David C. Harper

I have retired. After nearly 41 years working at the Numismatic News office, my chair is now vacant.

As I head for the door, I want to say thank you to all readers. I have never forgotten who the average reader is, what his or her interests are, and what news is most likely to help them along their collecting path.

At heart, this is who I have always been. When I first read a copy of Numismatic News 50 years ago, it was because I had picked it up at a coin show. It was the letters to the editor in it that topped my list of favorite things about the paper. I wanted to read more. I immediately sent my money to the firm to get these weekly issues started.

You might say I subscribed because of the letters. The writers seemed like my kind of people. Their questions were my questions. Their opinions were my opinions. They were the kind of people I wanted to hang around with.

I had no idea what I was getting into. Who could?

When I needed a job in 1978, I applied to Numismatic News. Clifford Mishler interviewed me and then phoned me with a job offer. I said yes. Away I went.

I want to thank Cliff for the great opportunity he gave me. Numismatic News founder Chet Krause is no longer alive, but I owe him a great deal as well. Chet and Cliff were the dynamic duo of the firm that was built on the foundation of this paper.

Bank Note Reporter, Coins Magazine, and World Coin News are part of this numismatic family. I had roles in all of them. My first byline appeared in the pages of the June 1971 Coins Magazine.

The numismatic catalog division that created the Standard Catalog of World Coins also birthed North American Coins and Prices and U.S. Coin Digest. I had a role in the creation of the latter two titles, though I really don’t consider myself to be a book author.

Always I was part of a numismatic team. It was led for many years by Chet and Cliff. Others followed. We carried on.

Now it is someone else’s turn to carry on. It will be up to them to hold high the lamp of numismatic knowledge. I borrow this symbol from the American Numismatic Association, of which I am a life member and enthusiastic supporter.

We collectors are all in this together. We are bonded simultaneously to the past, present, and future. What we do with the present will determine what kind of hobby we leave for the next generation of collectors.

Now I will revert to the status I held 50 years ago: loyal Numismatic News reader. I expect my favorite part of the paper will be letters to the editor written by readers. Taken together, they are the only true guide to our future. I have faith in them. Because I do, I am optimistic about the future. They will make it bright.

This article was originally printed in Numismatic News. >> Subscribe today.

If you like what you’ve read here, we invite you to visit our online bookstore to learn more about Coins Magazine.

Learn more >>>

The post Time to join ranks of loyal readers appeared first on Numismatic News.

We both laughed.

Perhaps I am too much of an addict to Thin Man movies and should focus instead on the serious aspect of the Jan. 31 release of the “Preamble to the Declaration of Independence 2019 Platinum Proof Coin – Liberty.”

It is a serious topic because issue price is a serious $1,220.

This puts it out of reach of many.

First day sales were 3,225.

Maximum mintage is 15,000.

There is a long way to go to reach the maximum.

Buyers might never push the final number that high.

That is why the 2018 issue is still on sale.

So far, 12,411 of these have been purchased.

However, leftovers could be an advantage.

Because the 2018 was the first design of a set of three, some collectors will find that being able to go back and get the first one will induce them to buy the 2019-W as the second.

The three designs are reflective of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

Mint Artistic Infusion Program designer Justin Kunz created all three obverse designs in this series.

Mint Sculptor-Engraver Joseph Menna sculpted the 2019 design.

Having one artist do the complete set creates an artistic unity that many coin programs have lacked in the past.

I am sure those who appreciate fine art will appreciate this.

The Mint probably won’t sell any additional coins, because this is a function of affordability more than looks.

The eagle on the reverse doesn’t change for the three-year series.

It is a gorgeous eagle.

The Mint said AIP designer Patricia Lucas-Morris created the design, which former Mint Sculptor-Engraver Don Everhart sculpted.

They are to be congratulated.

As expensive as the coin is, we need to keep in mind that platinum is on the cheap side at the moment.

It is about $825 an ounce. Just five years ago, it was $1,500.

If ever you were going to enter the new issue platinum coin market, this is as advantageous as it gets.

However, I write this in the knowledge that I own precisely one platinum coin.

It is a tenth ounce.

Buzz blogger Dave Harper won the Numismatic Literary Guild Award for Best Blog for the third time in 2017. He is editor of the weekly newspaper “Numismatic News.”

• Like this blog? Read more by subscribing to Numismatic News.

The post The face that launched 3,225 sales appeared first on Numismatic News.

I was passing out Numismatic Ambassador Award plaques at the Florida United Numismatists convention Jan. 11.

