1933 Saint-Gaudens To Be Sold for $10-$15 Million

OK, again I'm doing what I do best. Talking about something I know nothing about! I don't know anything about the people all of you are referring to as being potential buyers. But, I'm a coin collector, not investor. If I want a coin to compete my collection, and I can afford it, I'm buying it. All of you give good reasons for it to go either way. But, if one of these billionaires wants it for his collection, what does a few million matter to him? I'd rather have my collection complete, than keep a paltry sum to me, drawing almost no interest. Just me, and my opinion, which actually means nothing, lol. But, as all of you are aware of, and indicated in your commets, we shall see!

 

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So far Eliasberg is the only person as far as I know to have had a complete set of Saint-Gaudens double eagles (Yes he had the 33)

The other two are both in the Smithsonian. They had one from the Mint collection and acquired the second as part of the Eli Lilly collection.

 

Yea I worded that weird. I meant the 22 auctions before the 33 which could suck up some money from a potential 33 bidder. You're probably looking at 15 mil or so to get both possibly more

 

I think that price range is very speculative.

 

I doubt that there was a possibility of a "private auction" because (1) Sotheby's wants the publicity and (2) if 2 individuals each contacted Sotheby's over the years that they were interested in a private sale if the 1933 Saint owner wanted to sell....that precludes such a possibility with 2 bidders.

 

I would think that Sotheby's has had informal discussions with a few Big Bidders who were informally asked over the years (or maybe even earlier this year) that if the 1933 Saint and/or the Inverted Jenny were to be sold....how much would they be willing to pay ?

So...Sotheby's may not be totally off on those $10-$15 MM estimates for each.

OTOH, I would expect any guestimate closer to late-May/early-June to be much closer to the final mark.

 

@Conder101. Do you know what happened to Eliasberg's 1933 Double Eagle?

 

I don’t thing that the 1933 double eagle will bring an all time high price given the fact at least 15 pieces are known. Yes, the government is holding all but one of them, but the total population is still high for a coin that is supposedly worth $10 to $15 million.

 

I always thought it was amazing that the 1-cent magenta British Guiana stamp is a DAMAGED stamp. The corners were clipped! (What happened to the others???) But why damage it further (or risk tearing it) by writing on it? That to me is STUPID. Yet it is the rarest and most sought-after stamp of all. The plate block of the inverted Jenny is also one of a kind. There was only one sheet of this stamp sold, so there is only one plate block available and that's it. I used to be a small-time stamp dealer.

 

He voluntarily turned it in and it was destroyed in 1956.

 

The best comparision might be the 1927-D Saint which goes for around $2 MM in similar condition (actually, the 1927-D has fewer known coins).

But again...it's AVAILABILITY that is key. There is only 1 1933 Saint -- at this time -- that can be sold.

So the artificial scarcity caused by the Mint's/Treasury's obstinance might jack up the price.

 

Bill Gross of the money management firm PIMCO (used to be on Wall Street Week with Louis Rukeyser) had an Inverted Jenny, don't know if it was a bloc or a few single stamps. I think he sold it a few years ago when he got basically every stamp he needed for his collection.

 

A 1907 Ultra High Relief just went for $3.6 MM over at Heritage, including the bp:

https://coins.ha.com/itm/proof-high...kImage-1907-$20-ultra-high-relief-1327-012921

There's 18-20 of the UHRs, so that bodes well for an increase in the 2002 price of the 1933 Saint ($7.59 MM).

 

The thing for the 1933 Double Eagle is that those extra coins held by the government could legalize them and sell them . The 1822 half eagle there are two period and it’s much less likely that those will ever be sold .

I also like the 1822 because it’s “the one that got away “ from the Bass collection which I think is pretty cool (the 1933 double eagle was unobtainable at the time )

 

You keep saying that and that certainly is true for some, but that turns many people off. Many of the people that would be players simply aren’t because it’s rarity is completely artificial

 

I don’t think the government will ever sell those 1933 double Eagles. They are not like a car that has been confiscated from a drug dealer. Unless the government monetizes them, a citizen can’t own them.

 

Right, because the government has 11 other 1933's that theoretically could hit the market. It's certainly a risk -- but it's been over 15 years and they've never given any indication that they would let them out.

Apparently, you need this piece of crap :

 

Doesn't really matter, they could do it any time they want. It's one thing if they have 1 or 2, but to have over 10 just makes it a joke.

 

Anybody buying the 1933 probably can afford to take the hit if those Fort Knox 1933's ever hit the market.

I'll be sure to give them advance notice.....

 

Of course they could. The point wasn’t really about that though, it’s just what an overhyped joke the entire issue is when there’s a pile of them that the government is just saying you can’t have it because we said so.

At some point someone is going to stop being a moron and say hey we can make a bunch of money selling most of these and getting tax revenue from every sale and they will get out, it may be 100s of years from now but at some point they will.

The 22 is much more interesting to me.