Welcome back to Something About Coins! The latest U.S. Mint sales report features the debuting sales of the American Proof Platinum Eagles. The Perth Mint has new silver Transformers Coins that feature the character Optimus Prime from the cartoon and animated series. Doug Winter contrasts the art market to the rare coin market, and Steve Roach looks at the Walking Liberty half dollar market. A free online price guide for world coins is now available. Enjoy!
Quick 2011 American Proof Platinum Eagle Start, coinnews.net
The 2011 Proof American Platinum Eagle coin moved briskly in its opening days, despite a collector-distracting holiday weekend, a deterring price point, and an increased mintage limit which can suppress call-to-action buying. Given said factors, the coin's debuting sales were not only comparable, but better-than-expected when contrasted against the past two issues which sold out in a single week. However, the 2011 Proof American Platinum Eagle inventory will take longer to deplete than the previous two issues, the latest US Mint sales figures ... Click for coin article
Perth Mint Issues 2011 Transformers Optimus Prime Silver Proof Coin, worldmintcoins.com
The Perth Mint of Australia has created a new series of coins sure to be a hit both among collectors as well as action movie fans as it features the fictional characters of the Dreamworks Paramount movie Transformers: Dark of the Moon which will be released into theaters this summer. One of the coins in the series, and likely to be the most popular, is the Transformers III - Optimus Prime 1 oz. Silver Proof Coin. As the name of the strike indicates, the reverse of the coin contains a colorized "action shot" of the fabled hero of the series, Optimus Prime ... Click for coin article
Why the Rare Coin Market Isn't the Art Market, raregoldcoins.com
As much as coin dealers–myself included–try to compare the coin market to the art market, the more you look at coins, the more you realize how insignificant this market (currently) is when compared to art. Will the coin market ever "catch up" to the art market and is it fair to make any coin vs. art comparisons? I'd like to share my thoughts on this with you. If you look at art from an outsider's perspective, the prices that great objects bring seem baffling. $50 million dollar Warhols? $100 million Giacometti sculptures? And what seems all the ... Click for coin article
NGC Releases Complete Online World Coin Price Guide, ngccoin.com
Access is free to this comprehensive online price guide for World Coins. Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC) with Krause Publications' NumisMaster, has released an online price guide of World Coins from 1600 to date. The World Coin Price Guide, available on NGC's website, is the most comprehensive free resource of its kind on the internet. Values for more than 350,000 coins are listed as well as photographs of thousands of different issues. Many world coin prices are updated daily, and new photographs are added monthly ... Click for coin article
Which details are most important?, numismaticnews.net
How many times have you heard these words? "Grading is subjective" or "Grading is an art not a science?" That leaves a lot of room for interpretation, and we'll examine some of that in this column. The subjective nature of grading is possibly one reason many numismatists are conservative buyers or liberal sellers. There is less risk of taking a hit to the wallet. Knowledge is power. It can be a jungle out in the marketplace where the uninformed can be eaten alive. I don't choose to tell you how many times I have fallen victim and sold an item ... Click for coin article
Wholesale prices top retail, coinvaluesonline.com
As of May 25, there are at least five wholesale buyers who are aggressively buying MS-64 to MS-66 Walking Liberty half dollars in large quantities to fill orders. At the wholesale level, MS-64 examples are priced at $56, MS-65 pieces are at $131 and MS-66 coins are being sought in large quantities for $190 each. While silver's recent drop cooled off the overheated generic Mint State Morgan and Peace dollar market, Walking Liberty half dollars were unaffected. The retail prices that collectors are paying for the half dollars have not ... Click for coin article
Thanks for reading!
