Fairmont Hendricks Set Auction Results

Wahoo554

Anybody come away a winner today? Any thoughts on prices? Think Hansen likely won the 64-S $5?

I put in what would ordinarily have been nuclear bids on several lots, but no luck.

jdimmick

The two I had an intrest went way/way above what I considered to be high.

I might add: I have never really been much of a gold guy, but several of those coins were really exceptional in quality, probably better than most you see in a lifetime, regardless of the grade. I mean coins in xf far better quality than any au previously sold for example.

Crusty

Not my area of interest but it sure was fun watching the bids roll in. On some of them when I thought the bidding war was finally over…it seemed like stacks left the bidding open waiting for another bid and it worked! Now the real question is what else is coming in the next Fairmont dump?

Relaxn

I battled for the 61 but once it hit 5 digits I dropped out.
I fired at 2 more but once my bids were going to set the market I backed off.

I was talking to a member here during the auction... the market absolutely gobbled up these coins...

Very impressive

SCT

I had 6 eagles I bid on and was blown out of the water. I did win the $1836 $5 PCGS AU53+. Very impressive auction is right! Wow.

RYK

I was eyeing several of the No Motto $5’s and was completely blown away. I stopped following when I was obliterated on the 55-O and realized that I had no shot for anything. Unreal!

mrcommem

I was bidding on some of the New Orleans prewar half eagles, eagles, and double eagles to fill a Antebellum gold set. I got blown out of the water on the half eagles and double eagles. I won one eagle at what seemed a pretty high price. It is a nice coin but I paid a little more than I wanted. I get tired of looking for quality coins so if you want quality you have to pay for it when it comes along. I am not getting any younger. Now only the three dollar, half eagle and double eagle remain out of the nine-piece set. Once the New Orleans set is finished it will join type sets of Dahlonega and Charlotte to complete an all-encompassing Southern Antebellum type set.

Rodebaugh

I was a direct under bidder on 2 non-CAC Charlotte lots. Both coins went at more than double pcgs price guide. Amazing time to be a seller.

TurtleCat

I wanted to but as Legend said a lot of crackout people were likely to be bidding. I hope most of these escape the coin doctor experience.

Wahoo554

@SCT said:
I had 6 eagles I bid on and was blown out of the water. I did win the $1836 $5 PCGS AU53+. Very impressive auction is right! Wow.

Congrats on the 1836! That’s a really nice looking coin! Please post some in hand pics when you get it!

jonruns

I ended up the high bidder on the the 41 and 46 eagles...

ricko

Sounds to me as if the coin market is thriving.... Great news ... Cheers, RickO

Project Numismatics

@TurtleCat said:
I wanted to but as Legend said a lot of crackout people were likely to be bidding. I hope most of these escape the coin doctor experience.

I don’t understand the crackout logic here. Don’t you lose the Fairmont pedigree and CAC by cracking out? These pieces are already selling at prices representative of ~2 grades higher - how does cracking out generate a profit here?

MFeld

@J2035 said:

@TurtleCat said:
I wanted to but as Legend said a lot of crackout people were likely to be bidding. I hope most of these escape the coin doctor experience.

I don’t understand the crackout logic here. Don’t you lose the Fairmont pedigree and CAC by cracking out? These pieces are already selling at prices representative of ~2 grades higher - how does cracking out generate a profit here?

If someone is buying a coin with the idea of cracking it out and getting a profitable upgrade, they're likely not going to care about losing the Fairmont provenance. In fact, they'll probably want to lose it. Additionally, however high others might think the winning bid was, the (crack-out) buyer must still think/hope he can obtain a grade that would enable him to make a profit.

steveben

I was blown away...nothing for me :-(

pcgscacgold

I am looking forward to the next wave of coins out of the Fairmont collection. They are doing it the smart way. Release coins slowly over time so the market can digest and new top pops can be added over time. The Fairmont auctions always seem to do well. I wonder how long until the next one comes along.

davewesen

I won a Fairmont Collection eagle a few months ago. I had to check what it was and find it neat that it spent years in Europe.

pcgscacgold

@davewesen said:
I won a Fairmont Collection eagle a few months ago. I had to check what it was and find it neat that it spent years in Europe.

Several years ago I won a 1909S $10 and 1910S $10 Fairmont set. They seem to be taking years to roll out the coins found overseas.

breakdown

I lot viewed the half eagles since that is what I collect. The overall depth of quality of these coins was apparent and what struck me was that so many were conservatively graded.

I thought the 1875 half eagle was an outstanding example - I toyed with trying to bid on that coin but I’m glad I gave up on that idea since it ended up going for 480K. Congratulations to whoever won it.

