Charles Morgan on Ikes.
cladking
Posts: 28,701 ✭✭✭✭✭
As usual he does an excellent job. Most of his prices look very realistic and reflect current prices. It should be noted though that his "Unc" price is pretty much as they come and Ikes even in low grades are often beat up, ugly, poorly struck, and dull. True BU's can be wholesaled for higher prices than he lists. I also don't agree with his estimate of 1,700,000 surviving 1973 mint sets. I seriously doubt there are even that many surviving Ikes from these sets and many are severely degraded. For years these carried a very nominal premium and some were just hauled to the bank. For a brief time the postage for shipping '73 sets exceeded the premium. Some would just be cut up and all the coins taken to the bank. You can still find lots of '70-D half dollars in mixed avg circ 40% silver half dollars for the same reason.
Probably fewer than half a million sets remain intact. Some of these won't be available for sale for many years. Sets have been consumed by a consumer society. I'd guess there are no more than 1 1/2 million of each the Philly and Denvers with a substantial minority degraded.
If you want a nice attractive BU Ike you'll pay a lot more than the Unc price. This is because there are so many ugly coins and the big wholesalers don't want them. Nice MS-62 and better Ikes with full luster are worth between $3.50 and $5 wholesale. These are easily retailed so there is a real spread between wholesale and retail.
The general public likes these coins and are putting a lot of pressure on mint set populations already strained by neglect. This is what is causing the prices of mint sets to increase. right now it's mostly Ikes and Halfs but eventually when all the mint sets are gone it will be noticed the quarters and dimes are as well.
I've sold most of my Ikes into a very strong wholesale markets. Ungraded Gems have brought reasonable prices and all I have left are Gems that would not be much more valuable graded and a few high end.
Anyone with Ikes still in the mint sets probably would be well advised to remove them and clean them before there is permanent damage. This applies especially to every date except the 1973 and (perhaps) the 1976.
Comments
In the past, I have purchased BU rolls of Ike's from Ebay and submitted the best coins in each roll. I got pretty lucky I guess, as most graded MS64/65. Several in my registry set were submitted by myself. I still have the leftover raw coins and give them to friends and family from time to time.
I wish the Mint would produce a similarly sized coin these days, even if they had to raise the denomination to $5 or whatever to justify it. Everyone seems to like the large, silvery disks. I know I certainly do!
Dwayne F. Sessom
Ebay ID: V-Nickel-Coins
I'd guess the rolls you bought were mint set rolls. There are (were) a lot of original rolls of Ikes but there are even more mint set rolls. For most dates 64/ 65 is still pretty lucky since I'd expect no more than a couple of 65's and half the rest to be 64.
I don't have a great deal of experience with original rolls but have seen quite a number of nice ones but 65's are rather unusual in rolls. There are lots and lots of really unattractive original rolls.
@cladking Here are a few of my Ike's that I submitted raw, from rolls I bought from Ebay. All four currently reside in my Ike Registry set.
Dwayne F. Sessom
Ebay ID: V-Nickel-Coins
I’d say with the advent of modern Morgan and Peace Dollars, Ike’s are the dollar coin series to collect. There will be MS70 Morgan’s and Peace Dollars well struck dated 2021 or later if the original series isn’t your fancy, Ike’s don’t come as nice as the original Morgan’s or Peace dollars.
I have to agree. Really clean, good looking Ikes are tough to find, and when you do find one, they are moon money. It's almost like there's no in-between. They either cost $40 or $400. LOL
The modern Morgans and Peace dollars, are not quite as attractive as the original 1878-1921's are (or can be). The moderns all look "burnished" I guess, with very little contrast between the fields and devices, but then I have only seen photos thus far. They might look better in hand.
Dwayne F. Sessom
Ebay ID: V-Nickel-Coins
Speaking of... Why is there a moon on the reverse? Did ike lay the groundwork for the moon shots?
Or was the USA still aglow from the first landing the previous year I guess?
Edited to explain that I figure planning was going on in 69 and 70...
Ike did establish NASA. The reverse is taken from the emblem for the Apollo XI mission.
On October 29, 1969, Texas Representative Robert R. Casey introduced legislation to honor both Eisenhower and the recent Apollo 11 Moon landing. These provisions would become part of the enacted bill authorizing the Eisenhower dollar. Casey originally wanted the mission theme of Apollo 11, "We came in peace for all mankind," to appear on the coin; when the Mint informed him that there was not room for that inscription, he settled for requiring that the reverse design be emblematic of that theme.
FWIW, I sold many Ikes through Heritage last night. Very pleased with the results of the business strikes. Disappointed in the proofs. The Blue Ikes were somewhere in between.
I didn’t have time to get through it all, but I caught the part where Charles identified the owner of the MS68 Ike that knocked off my former pop 1 MS67+ and a backstory about the coin. Funny thing is another Charles video on line right this minute shows the MS68 Ike declared to be of MS67+ Quality right in the header to the news piece! 😝
Anyway, I think I read where Charles also mentioned a neat auction coin coming up in the broadcast. But, I didn’t have time to hear about that. Did anyone catch that part of the show? If so, could you send me a PM with what that auction is. Would hate to miss something exciting.
Wondercoin.
I have a lot of Ike dollars.... Some raw, but others in mint boxes, locked away in a coin cabinet. Back in the late nineties, early 00's, they were around real cheap, so I got them at yard sales etc. I should check them out... Might need to clean them as @cladking recommended. Cheers, RickO
What was the cleaning recommendation?
Most of the '75 to '78 Ikes are already tarnishing and some are beyond repair. This also applies to '73 and '74 mint set Ikes but many of these that have been well stored are still fine. I usually soak them in acetone or 91% isopropyl for a few days.
Many of the clads have already been destroyed. It's so bad that even relatively unaffected sets like the 1965 is increasing in value relative the '66 and '67 because a few coins in almost every set are damaged and they can't be swapped out as they can with the hard plastic '66 and '67 sets. Some dates are just horrid like the '68 to '71.
Even later dates are affected but most aren't too bad yet. The '88 is one of the worst late date sets now.
Most sets that aren't mottled or dark are salvageable but they're all getting worse over time. Retailers want pristine sets and these are in very short supply for some dates so even some of the big names can't keep them in stock.
Nice chBU Ikes are in very short supply If you want a nice attractive example of some of these dates you'll be looking at and cleaning mint set coins. Some dates just have an inferior look to them like '81-P quarters or '84 cents that have uneven fields. The most common Ike in MS-60 are the '71's but these tend to be ugly and nice specimens are very desirable.
All Ikes are affected but it's primarily the coins still sealed in mint sets that are the worst. The services will still slab lightly tarnished coins.
Thank you! Who sells the highest quality sets in your opinion?
There's no simple way to find the best sets but as a rule you'll want to buy them wholesale at brick and mortar shops. Most dealers don't bother much with them and only check for major varieties. Many of these sets will be ones that walked into the shop and were purchased cheaply. If you take them as they come you'll get the best price but now days you'd be wise to spot check them.
I've seen a few ads to buy Gem mint sets over the years but I've never seen an offer to sell. Most wholesalers will check their sets or allow customers to do so. Even back in the old days when varieties were common in the sets wholesaler inventory was very underrepresented in them. Of course if you just want nice attractive sets the wholesale ones are but there will not be be Gems or varieties. Once in a long while you can run into batches of cherry sets in dealer inventory. I'm sure these come from modern collectors who have passed on.
As made only about two out of three mint sets had many nice chBU coins. It's only a little worse now except many sets are tarnished. Finding Gems in sets is still like shooting fish in a barrel but you're going to get more carp than you used to.
Thanks Cladking. Great info.