THE BUSINESS OF NUMISMATICS IN 2022

One thing that stands out to me as of late is the seemingly-unending announcements of very rare and important items coming to market in the near and long-term future. While it is true that in every calendar year there are landmark collections and important individual pieces sold, during the past 15 months—and the coming six months—there have been a tremendous amount of rare United States coins changing hands. The rare coin market has cooled off a bit over the past three months, in concert with the wider global economy, but owners of valuable numismatic material are still willing to consign to auction.

This may be considered two ways: 1) we are witnessing a running for the exits scenario, in which sellers are concerned that demand and prices will continue to soften and selling now will yield more than later; or 2) sellers are plenty happy with the appreciation in value of their holdings and it is simply the time to sell as part of normal investment/portfolio management.

Most of the important material that is selling in the near future (or already sold by the time this issue is printed and mailed) are coins that have been off the market for a very long time. Additionally, there is the ongoing sale of The Fairmont Collection, which has been a tremendous source of scarce date and high-grade gold coinage. The Stack's Bowers August 2022 Global Showcase auction features another run of half eagles, eagles, and double eagles from this massive collection. The same sale features the Mocatta Collection, which includes amazing mint state and proof gold coinage, including both Wire Edge and Rolled Edge $10 Indians, an 1864 Proof $10 in PCGS PR65DCAM, and an 1887 Proof $20 in PCGS/CAC PR65DCAM. For me, the clear standout of this collection is the 1825/4/1 Proof Half Eagle, graded PCGS/CAC PR67CAM. The last public appearance of this coin was in the Palace Collections of Egypt (the Farouk sale) in 1954.

I find it surprising that there has yet to be a coin sold for greater than $2 million in this calendar year. In 2021, this happened with regularity. The closest sale to that so far was the $1.8 million paid for the 1861 Proof Double Eagle in January. Certainly the 1825 Proof Half Eagle has the best shot to break through this level.

To read the complete article, see:
The Business of Numismatics: September 2022 Greysheet (https://www.greysheet.com/news/story/the-business-of-numismatics-september-2022-greysheet)

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
THE STRATOSPHERE OF NUMISMATICS (https://www.coinbooks.org/v25/esylum_v25n35a20.html)

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