The Carter Numismatics team just returned from the March edition of the tri-annual Baltimore Coin and Currency show and overall business at the show was brisk. While we managed to sell a hearty chunk of the inventory we had offered for sale, we found that buying fresh material remains difficult. In terms of buying this was one of our more disappointing shows in recent memory. While we always manage to buy groups of nice coins from our “regulars” at these big shows, very few cool coins “came out of the woodwork” throughout the week.
Around this time a year ago the Dow was in a free-fall and popular thinking was that the world as we know it was coming to an end. Thankfully(!) the world never came to an end and both financial asset and collector coin prices have recovered and leveled-off considerably. In hindsight, it appears that last year from the February Long Beach show through the April Central States show in Cincinnati the market experienced a trough or low-water mark of price levels on collector coins. Thankfully, the current market inconsistency seems to be related more to a lack of fresh material in the market rather than exogenous economic effects. Also, this time of year the industry normally experiences a slight lull from the fact that a lot of coin dealers and collectors alike are gearing up to pay their tax bills.
As indicated by the Baltimore show, the general state of the rare coin market seems to be a mixed bag. Generic gold continues to trade at historically high premiums over melt but is no longer trading at the astronomical levels witnessed just a few short months ago. Type coins and “stuff” still seem to lag rest of the general market. But the push for quality spurred on by the creation of CAC more than two years ago is continuing; truly nice coins are hard to come by and a queue forms wherever nice coins are to be had. It’s not survival of the fittest but survival of the finest as quality coins disappear from inventories instantaneously while low-end and unattractive coins languish in dealer inventories and often seem unsaleable at virtually any price. This appeal for quality echoes the approach we’ve always taken here at Carter Numismatics. Of the thousands of coins we buy and sell each year at CNI, we only offer a portion of our inventory on the website to our collector clients. The coins we choose to offer on our website are always coins we’ve hand selected for quality and eye appeal. Check out site periodically for new listings!
