow metal has jumped over $25 in the past three days as of this writing. To the surprise of the wider market, the U.S. dollar has weakened, especially against the Japanese yen. The USD/JPY currency pair has been the main indicator for the direction of stocks for the past few years, and a rapidly strengthening yen is a negative sign.

Great Collections, the online auction firm, is offering the Yosemite Collection of U.S. type coins over the next several weeks. Also including Colonials, the collection totals just over 400 pieces. It contains significant amounts of Liberty Seated and Capped Bust coinage, mostly in grades of Very Fine through About Uncirculated which are both very popular with collectors and hard for dealers to source. Liberty Seated half dimes, dimes, and quarters appear to be the most well represented within the collection. There are also a small number of mint state pieces. Approximately 25% of the coins are CAC-approved, adding to the appeal.

As dealers have recovered and processed all of their Baltimore business, sights are next set upon the Chicago suburb of Schaumburg for the Central States Numismatic Society show which begins April 27th. We will have extensive coverage of the show and the Heritage auction in upcoming issues.

THIS WEEK’S MARKET
Eagles: We made an important change – at a reader’s suggestion – on how we list the 2007 two coin Platinum set. This oft-overlooked set consists of two ½ ounce coins, one in a reverse proof finish and the other in the standard proof finish and were issued to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the platinum eagle program. In our listings on page 5, the reverse proof is listed in the “MS” column and the standard proof in the “PR” column under the “$50 Plat” heading. The set price can be found under the “Plat Set” heading.
Modern Commems: The gold Kennedy half dollar has seen better days, as this nearly two-year old coin is now trading near its intrinsic value.
Morgan & Peace Dollars: We continue to analyze the results of the Baltimore auction, which yielded a fair amount of price movement in the Morgan dollar series. In Peace dollars, a host of new bids for circulated coins are observed. About UNC coins see the most positive movement.
BU Rolls: In a continuation of updates from last week, Kennedy half dollars receive new bids.