LanceNewmanOCC

just stumbled across this tracking down the auction link for the collection: ebay

i think these are the lots from the most recent selection or perhaps this one.

a lot of recent articles/blogs/sites etc posting about this hoard.

skier07

I like my under appreciated 1859 Philadelphia PCGS/CAC 58 half eagle. 75 survivors. CAC 3/1.

breakdown

The 1859 was a very nice example, skier07. Another of the underrated dates.

DisneyFan

@LanceNewmanOCC said:
just stumbled across this tracking down the auction link for the collection: ebay

i think these are the lots from the most recent selection or perhaps this one.

a lot of recent articles/blogs/sites etc posting about this hoard.

I need to show your link to my wife. She thinks I'm the only person crazy enough to buy coins!

Coinosaurus

I got the one coin I really wanted. Took strong money but not crazy money. Top pops or near top pops were going for moon prices, esp. branch mint pieces.

fathom

@MFeld said:

@J2035 said:

@TurtleCat said:
I wanted to but as Legend said a lot of crackout people were likely to be bidding. I hope most of these escape the coin doctor experience.

I don’t understand the crackout logic here. Don’t you lose the Fairmont pedigree and CAC by cracking out? These pieces are already selling at prices representative of ~2 grades higher - how does cracking out generate a profit here?

If someone is buying a coin with the idea of cracking it out and getting a profitable upgrade, they're likely not going to care about losing the Fairmont provenance. In fact, they'll probably want to lose it. Additionally, however high others might think the winning bid was, the (crack-out) buyer must still think/hope he can obtain a grade that would enable him to make a profit.

If the Fairmont CAC provenance becomes recognized as "unmessed with" and "plucked from circulation" originality then it is the wrong decision to crack out long term. Time will tell.

MFeld

@fathom said:

@MFeld said:

@J2035 said:

@TurtleCat said:
I wanted to but as Legend said a lot of crackout people were likely to be bidding. I hope most of these escape the coin doctor experience.

I don’t understand the crackout logic here. Don’t you lose the Fairmont pedigree and CAC by cracking out? These pieces are already selling at prices representative of ~2 grades higher - how does cracking out generate a profit here?

If someone is buying a coin with the idea of cracking it out and getting a profitable upgrade, they're likely not going to care about losing the Fairmont provenance. In fact, they'll probably want to lose it. Additionally, however high others might think the winning bid was, the (crack-out) buyer must still think/hope he can obtain a grade that would enable him to make a profit.

If the Fairmont CAC provenance becomes recognized as "unmessed with" and "plucked from circulation" originality then it is the wrong decision to crack out long term. Time will tell.

If, as an example, a crack-out buyer gets a two point upgrade, chances are good that he won’t want his buyer to know the provenance. I realize that it might be difficult to avoid. And I believe that collectors who buy the coins out of the auction will tend to have a much different mindset than what I just described.

Boosibri

I'm glad I don't collect these any more. I'm sad I don't have my old collection to sell into this market.

What is next for Fairmont... how many more waves of these coins are there?

Will dealers with marginal coins of the same issue and grade now price up to meet these levels?

Boosibri

@fathom said:

@MFeld said:

@J2035 said:

@TurtleCat said:
I wanted to but as Legend said a lot of crackout people were likely to be bidding. I hope most of these escape the coin doctor experience.

I don’t understand the crackout logic here. Don’t you lose the Fairmont pedigree and CAC by cracking out? These pieces are already selling at prices representative of ~2 grades higher - how does cracking out generate a profit here?

If someone is buying a coin with the idea of cracking it out and getting a profitable upgrade, they're likely not going to care about losing the Fairmont provenance. In fact, they'll probably want to lose it. Additionally, however high others might think the winning bid was, the (crack-out) buyer must still think/hope he can obtain a grade that would enable him to make a profit.

If the Fairmont CAC provenance becomes recognized as "unmessed with" and "plucked from circulation" originality then it is the wrong decision to crack out long term. Time will tell.

"plucked from a bottomless source of US gold from a European vault"

scotty4449

I hadn't heard of the Fairmont collection before so I did a little google, pretty interesting stuff!

https://raregoldcoins.com/blog/2019/5/10/one-of-the-coolest-hoards-of-us-gold-coins-ever-seen-has-entered-the-market-and-you-probably-dont-even-know-about-it

LanceNewmanOCC

@DisneyFan said:
I need to show your link to my wife. She thinks I'm the only person crazy enough to buy coins!

