(Continued from page 1)

overwhelming defeat for the US, the economy will remain more or less like it is now - stable and unexciting. The excuse to sit on the sidelines will evaporate once war is over.  Few robust opportunities are likely in the stock market, so investors will be looking for new investment avenues. The recent gold price surge put hard assets on the investment landscape. Some investors will connect gold, rare coins and opportunity. Those not making that connection will find coin marketers making it for them.

      Coin dealer coffers are flush from the current collector driven market.  The large coin and bullion marketers are sinking extensive resources into marketing, beefing up sales staffs, and targeting investor demographics. These marketing  efforts, particularly when other investment areas are lackluster at best, should yield an outstanding harvest.  The

 

Pattern Basics

Why Pattern Coin Prices Are Likely to Explode

Economics and the Coin Market

Customized Numismatic Portfolios

Coins.  For the first time ever, this unique and fascinating area will be at center stage of the numismatic markets.         

      That is a large splash,

 

stage is set for a strong incursion of investment money into rare coins.

      Today’s investors are more savvy than a decade ago. They ask more questions, and demand more assurances.  Fortunately for today’s coin dealers, exhaustive  price information is available, as is a strong track record for PCGS and NGC certified coins. 

      The inevitable result of such marketing will be increased demand for product, especially product of higher quality.  This will likely have an impact on rarer date gold coins, higher end coins of all types, and in particular on the Pattern Coin Market.

      Patterns have a unique set of circumstances that could cause price inflation far beyond what other coins are likely to achieve. (see related

Point #1. Pattern Coins typically sell for one-fourth to one-fifteenth the price of other coins of similar rarity and condition.

Point #2.  PCGS and NGC together have certified just over 11,600 pattern coins including all designs and all grades. Even twice that number of coins is minuscule.

Point #3. No comprehensive price guide for patterns existed prior to February, 2000, which kept patterns in relative obscurity.

Point #4.  Since February, 2000 Pattern Dealer’s Association membership has increased by five fold.

Point #5.   The new price guide to be published in Summer, 2003 will show price increases of 10-20% or more from February, 2000.

Point #6.  The updated Judd Book - the “Bible” of Patterns will be released in Summer, 2003. It will receive major promotion.

Point #7. The 2004 Redbook (Guide Book of US Coins), the most widely read coin book in the US, will feature a special section of Patterns for the first time ever.  It will be released in August, 2003.

Point #8.  Patterns are usually high grade proofs, with unusual, lovely designs, unique histories - and  always attractive to collectors.

Point #9. Pattern mintage's are usually less than fifty, frequently less than twelve.  Very Rare.

Point #10. Until now, the Pattern market had never been exploited. Exploitation has started and is intensifying. Pandora’s box is open. 

SUMMARY: Prices are low, supply is low, and demand is escalating rapidly.  Marketability is proven. Price increases are inevitable.

 

Price in any market is a function of supply and demand. There is an extremely limited supply of Pattern Coins.  The two major grading services together have graded a total of just more than 11,600 pattern coins including all designs and all grades.  Even double that number would be a minuscule number of total coins.

  Until just recently, Patterns coins were relegated to the obscure province of a very few dedicated collectors.  They were so obscure, that no price sheet existed for pattern coins until February, 2000.  That price guide, which was not widely distributed, made it possible for many more dealers and collectors to trade patterns, increasing demand.  From then to the present, prices have risen already a minimum of 10-20%.

  The promotional blitz this summer of the new price guide (reflecting the higher prices) the new Judd Book and the Redbook will bring Patterns to the attention of a much larger group.

  When compared to other coins of similar rarity and condition, Pattern coins usually sell for one-fourth to one-fifteenth the price of other coins.

 

 

 

Every once in a while, it pays to clean out your closets. A few months ago, while doing precisely that, I came across an old watch box.  It wasn’t large - five by four by two inches - but what it contained brought a chuckle.

  Inside was the entirety of my first coin collection, assembled when I was seven or eight years old.  It contained nothing extraordinary: some Morgan and Peace Silver Dollars, Walking Liberty and Ben Franklin halves, Buffalo Nickels, Indian head pennies, mercury dimes and Washington quarters.  All the coins were well circulated, and none were rare date.  In fact, they were exactly the type of coins that I commonly call “junk.”

  That was what brought the chuckle.  After so many years of dealing with the rare and the beautiful, I realized that despite the fact that this was my first coin collection, it was such junk I no longer held any attachment to it.  After all, in the intervening years, I had handled hundreds of thousands of dollars of the same kind of stuff. 

  I totaled up the value, and was just a bit surprised when it came to over five hundred dollars.  Not bad for a small pile of junk!

  I sold it and sent the money to my daughter at college.  It sure made her happy - and that made me happy.  On top of that, I had a clean closet.  A “two-fer.”

  How many other people have hundreds or even thousands of dollars of such unused and forgotten little piles of junk coinage just sitting around that could be put to better use?  Do you?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pattern Coins (cont')

 fundamentals

because up until now, Pattern Coins were mainly the province of a small group of dedicated collectors. The vast majority of coin collectors have never even heard of pattern coins. 

  That will change this summer. Like a debutante strutting onto the ballroom floor for the first time, the elegance, beauty, rarity, romance and relatively inexpensive prices of pattern coins will turn heads, thrusting them out of obscurity forever - a once in a lifetime event. For pattern buyers who want a shot at big price increases, the time window between now and summer may well be a once in a lifetime opportunity.

articles this issue)

      Unlike the explosive but unstable 1980’s, price and certification mechanisms now in place should enhance market stability, enabling rapidly increasing prices to sustain much better than in the past.                     I buy coins.  I pay great prices.  I buy any and all coins, from the very rare down to circulated Indian cents, pre-1965 dimes, quarters and half dollars.   I even buy foreign coins and old US currency.  

  Why sell your coins?  You may  have lost interest in them.  Perhaps you have common date coins not likely to rise significantly in value. 

 

Perhaps you paid too much for coins (usually between 1987-1990) and need a tax loss to offset a capital gains from the sale of stock or real estate.  Or you

You inherited coins and want to split the proceeds among the heirs.  Or, you might have accumulated a huge volume of “junk” coins collected over the years which you might like to trade for a more manageable collection of higher value coins which are more likely to appreciate.  Perhaps you have reached an age where making your assets completely liquid is appropriate.  Or, maybe you just need cash now. 

 

Whatever the reason, call me toll free anytime if you are interested in selling all or part of your collectors you want to Sell your Coins?

I’m buying!

BAAAAAAH?.    I recommend that before you call, you put together an inventory of your coins. A coin inventory should include the following:  a) Denomination,  b) Date and mint mark, c) Grade  d) Grading Service (if applicable), e) Purchase price (if you are looking for tax advantages)This way, I can take the information when you call (if the list is large, you may want to fax or email it to me) and make an appointment to talk with you about your collection’s value.