Silver Eagle Crisis...

thegiftman2003

I'm collecting the silver eagles PCGS certified MS and PR69's. I recently read an article found at this link... http://www.wexfordcoin.com/MktUpdates/CoinPricingTwo.htm in this article, he states that the silver eagles are not rare, and I understand that. He says it's only a matter of time before more and more become certified and the market is saturated with them, thus causing the market price for the eagles to drop. Do you think he is accurate in this prediction? I understand his reasoning but wouldn't the only reason more and more would become certified is because there is adequate demand for them? I appreciate your thoughts on this and anything you have to tell me. Thanks again Bob.

BugOnTheRug

uhhh...........hummmmmmmm...........aahhhhh................reminds me of the guy who mistakenly went into the womens bathroom.

BOTR

WinPitcher

Silver Eagles in MS 70 are somewhat scarce, in 69 67 etc they can be found. Certain years of course are better then other years. You know of course they are a bullion coin and the market is tied to the value of silver. Today was about 7.25 and considered up. The graded examples of these coins command premiums however Im not so sure how liquid the premium is.



edited to say: lol bug i was thinkin the same thing!!

shouldabeena10

I'm pretty sure this will all be covered in the next SMR that comes out.

LJB17

All I heard was blah blah blah. Now I know what I sound like when I explain this stuff to my wife and friends.

Luke

nOoBiEeE

Hey Bob,

If you are collecting them, wouldn't you want the prices to drop? It seems like you are mainly buying these for investment then the actual beauty of the coin itself.

Sequitur

See this post.

Baley

silver eagles are NOT as common as dirt.

it's close, though.

bulloncoins

When I first started collecting ASEs a full set of PCGS ms69 were listed in the price guide for $1680.00.

Just a few years later they are listed at $890.00 ( and thats with another two added to the series since then.)

I do think the price guides are now true to market...where as they were super inflated just two years ago. I would not expect to see a "flood" of any of the older coins hitting the market in ms69 holders. These coins are picked through by the dealers as soon as they get their hands on them. I would bet most of the premium strikes have been sent off to grading services within just a few months of the coins having left the mint. And something tells me its gitting harder to get a bunch of ms69s out of each box.

Right now, ASEs are getting more expensive and harder to find every time silver rises. At the end of last year I was paying $8.25 per coin from my local dealer for 2003s. As soon as he got some 2004s I bought some at the same $8.25 per coin. Last month I bought some at $8.25 per coin. Today I bought 14 - they are now $9.00 a coin.

I plan to keep on buying, when I can until spot hits around $12.00.

As for the slabed coins, well I have my set (see below sig line), and I'll buy one every year until they stop making them.

JohnZ

Slabbing bullion is a crock of bullsh!t. It's just a selling gimmick by TPG's to sucker in middle-class newbies who think coins are an investment.

Coins are a hobby.

You want to invest in silver? Buy silver at spot.

bulloncoins

<< <i>Slabbing bullion is a crock of bullsh!t. It's just a selling gimmick by TPG's to sucker in middle-class newbies who think coins are an investment.

Coins are a hobby.

You want to invest in silver? Buy silver at spot. >>



John Z....many people use a hobby as a form of investment. It can make you feel much more comfortable about what you choose to invest in. I also think these coins can have as much history as any other such coin. If Silver eagles had been around when Binion stashed his morgans there would be a Binon pedigree on some ASEs now. Think about the coins recovered from 911. Who knows what the future will hold for some registry sets. Special tonning? More pedigrees? I hardly feel like a sucker for putting together my registry set any more than I feel like a sucker for buying so many raw coins (many I purchased for way below current spot price only a year or two ago.) And one last thing...why would you choose to insult people for collecting or slabbing any coin? If it is all about the hobby for you, then why would you worry about another collectors motives for collecting. Just seems strange to me.

JohnZ

John Z....many people use a hobby as a form of investment. It can make you feel much more comfortable about what you choose to invest in. I also think these coins can have as much history as any other such coin. If Silver eagles had been around when Binion stashed his morgans there would be a Binon pedigree on some ASEs now. Think about the coins recovered from 911. Who knows what the future will hold for some registry sets. Special tonning? More pedigrees? I hardly feel like a sucker for putting together my registry set any more than I feel like a sucker for buying so many raw coins (many I purchased for way below current spot price only a year or two ago.) And one last thing...why would you choose to insult people for collecting or slabbing any coin? If it is all about the hobby for you, then why would you worry about another collectors motives for collecting. Just seems strange to me.

