I was just thinking about something that happened years ago........

KenzoT

Alan Herbert who does the "Coin Clinic" part of Numismatic News published that the 1983 NO S proof set was relative common because more than "one die" was used to mint them.
He offered that proof of this was in the "EXACT PLACEMENT" of the mint mark!
The mint mark was laying on the floor of the mint somewhere. THIS WAS A NO MINT MARK COIN!
Numismatic News almost immediately dropped the price of the 1983 NO S proof set to $285 in its price guide from a previous $800 or so.
I called him on this "ERROR" and he very begrudginly printed a retraction of sorts burried deep in another article about something entirely different.
The price in the NUMISNATIC NEWS price guide DID NOT CHANGE FOR YEARS!
This was blantant use of the media to FIX prices!
Alan Herbert knew he was wrong and refused to do anything about it regardless of how many times I wrote him calling his error.
I ended up with a "NUMISMATIC NEWS" letter writing "FILE #" that I was asked to include in any further communication with the magazine.
If I could have bought any for $285, I would have.
I lost all faith in Numismatic News over this and especially in Alan Herbert.
I'd LOVE to know how many 1983 No S proof sets he owns which were bought at the reduced price.

dimeadzn

Do you remember when this happened?

I wish I could have gotten a few at that price. These sets are back up over $800 now.

cladking

These markets have always been so thin that few noticed or cared at what prices the
coins were listed. The few who bought and sold such coins didn't usually have reliable
price guides. Today people do care much more and the price guides have gotten much
better. Still, though, it can be an eye-opener for the uninitiated when he discovers that
some coins are simply not available at the prices listed in most of the guides.

kranky

I'm not defending any incorrect statements made in NN, but realistically one publication cannot "fix" prices.

TheNumish

I remember 10-12 years ago a dealer from Baltimore bought a big hoard of 1983 no s proof sets and was offering them at 1/2 to 1/3 of bid. He had a pretty hard time moving them. It was shortly after this group came on the market that the price dropped in the bid sheet. My guess is Numismatic News was just following the move made in the bid sheet and had nothing to do with Alan Herberts article. Kenzo, if you want the name of the guy who had them PM me and I'll tell you. Don't want to put his name out there w/o permission.