New Market Insight for week of February 27, 2006:

The topic on my mind this week is early gold and we have handled some really cool stuff this past week including a SWEET 1801 $10 Eagle in AU58 certified by PCGS a coin with only 44,344 coins being struck for circulation, and actually that is a lot of money for back then totaling a face value of $443,440.00 for the entire series. Considering most of the early Eagle’s didn’t make it past being melted or exported to find such pieces are truly rare and amazing.

Another coin that just simply blew my mind was a 1799 $10 Eagle in MS64 certified by NGC; this is by far the most gorgeous early Eagle I have ever seen, (and that is a bold statement) a coin that still holds all the original mint luster and proof like surfaces, a coin that like the 1801 is a true piece of American history. Any time you can find early gold in which the eye appeal is all there you can throw the grade on the holder out the window when trying to decide if it’s rare enough, or if the price tag is worth the coin in the holder. I’ll tell you why, the early stuff is so very, very tough to find, the mintages were so miniscule and most of the early Gold was melted down or exported to other countries.

Here are some stats that are amazing, for the entire 1795-1804 $10 Eagle series only 1,833 coins have been certified by PCGS and 1,394 by NGC totaling 3,227 between both services. Now, that number does not truly reflect the exact number which is definitely lower because of the amount of coins crossed, cracked out and resubmitted again and again. Compare that number (3,227) to the total Indian $10 Eagle series, PCGS total is at 85,934 and NGC is 84,427 combined is totaling 170,361.

The numbers speak for themselves and they speak loudly. Take also the early $5 half eagles, for the entire series 1795-1807 only 2,538 pieces have been graded by PCGS and NGC has graded 2,143 totaling only 4,681.

Early gold right now is like beach front real estate, if you can find it you’ll be paying for sure, but the prices you are paying now will be substantially less then what you will have to pay in 1-5 years. The reason I shortened the time frame to only 1 year is because I truly think in the next year prices will jump through the roof, we’ve been in a bull market for a few years and it’s only getting stronger due to the number of new investors coming into this hobby.

I’ll end this subject by saying, “yes, early gold!”

Very Best,
Dean Albanese
dean@coinace.com