Legend Coin Market Report: THE GOOD TIMES ARE ROLLING AGAIN-SORT OF

April 18, 2011

We did not expect things to be so good on tax week-boy were we wrong! In fact, we actually were partially closed (a huge mistake) because we were so confident things would be quiet. NOT!

Starting on Monday collectors called us for coins listed on our web site. They were not just buying generics. They wanted real, rare, and quality oriented coins. It was not a stampede, just people wanting coins for their collections. In fact Sunday night as we were posting coins we sold several as they were put up! Sales prices ranged from a few hundred dollars to five figures per coin. In the end, we were pleasantly surprised with our sales for the week.

Interestingly, for us, generic gold was NOT the hottest thing in demand (but then we did not have much). We sold plenty of killer Type coins and of course BETTER gold pieces. Tax time did not stop activity this year (the past 3 years it sure slowed things).

THE GOLD/GENERIC MARKET

After a slight dip, prices came roaring back. Silver coins seem to be the red hot play now. Many people “in the know” seem to think silver will rise to near $50.00 (that is all speculation we heard, we do not know any factual information).

While all eyes have been pretty much on gold coins for the past year or so, silver coins remained idle. GEM MS65 Walkers were plentiful at $110.00-$125.00 each, while MS66’s could be had for the low $200.00’s. Morgans In GEM: buy all you want for $125.00-$150.00 while MS66’s were also in the low $200’s. For the life of us, we do not understand how MS67 Morgans have slid to the mid $600.00’s. We expect that to drastically change shortly.

Today dealers are trying to buy all the Walkers and Morgans they can. We even have one major (and we mean major) buyer emailing us everyday with higher buy prices trying to entice us to sell him the remaining Mc Claren coins we have. The telemarketers flush with orders need these coins. We predict prices WILL rise at least 40% within the 30 days on silver generics in MS65 or better-unless the silver market suffers a catastrophic crash. Those of you who purchased coins from our McClaren Collection, are already sitting on profits!

We still believe the BEST buys are MS66+MS67 Walkers and Morgans. They have drifted to ridiculously cheap levels. We also like MS66 Peace Dollars. The supplies are dwindling fast (we are just about out of McClaren coins). We are major bidders for these coins and have not bought any at the levels. We do still recommend these coins and strongly believe they are safe buys up until around the $1,000.00 level (this is our opinion).

If you are a believer in gold, we DO still recommend CAC generics in MS65 and better. The premiums for generic gold especially have actually fallen! We think gold will remain stable for awhile.

A word of warning, this merry go round can stop instantly. If you are doing some speculating, do not be too brave. When the buyers stop, not only do prices go down, but you really can’t sell the coins-at all. We will admit last week, even Legend took a large position in some better generic MS silver (something we rarely do). We are that bullish, but the if things slow we can get out, we do see what is unfolding before the crowd.

Last: we have read about a few dealers who suggest selling your rare coins and buying generics or bullion with the proceeds. We totally DISAGREE. No, not just because we deal in the better rarities and we want to sell rare coins, but because we see it as wild speculation and churning. Sure, gold and silver rising does not help our short term argument, however long term, there is no comparison as to how a true rare coin has always vastly outperformed generics. We do strongly suggest: if you make a lot of money in gold and silver bullion or generics, buy a great rarity with your profits and just put it away. So long as you buy right, you will NOT regret it.

MAYBE IT IS THE ECONOMY?

All of the sudden the coin market seems to have a lot of its pre 2008 swagger back. While the market never crashed, it suffered slightly because of internal issues like gradeflation and the ever present lack of cool coins. The bottom was around CSNS two years ago. Funny how things have changed: We expect this years CSNS to be really strong!

We have noticed that houses are seemingly starting to sell again. Last Friday we were in a car dealership-where we were told the Month of March was a record breaker for sales. We’ve even seen some expensive spec houses built and SOLD in recent weeks in the affluent shore towns near us (like Rumson and Navasink). Restaurants we frequent seem almost crowded again. Life does in deed seem to be coming back to its old spending habits.

Plus, with gold and silver so red hot, Dealers love to plow their profits back into rare coins.

Even if gold and silver crash, we strongly believe the rare coin market will continue on its merry little way. As we have been telling you for the past year, there is very little fresh and nice coins available. The internet has created a black hole where coins flow into but do not come out of. We greatly misjudged the size of the coin market vs the rest of the world!

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to email or call us.

YET AGAIN WE MUST REMINED EVERYONE THESE REPORTS WE POST ARE FOR LEGENDS CUSTOMER BASE. SINCE WE ARE DEALERS OF TRUE QUALITY, HIGHER END MATERIAL, AND CLASSIC RARITIES, WHAT HAPPENS IN OUR PART OF THE MARKET WILL BE DIFFERENT FROM OTHERS. WE STATE FACTS THAT WE SEE THEM.