.
you have to lure her in with tales of czars, kings, secret service, bonanzas, world history as noted on the coins, the beauty of classic comems, black markets, branch mint train robberies, major hoards and shipwrecks found and so many yet to be uncovered, etc, all this going back thousands of years! all of our wars and others have vastly affected coinage/tokens/notes/medals etc. tell her of the history of how we go from 1776 ALL THE WAY to 1793 before having official circulating coinage for commerce. oh, lets not even get started on colonials...

remind her of SBA and cady stanton and how they went head-to-head with the status quo and risked their lives for women's rights and how amazingly tactful they did it all....perhaps pick her up a roll of business strike and proof SBA, sacagawea, some peace dollars with theresa de francisci. women play a BIG role in numismatics. some old educational notes would knock her socks off. - perhaps some tribute coins from the over a dozen women pharoes? (i think that is spelled wrong)

DisneyFan

@LanceNewmanOCC said:

@DisneyFan said:
I need to show your link to my wife. She thinks I'm the only person crazy enough to buy coins!

.
you have to lure her in with tales of czars, kings, secret service, bonanzas, world history as noted on the coins, the beauty of classic comems, black markets, branch mint train robberies, major hoards and shipwrecks found and so many yet to be uncovered, etc, all this going back thousands of years! all of our wars and others have vastly affected coinage/tokens/notes/medals etc. tell her of the history of how we go from 1776 ALL THE WAY to 1793 before having official circulating coinage for commerce. oh, lets not even get started on colonials...

remind her of SBA and cady stanton and how they went head-to-head with the status quo and risked their lives for women's rights and how amazingly tactful they did it all....perhaps pick her up a roll of business strike and proof SBA, sacagawea, some peace dollars with theresa de francisci. women play a BIG role in numismatics. some old educational notes would knock her socks off. - perhaps some tribute coins from the over a dozen women pharoes? (i think that is spelled wrong)

Nice try. I've tried. Unfortunately, her dad died young and she only had one doll while growing up. It never amazed her how I could spend $150 on one stamp when we were first dating. Selling it for $500 a few years later didn't change anything for her....

WinLoseWin

By my guess, it looks like a few things combined for the high prices.

Looks like there was auction fever; registry set fever; CAC fever; and Fairmont original surface fresh material fever.

The combination may lead to some prices that would not otherwise have happened. Not sure that it means those prices are the market as opposed to a fresh material spike which may not easily be duplicated.

One interesting example I noticed was that an 1878-CC $5 CAC PCGS AU-50 sold in the Rarities Night on April 5th for $34,800 compared to CAC price guide of $28,800.

One day later the Fairmont 1878-CC $5 VF-35 CAC brought $38,400 compared to CAC price guide of $11,200.

How do you adjust price guides. You can't make the VF market price higher than AU market price. Didn't check any other dates for comparisons to recent sales, but guessing at least some of these are high point prices not easily repeated.

.
.
https://auctions.stacksbowers.com/lots/view/3-VJFPK/1878-cc-liberty-head-half-eagle-winter-1-a-the-only-known-dies-au-50-pcgs-cac

https://auctions.stacksbowers.com/lots/view/3-VJYBJ/1878-cc-liberty-head-half-eagle-winter-1-a-the-only-known-dies-vf-35-pcgs-cac

bidask

@jonruns said:
I ended up the high bidder on the the 41 and 46 eagles...

Look like really nice specimens congratulations

Wahoo554

@WinLoseWin said:

By my guess, it looks like a few things combined for the high prices.

Looks like there was auction fever; registry set fever; CAC fever; and Fairmont original surface fresh material fever.

The combination may lead to some prices that would not otherwise have happened. Not sure that it means those prices are the market as opposed to a fresh material spike which may not easily be duplicated.

One interesting example I noticed was that an 1878-CC $5 CAC PCGS AU-50 sold in the Rarities Night on April 5th for $34,800 compared to CAC price guide of $28,800.

One day later the Fairmont 1878-CC $5 VF-35 CAC brought $38,400 compared to CAC price guide of $11,200.

How do you adjust price guides. You can't make the VF market price higher than AU market price. Didn't check any other dates for comparisons to recent sales, but guessing at least some of these are high point prices not easily repeated.

.
.
https://auctions.stacksbowers.com/lots/view/3-VJFPK/1878-cc-liberty-head-half-eagle-winter-1-a-the-only-known-dies-au-50-pcgs-cac

https://auctions.stacksbowers.com/lots/view/3-VJYBJ/1878-cc-liberty-head-half-eagle-winter-1-a-the-only-known-dies-vf-35-pcgs-cac

Wow, thanks for pointing that out. I followed the 78-cc and thought it looked nice and that the price seemed beyond exuberant. Seeing the AU CAC price that was realized a night earlier makes it seem nuts.

cccoins

@WinLoseWin said:

By my guess, it looks like a few things combined for the high prices.