This occurred at the fourth annual Numismatic Ambassador breakfast sponsored by FUN and organized by Tony Swicer.

Recording the event was David Lisot, an individual who has been relentless in his effort to preserve the history of numismatics as it happens since 1986.

He is the man behind the video camera at many conventions.

It was my pleasure to take a turn at being in front of the camera to honor the 2019 class of Numismatic Ambassadors.

They join a long line of honorees stretching back to 1974.

That was when Clifford Mishler created the award.

It was given by him and his successors from Numismatic News until the 40th anniversary breakfast in 2014, when we announced that the paper would no longer sponsor it.

Tony Swicer and FUN stepped forward to take over.

Clifford Mishler and I marked the transfer at the very first FUN Ambassador breakfast in 2016.

Either he or I have been at the breakfasts that followed.

As you can see from the video provided by Lisot, the award and the breakfast is going strong.

I expect it will continue to do so in FUN’s capable hands for many years to come.

The survival of this award is important to me.

It is due to the recipients and those like them that we have a numismatic hobby at all.

Hobby volunteers write the guides that allow millions of people to know about coins and how to collect them.

They are the ones who set up the many shows held around the country, from the smallest in VFW halls to the largest at national convention centers.

Volunteers give educational talks. They display their collections. They write articles.

All of these things not only provide the mile markers on our collective journey but they also make us feel good.

What is a hobby if it is not something that makes us feel good?

None of us would have done it for long without guidance and that internal sense of reward and satisfaction that comes from collecting coins.

I want to congratulate David Lisot on becoming a Numismatic Ambassador and for providing the evidence for future collectors to know what we did and to see how enthusiastic we were about doing it.

My congratulations also go to Tony Bonaro, Mike Ellis, Rod Gillis, and Brett Irick.

Please watch the video.

Yes, I know my coat sleeves were too short, or my shirt sleeves too long.

At my age, it is hard to dress. I need space in places I didn’t need it before and less space in others.

There are probably other videos in Lisot’s extensive archive that you will want to see.

Visit his website.

There might even be one where I am better dressed.

Buzz blogger Dave Harper won the Numismatic Literary Guild Award for Best Blog for the third time in 2017. He is editor of the weekly newspaper “Numismatic News.”

• Like this blog? Read more by subscribing to Numismatic News.

The post Coin shows the place to be for collectors appeared first on Numismatic News.

Gold is at $1,323.20 an ounce.

Silver is $16.13 an ounce.

Both are up strongly from where they opened the year.

Gold closed out 2018 at $1,278.30.

The current price is $44.90 higher.

Silver ended 2018 at $15.433.

Current price is 69.7 cents higher.

If we need more evidence of a strong January, just look at the gold and silver American Eagle sales.

Both are beating their performance of January 2018.

The one-ounce gold Eagle sales number of 44,500, is 8,500 higher than one year ago.

Silver Eagles at 4,017,500 are way ahead of 2018’s 3,235,000.

However, before we get giddy, we should look at January 2017.

Sales results of January 2019 don’t come close.

One-ounce gold Eagle sales in January 2017 were 86,500.

The silver Eagle total for January 2017 was 5,127,500.

I don’t want to make the case that 2019 is showing weakness.

I think the numbers show recovery and gathering strength.

My speech at the Florida United Numismatists convention earlier this month was based on my annual forecasts.

If you look at them, you could say the market was at a standstill for two years if they come true on Dec. 31, 2019.

For gold and silver prices, I forecast a return to where they were at the beginning of 2018 by the end of 2019.

That doesn’t seem to be very exciting does it?

My $1,400 gold forecast is a bit higher than where gold’s price stood at the beginning of 2018, and silver at $17 is the same.

You just have to think of this two-year period as one where we bottomed out and turned around.

Who knows? With 11 months left in 2019, prices could easily blow past my forecasts.

That would please me.

A rising price of bullion helps underpin a strong coin market as long as the increases are not so large that they become a distraction.

Eagle sales do not show any distracting excesses – just reassuring recovery.

Sleep easy.

Before I close, I should report that I had a call this morning from a collector who had received his Apollo 11 50th Anniversary 2019 Proof Half Dollar Sets. He had ordered two.

He said the 2019-S Kennedy half dollars were not reverse proofs.

He said the Kennedy profile was not mirror-like but satin finish.

That is not what he was expecting.

The Mint calls them enhanced reverse proof.

What is that? I don’t know. It is a new term.

A new term implies a different look.

Without images, I cannot make a judgment, but I have no reason to doubt the eyes of the collector.

I told him that all the Kennedy coins in the sets might look this way.