All well and true Travis. I should have thought through that comment. I certainly didn't mean to insult anyone.

That being said, I will say that the investment potential of most coins is marginal at best. Someone with a gazillion dollars might do well to invest in coins, but your average Joe Shmoe like me should stick to Mutual Funds, Market Certificates, a good IRA, etc. In other words, a decent portfolio, (which may indeed include a small percentage of bullion).

Too many average collectors get hung up on the investment part of numismatics, which in my book is nothing more than a chimera.

JohnZ

OK, baseball, but the current US mint technology is so sophisticated that they rarely churn out anything less than a 67 anymore on the ASE's. Can YOU tell the difference between a 67 and a 69? I sure as hell can't. In the final analysis, it's still just an ounce of silver.

edsondl

<< <i>OK, baseball, but the current US mint technology is so sophisticated that they rarely churn out anything less than a 67 anymore on the ASE's. Can YOU tell the difference between a 67 and a 69? >>



JohnZ,

Have you ever bought and opened an unopened roll of SAEs? They really aren't as free of marks as one would expect. Pure silver is a rather soft metal (depending on grain size, and cold working of course), which is part of the reason that it was alloyed with copper to make circulating coinage. I did not find a single mark-free coin in the roll of twenty 2004's that I opened in January (I bought from a group on Ebay that sold hundreds of rolls and received the coins early in January, so I don't think that they had been picked over. Also, maybe the 2004's were just poorly handled)

If the mint don't make anything less than a 67 and I can't tell the difference between a 67 and a 69, then 69's are pretty poor quality coins. I don't feel that there is a single mark-free coin in my entire raw set of silver eagles.

If $28 a coin (raw) for 1996 eagles is not pulling them from bullion holders hands (who have them at ~$7.20 each at melt) I don't think the market will be flooded anytime soon by waves of PCGS graded MS69's. The downside is very small if you are buying these "nearly-perfect" coins at $24 each anyway. Heck, I'd rather have a PCGS MS69 for $24 than one from HSN in an HSN holder for $19.

Will you get rich on these coins in the future because of the high grade alone? No, most probably not.

Also, a PCGS PR69 DC is guarenteed to remain in that grade in the holder. A raw one, in the original packaging is not. Again, if the prices between the graded and ungraded are not significantly different, then go for the graded coin (if you like slabbed coins). These coins are not rare (except maybe the '95-W) and can be gotten at anytime by shopping around.

ddink

IMO they have no numismatic value, but they are cool to look at and it can be kinda neat to hold an ounce of pure silver in your hands (as long as you are wearing gloves, of course!).

JohnZ

Your points are well taken edsondl. I've never collected an abundance of ASE's, although I do own a handful, mostly proofs.

I guess it boils down to whether you like to collect macroscopically or microscopically. I certainly don't denigrate the idea of collecting microscopically. I've even become interested in varieties of late.

meos1

SAEs are not a rare coin sans the 1995 W.

The MS are nice but I don't see a price increase in the near term (20-30 years) collectable component increasing the value of these due to the large numbers. Perhaps if silver spot spikes and many are melted OK maybe the price will increase, but not drastically.

The PRs are are a little different although not by much. The saying "They ain't making anymore of these" comes to mind and in thier original packaging you may encounter some increase in value due to collectability and the fact that many are cracked out for encapsulation. In particuliar if you own a complete set you will see gains with time.

In the SAE market few collectors have the bandwidth to drop several thousand dollars to aquire the 1995 W eagle and therefore a complete set will command a price in the future.

If we could go back to 1938. Do you think a collector then would pay more than face for a Jefferson nickel? For me collecting is very much about tommorrow, not today. Investments rule the day today not collections. In the end buy what inspires you and brings happiness. Any further discussion seems to be tainted with jealousy that some collectors have identified a pleasing, inexpensive design that they find a relative value in.

Dan

MS and PR collector