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Sales of rare U.S. coins reached a record of nearly $536
million last year, and now collectors are turning to the D.
Brent Pogue Collection, which could boost it higher.
Gathered over more than 30 years by Texas property developer A.
Mack Pogue and his son, D. Brent, it is considered the most
valuable collection of federal American coins dating from the
1790s to the late 1830s in private hands.
An 1822 Half Eagle five-dollar gold piece, one of only three
known to exist, and an 1804 Silver Dollar dubbed the "King of
American Coins" are expected to be among the top lots when the
collection is sold in a series of auctions in New York beginning
in May and continuing into 2017.
"These two coins in particular, we think, have a possibility of
being up around that $10 million mark," Brian Kendrella, the
president of Stack's Bowers Galleries, told Reuters.
The rare coin and currency auctioneer, which is handling the
sales with Sotheby's, believes the coins could shatter the $10
million record set in 2013 for a 1794 Silver Dollar.
Although jaw-dropping prices for contemporary art grabbed
headlines in 2014, rare coins also had a banner year and are
among the biggest collectibles behind art and antiques.
HISTORY IN YOUR HAND
Coin sales are driven by the economy, but Kendrella said
investors and collectors are also lured by the rarity,
uniqueness, condition and historical links of coins.
"They are artifacts that speak to what was going on in the
United States at the time these coins were made," he said.
"That's one of the main draws."
With a dozen coins selling for $1 million or more in 2014 and
the first gold coin struck for the United States fetching $4.5
million, the nonprofit Professional Numismatists Guild estimates
the overall U.S. rare coin market to be worth about $5 billion.
Walter Husak, a retired aerospace entrepreneur based in
California, knows just how lucrative it can be. A collection of
301 rare penny coins dating from 1793 to 1814 that he gathered
over more than 13 years sold in 2008 for $10.7 million, about
double what he invested in it.
"I never thought it would go up that much," he said. "There are
a lot of people getting involved in coins."
Barry Stuppler, secretary of the Professional Numismatists
Guild, has seen plenty of changes in his 52 years in the coin
business, with buyers increasing in recent years.
"It is a combination of the economy coming back," he said of the
market, "and the fact that interest rates are very low."
The Internet also has been "a tremendous, tremendous source of
new buyers and sellers of coins that we didn't have 20 years
ago," said Stuppler.
Demand for rare, investment-quality coins, graded and certified
by the guild and the Florida-based Numismatic Guaranty
Corporation, is high and supply is low.
"The rarities do the best, particularly gold and silver coins,"
said Stuppler. "The Pogue Collection is extraordinary."
(Editing by Jill Serjeant and Jonathan Oatis)
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