I also said that they could be an error, but I hesitate to go down this road before I actually see the coins in question.

Look at your sets.

Is the Kennedy profile mirror-like or satin finish?

If you see satin also, that probably means all coins look like this.

Buzz blogger Dave Harper won the Numismatic Literary Guild Award for Best Blog for the third time in 2017. He is editor of the weekly newspaper “Numismatic News.”

• Like this blog? Read more by subscribing to Numismatic News.

The post Eagle sales show gathering strength appeared first on Numismatic News.

Actually, Monday was the snow day.

Today is the “it’s too frickin cold” day off.

You might have seen us poor Wisconsinites mentioned on the national weather reports.

This is when we get to see how cold it can get in this part of the world so we can file it away in our memories.

Those who are old enough can recall the back-to-back weekends in January 1982 when it was 38 degrees below zero here.

That wasn’t wind chill. That was the mercury reading.

The days between the weekends were no picnic, either.

Temperatures remained below zero.

We did not get days off from work then.

Perhaps that was because the company was too small.

Perhaps it was because when Chet Krause heard that an employee’s car wouldn’t start, he would very kindly send someone over to help us start it and/or bring us to the office. Sometimes he would be the one to go help the stranded.

Life in a small town can be wonderful that way.

Another January of bad weather and time off comes to mind.

It was in 1969 when I lived in Lake Mills, Iowa.

We had incredible snow storms that year.

We came back from Christmas vacation in January for just one day when snow shut the school for the rest of the week.

The following week, we managed to go to school on Monday and Tuesday.

Then more snowstorms closed the school for the rest of the month.

I delivered newspapers then.

In those days, I could ride a bicycle on snow-covered or ice-covered streets.

Only glare ice could keep me off my bicycle.

It is amazing what a kid can do when he doesn’t want to walk.

Naturally, as each day of school was called off, I was pleased.

I got my comeuppance when the school district decided we had to make up lost time to reach the state-mandated minimum count of school days.

We had to attend classes on six successive Saturdays.

That really pinched my paper route collection duties.

My customers understood why I showed up at their doors late in the afternoon on Saturdays instead of at 9 a.m.

Even though snow days make me feel like a kid again, I would rather be in the office getting my job done in the usual way.

However, in this case, I know that I will not have to come to the office on Saturday.

Buzz blogger Dave Harper won the Numismatic Literary Guild Award for Best Blog for the third time in 2017 . He is editor of the weekly newspaper “Numismatic News.”

• Like this blog? Read more by subscribing to Numismatic News.

The post Snowbody here: Time off in winter wonderland appeared first on Numismatic News.

What? You didn’t notice?

I will bet you were following the Apollo 11 program coin offers, weren’t you?

I certainly was.

The one troy ounce piece is .999 fine silver.

It looks like an Indian Peace medal. It is historic.

The Mint does not know who designed the obverse, but the reverse was done by John Reich.

Price is $39.95.

You can also still buy the George Washington and John Adams medals if you would like them.

Sales figures for both of these will give you an idea how the Jefferson piece will fare.

Buyers have taken 17,091 of the Washington pieces.

They have acquired 13,083 Adams medals.

While Jefferson is likely to reach the higher Washington level of demand, we know demand would be far higher if it were a coin.

Medals are the Cinderellas of numismatics.

But there is a catch.

As beautiful as they are, they are aren’t invited to the ball.

They are medals.

If these were coins, sales numbers would multiply.

The Washington, Adams, and Jefferson Presidential dollar coins sold to collectors numbered in the millions.

No such outcome awaits these medals.

Even the First Spouse gold half-ounce coins that accompanied the Presidential dollar coins had higher mintages for these three Presidents despite issue prices of more than 10 times the cost of this medal.

But they were coins

Yes, I know that demand for the half-ounce gold coins fell from the 40,000 initial figures to just 5,000-6,000.

That fate awaits future medals for the less well known and less popular Presidents.

It is baked in the cake.

It is laudable that the Mint is attempting to make medals popular.

The Mint is the only institution that can move the needle even a little.

However, moving the needle a little bit is not likely to be rewarded by anybody.

There will be no line in the biography of the current Mint director that he made medal collecting popular.

But he is to be commended, nevertheless, for trying.

My blog won’t make a difference to medal popularity, either.

So I return you now to your thoughts about Apollo 11 coins.

Buzz blogger Dave Harper won the Numismatic Literary Guild Award for Best Blog for the third time in 2017. He is editor of the weekly newspaper “Numismatic News.”

• Like this blog? Read more by subscribing to Numismatic News.

