In the last post, which was our January 2008 Newsletter we talked about coins and provided a quick reference guide on some of the key dates you need to be on the look out for.

Well to add to the story we went to an auction yesterday up in Marion, NC (The Yellow Rose Auction). Unfortunately we did not make the beginning and one of the coins we had our eye on got gone. Fortunately, however, a couple of other coins were still there and were on our quick reference guide.

So now in addition to the Flying Eagle Penny we posted about a month ago (we’re STILL waiting for it to get back from the grading company) we now have a 1880 Shield Nickel and a 1871 Seated Liberty Trade Dollar, both are in excellent condition.

This will now be the story (and reference point) of the 1880 Nickel and the 1871 Dollar.

1880 Shield Nickel

Found this interesting bit of information from the PCGS website

The lowest mintage circulation strike Shield nickel, the 1880 with only 16,000 struck, also is the most rare in all grades. A low mintage does not always equate to rarity, but in this case it does. This coin is nearly impossible to find in true Mint State. This is emphasized because many of the 1880 Shield nickels offered as Mint State are really Proofs. It appears that the Proof die was used to strike business strikes or, if you prefer, the circulation strike die was used to strike Proofs. Either way, it was likely an economy measure by the Mint, which also was suffering through the hard times. This is the only Shield nickel that PCGS has not graded even a single example MS-66 or higher and only a couple have garnered the MS-65 level. Finding a frosty Mint State coin can be a frustrating experience, as even the true business strikes encountered likely are to be somewhat prooflike, if not totally prooflike! This is the stopper to the series for the business strike collector. It is not a sleeper, however, as virtually everyone knows the near impossibility of finding one of these jewels.

I will be sending this coin to be graded and hopefully it will come back a little quicker. If it grades as high as I think it will it will book for over $1000.00.

In the past 30 days an ungraded 1880 Shield Nickel sold for a little over $900.00 on eBay so I’m hopeful that this $10.00 (+ 10% buyers premium) purchase will pay for our auction trip and still make a profit on it .. and yes I did say $10.00

1871 Liberty Seated Trade Dollar

This may stay in our collection for a little bit after grading, just depends on what the market is doing after we get it back. This is not near as good of a buy as the nickel was but if it grades decent it should at least triple our investment of $100.00.

A Gem Proof 1871 sold recently on eBay for $1,600.00 .. and no, this coin is not even close to gem proof .

The ebay market is kind tough to determine for this piece. Recently there was an ungraded coin that was titled as AU-50 (Almost Uncirculated) that sold for over $600.00 and during the same time frame a Graded MS-64 (Mint State) that sold for a little over $450.00.

the eBay price range really varies on item and is largely dependent on the condition (as with most coins) and the presentation.

Keep checking back to see how these coins do in the eBay market.