In 33 years as a dealer, I've only met one person that built a set of Classic Gold Commems...

MrEureka

...and he sold the set about 20 years ago. I find this remarkable.

Does anybody here collect the series? If not now, did you ever?

yellowkid

I've got to think that just the price on that Pan-Pac gold $50 would make most people consider another area.

coinut1799

I collect them. I think it is a wonderful, underappreciated series. I probably will never afford a $50 round or octagonal, but I have the eight different "types" of the dollar and 2 1/2 dollar varieties.

MrEureka

I've got to think that just the price on that Pan-Pac gold $50 would make most people consider another area.


I would think most collectors would choose to omit the $50's and be OK with it. In fact, most of the sets assembled long ago were missing the $50's, and the Wayte Raymond boards had no holes for those two coins.

IGWT

There's some activity in the PCGS Registry and even more in the NGC Registry.

mrearlygold

I've had a few customers who bought the $50's. A couple have called in and said they were interested in locating and buying a proof ( oh yeah? ) but after I presented one, they seemed to have fainted

coolest

I am trying to do the set minus the two $50s

they are available, the trick is to find them at a decent price.

PerryHall

I have all 11 of the small gold commems but can't afford the two $50's.

Eagleguy

I'm trying to finish the 11-coin set with only AU58 coins. It is more affordable, but much harder to find nice examples.

JH

BillJones

I've been working on the set of classic gold commemoratives since January. I now have all of the "small" ones ($1 and $2.50) except for the Grant dollar without the star. Since I'm an "eye appeal" collector and not a registry / number grade fanatic, my set will not win any awards. The coins range from MS-64 to MS-66. My lone MS-66 is the $2.50 Pan Pac, because I had to go up to that grade to find one that pleased me.

I'd like to get the last Grant dollar I need this fall or winter. I've started to think about about an octagonal Pan-Pac $50 gold, but that will be a "project coin" because of the high price. I'll probably do it one day, but I'm going to be picky, and I'll have spend some time with the coin IN PERSON before I pull the trigger. Too many of these coins are part "body plastic" if you follow my drift.

BillJones

<< <i>There's some activity in the PCGS Registry and even more in the NGC Registry. >>



I'm surprised that there is more activity for these coins on the NGC registry than the PCGS registry. I'm #11 on the NGC registry, and probably won't go any higher and least for a while because you need at least one of the $50 gold pieces to advance very far. The last "little coin" I need, which is the Grant no star dollar, probably in MS-65, won't pull me up with guy who is #10.

CommemDude

Andy: I have often wondered how the prices for these coins could be so high when the total number of set collectors seems to be so small.
It would be interesting if someone could post the PCGS pops as the prices for these coins appear to be way too high for the large number of coins available.

johnny9434

maybe if i had the money for it or access to it then maybe id go for it. wish i could thou

ColonelJessup

The late Terry Brand, a West Coast enthusiast, told me in 1989 he had a safe-deposit box (a LARGE safe-deposit box) full of gold commems. My response was "Why ever would you do that?" He said "Someone will want them". I told him to get rid of them. Someone evidently did not want them. Someone did not exist. He later ruefully told me he had lost his shirt on them.

It's sorta like if you're in a poker game and you can't figure out who the fish is in an hour, you're the fish!

Terry was also the consignor of a huge hoard (500++) of 1844 10c in low grades. He consigned them to a Heritage auction sometime this century and they did about as well as the gold commems. I cannot find this in HAG archives. Does any one else have this info?

I also believe he was a co-owner of the King of Siam set briefly.

tennesseecoin2

Colonel,
Heritage had a large quantity of these for a very long time. In fact they may still have some?
These did worse than the Joseph Thomas collection most likely...

BillJones

A few of comments.

First you can't dump a relatively large number of coins (e.g. 500 pieces) on a small market, like these gold commemoratives, and expect to get decent prices for them. You have to spread the sales out over a period of time.

Second I had a want list for these coins some years ago, most especially the Lewis & Clark dollars. The collector was looking for “economy” examples in AU or MS-61. I was amazed at the low quality of the MS-61 graded coins I saw. None of them were really close to Mint State, and I would have graded them EF-45. The coins I saw had obvious wear. This can’t help the market for this material.

Third I’ve been following these coins in the recent Heritage auctions. The prices have been a bit over bid (including the buyers’ premium) for most issues except the Pan-Pac $2.50 which consistently brought strong money. For example I bought a very nice PCGS MS-66 example for less money from a dealer than the amount bid for what I viewed to be a marginal MS-65 in the Heritage summer FUN auction. Other Heritage auctions have yielded similar results. Heritage is either supporting the bids or someone is actually bidding on them.

ColonelJessup

T-man,
I think that was Terry's hoard. He told everyone he was accumulating them. Any idea what auction?

ColonelJessup

BillJ,

I know a deal with a telemarketer customer who runs a promotion every so many years or so because they are "under-valued" He may well be the support. When you see the bids go up 40% over 3-4 months, sell! Worth it to hold for years consideing cost of money. Very big dealer. No "opportunity cost" involved

BillJones

<< <i>BillJ,

I know a deal with a telemarketer customer who runs a promotion every so many years or so because they are "under-valued" He may well be the support. When you see the bids go up 40% over 3-4 months, sell! Worth it to hold for years consideing cost of money. Very big dealer. No "opportunity cost" involved >>



I'm too much a pure collector to fool around that way. I've hand picked the coins I have, which means I've gone through a fair amount of less than great material regardless of what it says on the holder.

Yes, coins are a store of value for me, but I tend to hold something for years unless I lose interest in it, which is not very often.

tennesseecoin2

Colonel,
I'm not really sure what auction it was.
I believe that he may have taken a loan on the coins or something like that and reserved them way too strongly?
Or for some reason I think that Heritage might have bought the hoard?
As of a year or 2 ago, I think that Heritage still had the coins as well...
Perhaps they are selling them slowly? That could take a decade or 2...

ColonelJessup

T-Man,

Sounds like Terry. Heritage may have thought there were later consignments coming. Your surmise on the Dallas Coinboys being stuck with them sounds spot-on. When I tried to track the hoard in their archives I saw hundreds of circs being sold one by one. Whoever approved the advance may be paying 1% per month from his salary on the amount of the advance.