The post Silver Jefferson medal put on sale by the Mint appeared first on Numismatic News.

19CA      2019 APOLLO 11 GOLD PROOF   15,544

19CB      2019 APOLLO 11 GOLD UNC        7,781

19CC      2019 APOLLO 11 SILVER PROOF 86,073

19CD      2019 APOLLO 11 SILVER UNC      35,380

19CE      2019 APOLLO 11 CLAD PROOF    29,560

19CF      2019 APOLLO 11 HALF DOLLAR SPECIAL SET          49,825

19CG     2019 APOLLO 11 CLAD UNC         20,877

19CH      2019 APOLLO 11 SILVER PROOF 5 OZ       51,271

It is interesting that the clad half dollar set and 5-0unce silver proof have nearly identical order numbers for the first 24 hours of sales.

Buzz blogger Dave Harper won the Numismatic Literary Guild Award for Best Blog for the third time in 2017. He is editor of the weekly newspaper “Numismatic News.”

• Like this blog? Read more by subscribing to Numismatic News.

The post Apollo order totals just in from the Mint appeared first on Numismatic News.

1. Coin collectors did not spend more than $87 million to buy out all of the coins.

2. Conventional wisdom that the 5-ounce proof silver dollar would garner the most attention was correct.

But it has not yet sold out. It simply quickly went on back order.

That change of status could fuel speculation online, but it does not seem to have done so yet.

The $224.95 issue price was within reach of most collectors, especially when they believe they can flip the coins for a profit.

That possibility is already coming into question.

I did not see any offers of Proof70 slabbed coins online.

All I saw were coins that are just as they come from the Mint.

Looking at these eBay listings, I see that a Buy It Now price for two coins is $570.

That works out to $285 each.

This is $60.05 above issue price for each.

Put in percentage terms, an average collector looking to sell the five coins he ordered to a dealer just to break even would be asking for approximately 79 percent of this particular retail price.

Dealers don’t generally pay such a high percentage of retail value.

Another listing showed a price of $1,616 for five coins, or $323.20 each.

To sell these at break even to this retail seller, the collector would be asking 70 percent of retail.

These numbers will change. No question.

However, they do show a lack of early enthusiasm already.

Perhaps in this case we should consider the experience of the 2017 Enhanced Uncirculated coin set.

It nearly sold out on opening day. But it did not.

As soon as the big buyers realized this, order cancellations began.

Tens of thousands of sets suddenly went unwanted.

Will the same thing happen to the Apollo 11 5-ounce proof silver dollar? It could.

Had I placed an order for five of these coins yesterday hoping for a large profit, it would be on my mind.

None of the other Apollo 11 coin sales options went to back order.

My favorite, the two-coin clad half dollar set, is still available to one and all from the Mint for $53.95.

If you want to buy on eBay, the price of a Mint-packaged, unslabbed set is $89.95.

This online price will act as a cap, once again precluding the idea of flipping by ordinary collectors.

However, I noticed online that there are slabbed versions available, too.

A presale of a Numismatic Guaranty Corporation Proof70 two-coin set that is expected to be shipped Feb. 25 is priced at $189.95.

This is three and a half times issue price.

There is space to work here between issue price, slabbing costs, and retail price. Is it enough to encourage flipping? We will see.

Average collectors who actually want to collect rather than speculate can push both the 5-ounce silver dollar proof and the clad half dollar set to sellout status despite what online sellers are doing.

Both options have maximums of 100,000.

Are collectors willing to do this?

If they aren’t, it might just be that when all the orders are counted, not a single Apollo 11 sales option will sell out.

Such a result would be quite a failure.

Buzz blogger Dave Harper won the Numismatic Literary Guild Award for Best Blog for the third time in 2017 . He is editor of the weekly newspaper “Numismatic News.”

• Like this blog? Read more by subscribing to Numismatic News.

The post Could Apollo program be failure already? appeared first on Numismatic News.

That’s what the U.S. Mint hopes to extract from coin collectors with the Apollo 11 commemorative coin program.

I think it is fair to say that not everything will sell.

The question this morning among potential buyers is what will sell out.

There is a huge focus on the new proof 2019-P .999 fine 5-ounce silver dollar.

Mintage sounds low at 100,000.

Price is $224.95.

To sell out, buyers will have to pony up $22,495,000.

If this coin were being offered alone, it would probably be a certain sellout.

The household order limit is 5 coins.

In my mind, at the top of the sellout list should be the two-coin half dollar set.

It features a proof 2019-S cupped Apollo 11 coin as well as an enhanced reverse proof 2019-S Kennedy half dollar.

