Have any of you noticed that it's getting harder to find quality pre-64 coins in optimal grades? Whether you're looking at online sources or at shows near you. I had this discussion with one of my dealers the other day and we both have noticed that it's getting to a point of slim pickings, even for eBay, to find optimal grades of pre-64 coins. Local show here tomorrow, not sure what I'll find, but I make it a point to see if there are high grades, or just the low graded junk. I'll report back tomorrow on what I find.
With the price of silver as high as it is, there are probably many collectors, maybe even dealers, who are hoarding the Mint sets and probably made-up rolls to see just how high the market will go. Maybe if spot drops below $30 you might see some profit-taking. Chris
Been back from the show for a while, taking some time to log new purchases into my XCEL spread sheet, and fix dinner for the wife and I. A lot of what I anticipated prior to the show was proven to be the case. A lot of slim pickings. Proof coins aside, the uncirculated items were all low grade with higher prices, as much as 15-18% higher than previous shows. One item that caught my eye, and was completely over-priced, was an AT, NGC slabbed Morgan, and my guess is a much earlier NGC slab, for $450. You can most definitely tell it was AT looked as though someone overlapped a perfectly round object of some sort on the obverse side and used either heat or some type of chemical to induce toning in the shape of a crescent. The reverse was perfectly clean of toning. I could make out circular scratches on the reverse side, a clear indication of cleaning. Overall, a big disappointment unless you were in the market for proof sets, or individual proof coins as far back as the 50s.
