Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2019 i COINage

Coin grading history is filled with criticism and frustration. More than a hundred years ago, some collectors wrote letters to the editor of the American Numismatic Association’s (ANA) journal, The Numismatist, complaining about coin grading. There are still gripes in the marketplace today, but the hobby has made tremendous, positive progress the past 50 years to improve grading and consistency. Grading was not the only problem. The deluge of counterfeit and altered coins in the marketplace was so bad in the 1960s and early 1970s that legendary New York City dealer John J. Ford, Jr. claimed more than half the 1916-D Winged Liberty (“Mercury”) dimes he encountered were fakes. In 1972, the ANA formally established the American Numismatic Association Certification Service (ANACS) to authenticate and grade coins. ANACS issued certificates…

For those who have who been in the numismatic hobby for only 25 or 30 years, it is rather unimaginable that there was ever a period known as “BC”: Before Certification. Yet prior to the mid-1980s, there were no slabs, the popular sonically sealed, tamper-resistant plastic holders labeled with a coin’s grade and identifying information. This concept revolutionized the numismatic industry and opened the door for even more collectors, dealers, and investors to engage in trading rare coins, and often sight unseen. But that’s not all third-party graders, or TPGs, have done. They have also established a set of tight grading standards for the industry and have helped provide a greater sense of security to those who wish to trade in rare and valuable coins. A generation after TPGs built…

The Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) and Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC) are the undisputed leaders in a commercial sense, as almost all U.S. silver coins worth more than $500 each, and the vast majority of surviving pre-1934 U.S. gold coins worth more than $2,000 each, have been encapsulated by one of these two grading services. The dominance and acceptance of these two services are obvious to seasoned coin buyers and sellers. Perceptions of the assigned grades, however, have been changing over time, and my interpretation is that there has been some loss of faith in the grading services. With advances in technology, it may become cost-effective in the future to track individual coins that are relatively inexpensive, rather than just referring to them by type, date, and grade. If pedigrees…

On May 8, 2019, gold traded at $1,290. Two months later, gold traded at around $1,400, up $110. In that same two-month period, MS-64 common-date $20 Liberty double eagle gold coins – graded by PCGS or NGC – rose $195 in price, and MS-64 common-date Saint-Gaudens double eagles rose by the same $195. In this two-month period, we have gone from an excess supply to a shortage. And that shortage will likely worsen since European suppliers do not make their coins available in the late summer, as they generally take a six-week vacation that starts in late July. Europe is “closed for business” during August, and that includes banks and coin dealers. So we may see prices continue to rise. DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES FOCUS ON “SPEND, SPEND, SPEND” – BOOSTING…

While PCGS and NGC are often recognized as the standard-bearers in the world of third-party coin grading, a look back at the history of TPGs would be incomplete without a look at ANACS. (See the article elsewhere in this issue written by ANACS founding grader, Thomas K. Delorey.) Founded by the American Numismatic Association in 1972, ANACS is actually the oldest third-party coin evaluation institution in the hobby. ANACS originally operated on the premise of only authenticating coins but expanded to grading by March 1979, just as a great market boom was taking shape. “ANACS had 100% market share of the grading business when it started,” says former ANA President David Ganz says. “But we competed against the marketplace and found that it really couldn’t compete.” Following the meteoric rise…

Gold is trying to break above the technical resistance line of $1,400 per ounce. The long-term chart of gold looks constructive, while mainstream investors remain apathetic towards gold and precious metals in general. However, it is hard to be wildly bullish towards gold with the broad strength in the U.S. dollar (USD). On the personal level, I have been using the current range-bound gold market as an opportunity to acquire low-grade (AU-55 to MS-62) Saint-Gaudens double eagles (Saints) at almost zero premium to melt. In fact, I recently purchased a respectable quantity of MS-63 and even MS-64 PCGS/CAC- and NGC/CAC-certified Saints at shockingly low premiums over their melt value. The anomalously compressed premiums in these collectible certified gold coins continues, in my view, to represent a historic buying opportunity for…

Maurice Rosen is best known as the editor and publisher of the widely acclaimed Rosen Numismatic Advisory (RNA) which provides in-depth analysis and market commentary. The RNA has won more “Best Newsletter of the Year Award” honors from the Numismatic Literary Guild than any other newsletter: 30 annual awards since 1985. Rosen is also president of Numismatic Counseling, Inc. (NCI), a Plainview, New York rare coin firm specializing in the acquisition and management of coin and precious metals investment portfolios for its clients. NCI was founded in 1976. Rosen has been a full-time professional numismatist since 1968. Rosen is frequently quoted in numismatic and investment publications and is a popular speaker at investment conferences, trade shows and seminars. Rosen’s strong pro-consumer advocacy stance has earned him considerable regard. Some of…

Expanded Designation More Coins Could Qualify as ‘Prooflike’ [SANTA ANA, CALIFORNIA] Professional Coin Grading Service (www. PCGS.com) announced that every qualifying Mint State United States and world coin, token, and medal submitted for grading is now eligible to receive the designation “Prooflike” (PL). PCGS standards declare a coin’s surface to be Proof-like when there is a clear reflection in the fields on both sides as viewed from two to four inches away. The PL designation was first available for qualifying Morgan dollars when PCGS began in February 1986. “As of July 1, all Mint State coins, tokens, and medals, U.S. and world, that meet the PCGS Prooflike standards now are eligible for PL designation,” said Brett Charville, PCGS president. “During the Ask Me Anything we conducted on our U.S. Coin…

John Albanese recalls a time when he and many others in the industry noticed that, among random samplings of identical coins in identical slabs with identical grades, some pieces were simply better than others. “Everything has a top 10 percent, and that includes slabbed coins,” he says. In an effort to carve a new market niche for the “A” coins, or the best coins of the grade, Albanese founded Certified Acceptance Corporation, or CAC, in 2007. At CAC, Albanese and his team of graders evaluate thousands of certified coins on a monthly basis, selecting certain ones that are clearly at the top of their class for that grade. “There was a strong feeling that those who were the fussiest in putting away their nicest coins were being penalized because the…