May 26, 2015

Five Coins Which Went Under the Radar at the Pogue Sale

May 26, 2015/ Doug Winter

There were five denominations represented in the Pogue I auction: half dimes, dimes, quarters, half dollars, and quarter eagles. It was pretty easy for me to choose an example for the first four and, in some cases (half dollars), it was actually hard to choose just one. The quarter eagle denomination was clearly the strongest despite a small sample size of 13 coins so my selection for “under the radar” is far less of a “good value” than it is for the other denominations.

May 22, 2015

The Pogue Quarter Eagles: A Post-Auction Analysis

May 22, 2015/ Doug Winter

The first of the Pogue sessions was held in New York on May 19th and I was excited to attend. The auction was conducted at Sotheby’s and the last time I went to a coin sale on 72nd and York, I saw the record-breaking 1933 $20 take the numismatic world by storm.

May 13, 2015

Sold by Douglas Winter Numismatics: Condition Census AU58 1860-O Double Eagle

May 13, 2015/ Doug Winter

This regular DWN blog feature looks at some of the rare and interesting coins which we have sold in recent months. Most of these coins never made it to our website, and were quietly sold to collectors who we knew needed specific issues and who we had close personal relationships with.

May 12, 2015

Sold by Douglas Winter Numismatics: Very Rare Uncirculated 1862-S Half Eagle

May 12, 2015/ Doug Winter

The 1862-S is the second rarest Civil War era half eagle from the San Francisco mint, trailing only the 1864-S. Of the 9,500 struck, only 45-55 are known with most in lower grades. The reasons for this low survival rate include heavy use in commerce, pervasive meltings, and a lack of local collectors or dealers to save any pieces, as occurred with certain Philadelphia issues from this period.

April 16, 2015

The Newest Level of Rarity: The Appearance, or Eye Appeal, Rarity

April 16, 2015/ Doug Winter

If you’ve been around the coin market for a while, you know that there are many different types of rarity. In this blog, I’m going to discuss the types of rarity you might already be familiar with, and one which you might not: the eye appeal or “appearance” rarity.

February 27, 2015

How Consistent Does Your Set Need to Be?

February 27, 2015/ Doug Winter

I had an interesting email exchange with collector M.N. who asked me, in a nutshell, if his technique was “wrong” because the set which he was building had a broad range of grades. After I gave him my answer (which was basically “there is no wrong way to build your specific set since the coins you are searching for are all rare to very rare”) it got me thinking about the consistency of a set of coins when it comes to grade and appearance.

February 16, 2015

Vertical Coin Collections

February 16, 2015/ Doug Winter

I was having a conversation with client JF, and he told me about a way he collects coins which I thought was novel and neat enough to share with you. If you are familiar with wine collecting (and drinking) you know about verticals. A vertical wine collection is when an individual pursues different vintages of the same wine type (Bordeaux, Burgundy, etc.) from the same winery. An example of this would be a vertical set of Bordeaux from Chateau Lafite Rothschild bottled between 1985 and 2015.

February 05, 2015

How I Became a Coin Collector (...Again)

February 05, 2015/ Doug Winter

Around six months ago, a client and friend emailed me a photo of a very pretty 1838 quarter. He wasn’t soliciting an offer; he knew that I liked the series and would no doubt appreciate the originality of said coin. Without really thinking, I answered him with an inquiry asking if the coin was for sale and if so how much it was. He quoted me a price; I said yes and didn’t give the transaction a second thought.

January 14, 2015

Sold by Douglas Winter Numismatics: Extremely Rare 1821 Half Eagle

January 14, 2015/ Doug Winter

Around a year ago, I was outbid on an amazing PCGS MS63+ 1821 half eagle. I was pretty bummed at the time as this was a coin which I truly wanted to own. But the final price realized was just too much and I walked away from the coin.