It's Time to Rewrite the Price Guides for Nice Southern Gold Coinage (At Least Half Eagles)

The fourth installment of Fairmont Fever occurred earlier this week at Stack’s Bowers office in Southern California where bidders competed for yet another round of coins from the amazing Fairmont Hoard. In most cases, the coins being offered were nice but were clearly not the same quality which characterized the first three offerings. It should be stressed the (random example) fourth 1844-D half eagle being offered was likely head and shoulders finer than the majority of better date US gold seen in dealer’s inventories or at typical auctions.

I’m going to focus on the Southern gold half eagles which were offered for sale on March 23rd. The offering didn’t include any Charlotte or Dahlonega coins which graded higher than AU58, and very few at that level; the typical example was a solid AU53 to AU55 with CAC approval.

I found the quality of the Southern half eagles to be a bit disappointing after the sensational coins which populated the first three Fairmont sales. The coins seemed more abraded and had a bit less color than their earlier counterparts. That said, a sizable percentage (seemingly close to 75%; I’m too rushed to do the math) were CAC approved. And, as I have said before, the coins in this deal are so nice that the ones that don’t sticker at CAC would stand out in any other auction as being special.

I’d like to think that I know what Southern gold coins are worth better than most potential buyers. I figured the coins pretty aggressively and still got blown out on many lots that I thought I’d win easily. In all, I purchased two Charlotte half eagles, four Dahlonega half eagles, and just a single No Motto half eagle from New Orleans.

1858-C $5.00 PCGS AU55 CAC, from the DWN archives

Prices for Charlotte half eagles in the sale were much stronger than I expected. Here are some prices realized along with PCGS Price Guide levels:

I think two things stand out here.

The first is that while these coins were very nice, they were fully graded and I doubt the strong prices realized were the result of crack out dealers getting carried away.

The second is that the current PCGS guide prices for Charlotte half eagles are generally way too high and, ironically, have even recently been lowered for common dates in EF and AU grades. For a Charlotte half eagle to bring full PCGS Price Guide—or more—it has to be an absolutely outstanding coin and while some of these were, some were not.

It is clear to me that buyers of nice PCGS/CAC half eagles have no problem with spending over $4,000 for a common date Charlotte half eagle in EF45.

1849-D $5.00 PCGS EF45 CAC, from the DWN archives

The selection of Dahlonega half eagles in the sale was less impressive than the killer date runs in the earlier Fairmont sales, but there were still some very nice pieces available.

(Full disclosure: I was the buyer of the 1856-D and the 1859-D half eagles.)

I’m not at all surprised by these prices. Some of these D mint half eagles were outstanding  for their respective grade, and all were slightly better dates which are now commanding a much stronger price due to the Market Premium Factor that inevitably occurs when a specify market heats up.

When it comes to Dahlonega half eagles, does a rising tide left all boats? Most certainly not. As an example, there are a number of 1846-D half eagles graded EF45 which I would be hard-pressed to write a check for $3,000 for; let alone pay $4,560.

I do think that we have seen the end of the “nice D mint half eagle for under $3,000 era.”  The entry point which was around $1,500 a few years ago is now at least double this. If you bought your nice VF25 1852-D $5 from me for $1,750, you’re in a nice profit position.

And, yes, I think this price increase is sustainable.

1892-O $5.00 PCGS MS63, from the DWN Archives

The sample size for New Orleans half eagles in the Fairmont IV sale was much smaller than in the past. A number of dates which were represented in the earlier sales were absent in this edition, or they were represented by lesser graded coins.

As far as I can tell, most—if not all-of the prices for New Orleans half eagles in the sale set records for the specific date and grade. It appears that choice circulated New Orleans half eagles are probably the single strongest area in the dated gold market as of March 2023.

The most notable sale was for the 1892-O which shattered all records for this date. The coin was nice and it is certainly rare in this grade (only two MS62s have been approved by CAC with one finer; a PCGS MS63 which I sold a few years ago). I had $11,000 to pay for the coin, and got blown out of the water.

My overall take on the Fairmont IV sale was that Liberty Head half eagles were the strongest area while Liberty Head eagles were the weakest. The Liberty Head double eagles were more mixed with some high prices and others which I thought were reasonable. I will discuss some of these in an upcoming blog.