Maximum sales are 100,000 sets.

Price is $53.95.

So $5,395,000 can get them all.

Household order limit is 5.

The 2019-W proof gold $5 is priced at $418.75.

For ease of calculation, I will divide the 50,000 mintage between the proof and the 2019-W uncirculated $5.

The proof is $418.75. The uncirculated is $408.75.

To buy the proofs requires $10,468,750.

For the uncirculateds, the figure is $10,218,750.

Combined, the number is $20,687,500.

The household order limit is 1, yes that’s one, coin.

The combined total price is almost as much as the 5-ounce silver proof needs to sell out.

The 2019-P proof .999 fine silver dollar is $54.95.

Multiply by half the 400,000 total mintage and you get $10,990,000.

For the 2019-P uncirculated silver dollar, the numbers are $51.95 times 200,000 to reach $10,390,00.

A 400,000 coin sellout requires $21,385,000.

Order limit for either dollar coins is 100.

The proof 2019-S clad half dollar is $27.95. The uncirculated 2019-D is $25.95.

Multiplying the two prices by half of the remaining maximum mintage of 650,000 looks this way.

$27.95 times 325,000 equals 9,083,750.

$25.95 times 325,000 equals $8,433,750.

Combined, the total is $17,517,500.

Remember that the two-coin clad set maximum of 100,000 must be subtracted from the 750,000 maximum half dollar mintage.

Half of 650,000 is 325,000.

There is no order limit for the half dollars. Not even the Mint believes these will sell out.

Looking at all the figures, I think the two-coin half dollar set is a sure sellout.

The 5-ounce silver proof is a likely sellout.

Fighting it out will be the gold $5 and silver dollar.

They will sell out if collectors throw caution to the wind and spend more money than they have been willing to spend in recent years.

Apollo 11 is a compelling theme.

Cupped coins make them even more attractive.

I have had precisely one reader say he doesn’t like having the coins cupped.

Perhaps there will be a split decision with the dollar selling out and the gold $5 not.

Silver, after all, is more popular.

There is one last point to consider.

Buying one of everything will cost a collector $1,267.20.

Those are the numbers.

We will find out at noon Eastern Time whether they are constraints or merely targets to hit.

Buzz blogger Dave Harper won the Numismatic Literary Guild Award for Best Blog for the third time in 2017 . He is editor of the weekly newspaper “Numismatic News.”

• Like this blog? Read more by subscribing to Numismatic News.

The post Who has the money for the sellout gamble? appeared first on Numismatic News.

Diving into some numbers and figuring out their significance can distract me from a crazy day in the office.

I took a look at the Mint’s sales report of bullion American Eagles.

The results should soothe the nerves of gold and silver investors.

Mint sales results so far in 2019 point to a stronger year compared to last year.

Gold and silver Eagle bullion coins have now both surpassed the January 2018 sales numbers.

Silver was the first to cross this milestone, but gold is close behind.

In January 2018, buyers took 3,235,000 silver Eagle bullion coins.

For the month so far in 2019, 3,931,000 have been purchased.

The current weekly sales number increase is 565,000.

If sales for the rest of January march along at roughly the same pace, we should see a final monthly number of nearly 4.5 million silver Eagle bullion coins.

That is almost 40 percent more than in January 2018.

Is that a good start to 2019?

Before you answer, let’s look at gold Eagles.

These, too, have outsold their January 2018 counterparts thanks to a jump in demand for the one-ounce coins.

This year, 42,000 one-ounce gold Eagles have sold so far compared to 36,000 in January  last year.

For the half-ounce, the numbers are 14,000 coins in 2019 versus 16,000 last year.

The quarter ounce has registered sales of 20,000 pieces compared to 26,000 last year.

The tenth-ounce has come in so far at 75,000 compared to 80,000 last year.

Thanks to that extra 6,000 one-ounce coins, the Mint has sold 61,500 ounces of gold in the form of Eagles in 2019 compared to 58,500 in 2018.

This 3,000-ounce lead should be padded in the remainder of January.

There is no way to know what the rest of 2019 will bring.

At least bullion investor nerves jangled by the low sales figures recorded in 2018 can find in these latest figures some soothing reading.

But my nerves won’t stay soothed for long. It is back to my crazy day in the office.

Buzz blogger Dave Harper won the Numismatic Literary Guild Award for Best Blog for the third time in 2017. He is editor of the weekly newspaper “Numismatic News.”

• Like this blog? Read more by subscribing to Numismatic News.

The post Eagle bullion numbers leave 2018 worries behind appeared first on Numismatic News.