I was speaking with Joe of Gardner Coin at his shop last week, as I had looked at a couple of 1799 Bust dollars that were around VF in grade earlier in the day in a NH antique shop; the price spread is around $1500 in fine and $2500 in VF. He said they are slow movers in his experience and he wouldn't want to pay more than around $1200 as a really nice fine coin. To me these coins have a lot going for them, 18th century early US coins, big dollars, nice design and so forth. Are these not that popular now?
For coins of that value I wouldn't touch them unless they were slabbed by NGC or PCGS. And there's not a lot of people who can afford that much money. Authenticity and customers.
The problem is that there are very few people who collect them by date. Even fewer that collect by variety. This means that the only person who really wants one is the type collector. It is a big chunk of money for most of the smaller type collectors so they are reluctant to buy. And for the more moneyed collector there are plenty around for him to chose from (because there is no other demand) so he can be choosy and is in no big hurry to buy. He'll wait for the one he wants. The bust dollars may be sexy but there are almost available than there is demand for them.
Collecting coins is no more than gambling. Eeac time you buy a coin slabed or not you are takeing a chance that that coin will rise in price and not lose below the price you paid for it. It dosent matter how popular the coin is when its bought demand is what makes it a good investment. Coin dealers are the real winners as they sell that coin when its demand price is high and try hard not to let it set in display for a long period of time. We all like to gamble at times so i liken collecting to gambleing. I too like to see a coin i have rise in price but at the same time i always try to find an out for selling it just incase the coin price starts dropping.
I agree with conder about them being price prohibited for the average collector, and the average collector is who keeps coin sellers in business. Therefor most dealers won't even stock them. I think they're a good buy if/when you can find them. It's not a gamble, it's a hobby.
I like bust dollars -I like them a lot. But, for me to buy an attractive one, would be my coin budget for the whole year. For the most part, the affordable (ish) ones are simply not attractive enough, or have problems, for me to buy.
The two things that would hinder sales for Bust dollars is price and authenticity. Even in low or average grades its better to get them certified. There are way too many counterfeits out there.
If the coin is in the holder, then their is an active market for it at least at Bluesheet, which is basically bargain pricing; if the coin is CAC stickered then there are usually active bids for that coin around GS ask or a little under in some cases. The caveat on counterfeits, what I looked at last week were coins from an old collector and antique dealer who had bought them from others, usually these guys have a really good sense about the type of seller, if something is fishy they back away. Most dealers do not end up getting snookered by fakes.
It depends on the coin, nice, pleasing ones sell as you can see all the time, sometimes way over GS. It depends on the coin dealer and their resources, and if they do shows and have lots of resources they can afford to buy lots of inventory at the right price.
OK, here was the coin that I had in mind, the antique dealer sent me the pics and I ran them through imgur--anyone have a guesstimate on grade, Fine?
Detail is noticeably better than fine, but I count at least six rim bumps. Seems dark but that may be due to the photo and lighting.