Looks like there was auction fever; registry set fever; CAC fever; and Fairmont original surface fresh material fever.

The combination may lead to some prices that would not otherwise have happened. Not sure that it means those prices are the market as opposed to a fresh material spike which may not easily be duplicated.

One interesting example I noticed was that an 1878-CC $5 CAC PCGS AU-50 sold in the Rarities Night on April 5th for $34,800 compared to CAC price guide of $28,800.

One day later the Fairmont 1878-CC $5 VF-35 CAC brought $38,400 compared to CAC price guide of $11,200.

How do you adjust price guides. You can't make the VF market price higher than AU market price. Didn't check any other dates for comparisons to recent sales, but guessing at least some of these are high point prices not easily repeated.

.
.
https://auctions.stacksbowers.com/lots/view/3-VJFPK/1878-cc-liberty-head-half-eagle-winter-1-a-the-only-known-dies-au-50-pcgs-cac

https://auctions.stacksbowers.com/lots/view/3-VJYBJ/1878-cc-liberty-head-half-eagle-winter-1-a-the-only-known-dies-vf-35-pcgs-cac

There is another sale to consider in this equation. Great Collections had an 1878 cc $5 in P20 CAC end in March 20, 2022 for $7,318.12. I was the underbidder on this coin, and let it go because I knew the the P35 CAC and P50 CAC were coming up on the 5th and 6th, and I really wanted the P50 coin.

Based on this, how do you value:

• The P20 CAC before the GC auction ended?
• The P50 CAC after the GC result, but before it closed?
• The P35 CAC just before it closed?

I think that the P20 coin was a steal in light of the others, the P50 coin was a bit of a stretch, and the P35 coin was irrational exuberance.

Also, please keep in mind that the 1878 $5 is likely rarer in terms of sales appearances than the 1870 $5 over the past year or two.

Boosibri

That 78-CC price is just stupid

pcgscacgold

It’s a great market to be a seller. There are a lot of eager buyers. Hopefully more continue to bring fresh coins to market. Fun to watch where the hobby is going.

Gazes

"Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated." -----The coin market said responding to some of those who until recently said coin collecting is a dying hobby

breakdown

I first started collecting half eagles when I sold all my halves in 2016. It was a fairly sleepy series at the time, particularly Philadelphia liberty half eagles because they were such a large set to collect.
But the dynamics of who is collecting and what is available has shifted. Despite pouring many units onto the market and into the pop reports, the Fairmont coins seem to have generated attention and attracted buyers.

fathom

@breakdown said:
I first started collecting half eagles when I sold all my halves in 2016. It was a fairly sleepy series at the time, particularly Philadelphia liberty half eagles because they were such a large set to collect.
But the dynamics of who is collecting and what is available has shifted. Despite pouring many units onto the market and into the pop reports, the Fairmont coins seem to have generated attention and attracted buyers.

100%.

This is hard for even long time dealers and seasoned collectors to accept.

Coinosaurus

@Boosibri said:
That 78-CC price is just stupid

The CDN & other price guide people will have their hands full after this sale.

Wahoo554

The 62-S in XF45 CAC went pretty cheap at $25k compared to the CAC F15 that sold a few months earlier for $15k. Both were very pricey, but that F15 was a head scratcher. Same coin without CAC sold via Stacks for about $3k a few years ago.

skier07

@Wahoo554 said:
The 62-S in XF45 CAC went pretty cheap at $25k compared to the CAC F15 that sold a few months earlier for $15k. Both were very pricey, but that F15 was a head scratcher. Same coin without CAC sold via Stacks for about $3k a few years ago.

What denomination?

Zoins

Legend Market Report is interesting. Even Super Whales are being blown out.

Laura Sperber said:
The new breed of buyer is scary and we [feel] is disrupting the market.

Wahoo554

@skier07 said:

@Wahoo554 said:
The 62-S in XF45 CAC went pretty cheap at $25k compared to the CAC F15 that sold a few months earlier for $15k. Both were very pricey, but that F15 was a head scratcher. Same coin without CAC sold via Stacks for about $3k a few years ago.

What denomination?

Sorry for the vagueness. I was referring to the 62-S half eagle. Here’s a link to the F15 CAC that I was referencing:

https://coins.ha.com/itm/liberty-half-eagles/half-eagles/1862-s-5-fine-15-pcgs-cac-pcgs-8293-/a/1333-4145.s?ic4=ListView-ShortDescription-071515

Here’s the same coin in 2016:

https://auctions.stacksbowers.com/lots/view/3-2LKB3/1862-s-liberty-half-eagle-fine-15-pcgs

And here’s the Fairmont XF45

http://auctions.stacksbowers.com/lots/view/3-VJXZ3