2014 Rare Coin Market Report

(January 13, 2014 - by Barry Stuppler)

I just returned from the Florida United Numismatic (FUN) coin convention in Orlando. This convention is a major event for the rare coin community, with thousands of dealers, investors, and collectors attending. In addition to having a large trading floor with over 500 rare coin dealers, there was also a major rare coin auction. The activity level was as high as any rare coin convention that I have seen for the past 20 years. Dealers were aggressively bidding on, and purchasing, a limited amount of high quality U.S. rare coins which were available. Prices in the auction for Gold and Silver rarities (valued over $50,000) were running at approximately 20-25% higher than last year.

It is estimated that the overall rare coin market in the U.S. was at about $5 billion in 2013. That includes auctions and private transactions made at coin shows, by mail order, online, and at coin stores, but does not include numismatic bullion items or the modern coins sold directly by the United States Mint.

Why did the market for high-quality rare U.S. coins do so well in 2013?

I agree with my friend Terry Hanlon, the current President of the Professional Numismatist Guild (PNG) who said, “Over the course of this year we continued to see the precious metals market decline and the stock market rise. The U.S. and other world economies, specifically the Eurozone, are seeing an economic recovery, however temporary it may be.  A growing interest in rare coins is typical in this type of environment. The same for fine art which is booming right now. Rare coins and fine art seem to coincide with one another in this economic environment.”

"Smart investors and collectors see a good buying opportunity with some of their profits taken from the increase in stocks being reinvested in rare coins. There’s also the continuing interest in hard assets with the confidence that rare coin values will grow with the success of the economic conditions, even as the precious metals themselves may be declining,"

The prices realized for U.S. coins at public auctions this past year totaled nearly $393 million, the highest aggregate total anyone can recall. 

There was incredible competition for so-called ’trophy coins’ with 11 U.S. coins selling at auctions for more than $1 million each in 2013. One historically significant coin, believed by many to be the first Silver dollar struck by the United States Mint in 1794, sold for $10 million. That’s the highest confirmed price ever paid for any rare coin.

The following are twelve U.S. rare coins that sold for more than $1 million dollars in 2013 at public and in private transactions:

1. 1794 Flowing Hair Silver dollar, $10,016,875
2. 1804 Type I Silver dollar, $3,877,500
3. 1913 Liberty Head nickel, $3,172,500
4. 1880 Coiled Hair Gold $4 denomination Stella, $2,574,000
5. 1796 Silver quarter-dollar, $1,527,500
6. 1792 Silver half disme (early spelling of dime) $1,410,000
7. 1796 Silver dollar, $1,175,000
8. 1783 Nova Constellatio Quint Type II, $1,175,000
9. 1852 Augustus Humbert $10 Gold coin, $1,057,500
10. 1792 half disme, $1,145,625
11. 1879 Coiled Hair Gold $4 Stella, $1,041,300
12. The 12th U.S. rare coin that changed hands for more than a million dollars in 2013 was an 1894 San Francisco Mint dime that sold for over $2 million in a private sale

A year-end survey by PNG of auction houses in the United States indicates they sold an aggregate total of $392.8 million of U.S. rare coins in public auctions in 2013