Guttag Commems, Round II

philographer

The Guttag commemoratives seem to be hitting the aftermarket after the August Stacks Bowers sale.

They are popping up on dealers' websites fairly frequently.

Not counting the ones that got "over the moon" money...what's your view of the Guttag coins?

In the end are they "just" original (never dipped) early commemoratives? Does that justify the premium?

Will they be put away by collectors or continually hitting the market?

Are original matched sets of early commemoratives an undervalued item?

Or, like many early commemoratives, are they a value trap?

--Edward

shorecoll

I think it depends on how many there really were. They may have enough to affect series values, else I think early matched sets are a good deal, but I'm not in the moon money set. Guttag (and Stack's for that matter) had access to big chunks of the original mintages, who knows what else will come out?

truthteller

I think it depends on how many there really were.


1000 commems in total to be auctioned in future StacksBowers auctions.



TRUTH

robec

Here is mine.

illini420

Not all Guttag coins are equal. I looked at just about all of them in lot viewing and I would say less than 25% of them deserve the big premiums for nice toning. There were a lot of plain white ones, or coins with very minimal toning that still had the Guttag pedigree on the labels and there wasn't much special about those. But there were some that were monsters!!!!!!!! Even some of the coins hidden in the group lots after the single coins were auctioned off were monsters!!!! I remember the Illinois/Lincoln commems were mostly boring white coins or coins with a little bit of toning on them but nothing special and not worth a premium. But there was a lot of 2 auctioned together that were da bomb! An MS64 and an MS64+ I think. Would have been worth around $400-500 or so for the pair if they were boring white coins, but I put a bid in of $1000 and was quickly outbid. Saw in the live bidding it was up to $1200 and I tried to bid again via the internet, but my bid didn't go through so someone won the pair for $1200 + BP. I probably would have clicked it up to $1500 or so since I wasn't winning much that late in the auction and I remembered how nice they were. The MS64 coin looked very similar to the Guttag IL commem that went for over $8k in the previous auction (it was either a 65 or 66) and the 64+ was pretty close in eye appeal too. Wonder how high the other bidder was willing to go on those.... darn it for their live internet bidding software and/or my internet connection!!!!!!!

Justacommeman

I had the nearly the same experience as Illini420 in lot viewing. I actually thought that closer to 10-15% were off the grid. ( fresh coins that warranted big premiums/multiples). The balance were fair to midland IMO. MJ

Justacommeman

nice coin robec! MJ

Kove

The Guttags can be hit-or-miss. I bought a group of 3 Guttag Oregons at the Chicago auction, then sent them in for stickering. One didn't sticker, one went green, and one went gold. This matched my thoughts in lot viewing, as well. Some stunners, and some so-so coins.

bulldozer

An Alabama and Hug sold for over $25,000.00 each. They were monsters.

I looked at the group and saw some really nice coins imbedded in the group. If the coins weren't wild, for the most part they sold cheap.