July 2009
COIN MARKET HOLDING UP IN WEAK ECONOMY
The global economic recession has
profoundly impacted our lives in many ways. Millions have lost jobs,
have had hours reduced or have taken a pay cut. Real estate values have
fallen just about everywhere and rather sharply in some areas. Although
equity markets have rebounded significantly from the lows set earlier
this year, they're still down dramatically from the highs set less than
two years ago. There are mixed signals about whether we've turned the
corner and things may soon begin to improve. Whenever that may be, it's
going to take some time to recover from what's widely considered the
worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.
Nonetheless, the market for collector coins is holding up fairly well.
The bull market in place for several years is certainly over and there
are areas of weakness, but most prices are stable and in a few cases
advancing. Weakness is most apparent in coins priced over $2000 and in
readily available coins like common date Morgan dollars grading MS63 to
MS65. While precious metals prices have pulled back in recent weeks,
gold is still up since the beginning of the recession, giving
support to bullion sensitive issues such as classic U.S. gold in
circulated and lower mint state grades. Only a smattering of
adjustments, some higher and some lower, are appearing across the broad
range of other U.S. collector coins. In short, your coin collection is
likely worth about the same now as it was a couple years ago. If
however you should decide to sell some or all of it, we're still
actively buying all types of U.S. collector coins.
Other types of collectibles are not faring so well. That includes
another numismatic area, collectable paper money. Prices there are
generally lower, often quite significantly. Collectors and dealers seem
inclined to sit on the sidelines until a bottom in the market is
apparent, rather than risk finding that notes purchased today may be
available for less in the not too distant future.
TELESPHERE
NUMISMATICS NOW ON FACEBOOK
We invite you to check out our new page on Facebook, which we'll be
using to make
available info about new products and other updates and to get your
feedback. Click our badge on the right to visit our Facebook page. If
you're a Facebook user and would like the
occasional notices we'll post to automatically appear when you login,
request that we become a
Facebook friend. Our Facebook friends can also leave comments on our
Wall. We hope you'll use this venue to share things
you like about our company and to let us know if there's something you
think we could do better.
We'll be looking into participating on other social networking sites,
such as MySpace, in the coming months.
DID YOU KNOW?
Everyone is familiar with the "nickel" but prior to 1866 the American
five cent coin was made primarily of silver and was called a half dime
(originally half disme). Containing about half as much silver as the
dime, the half dime is one of the smallest U.S. coins ever produced.
The earliest pieces are dated 1794 and the last 1873.
Nickel was first used for U.S. coins in the Flying Eagle cents of
1856-1858, which were 12% nickel and 88% copper. This composition was
retained for the first few years of the Indian cent series that
followed, then changed to bronze in 1864. A year before the first
nickel five cent pieces, the three cent nickel was introduced. Struck
from 1865 to 1889, the three cent nickel was 25% nickel and 75% copper,
just like the five cent coins produced today. That's right, today's
nickels are actually 3/4 copper and only 1/4 nickel.
The first nickel five cent pieces had a shield design on the obverse,
similar to the two cent piece also in circulation at the time. Stars
surrounding a large '5' appeared on the reverse. The design was changed
to a portrait of Liberty on the obverse and a Roman numeral 'V' inside
a wreath on the reverse in 1883. The Buffalo nickel, with the bust of a
Native American on the obverse and a bison on the reverse, debuted in
1913. A portrait of Jefferson on the obverse and his home, Monticello,
on the reverse first appeared in 1938.
CURRENT SPECIAL
For a limited time, Telesphere Numismatics offers the four 2009-S
proof Presidential Dollars for the
special price of only $10.00 per set. Each set contains one each
of the proof dollar coins for the 9th through 12th U.S. Presidents -
William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, James K. Polk and
Zachary Taylor - in their U.S. Mint issued plastic case. The sale price
is available only on our Current
Special page and will end no later than July 31.
-----
Telesphere Numismatics
Our newsletter is also distributed by e-mail on a strictly opt-in only
basis. To subscribe, simply complete the form below. Instructions
for unsubscribing are included with each issue.
Subscribe!
Receive our free newsletter by e-mail!
Messages sent about once a month feature announcements of new
purchases, special offers and
updates at our web site. Each issue also includes at least one article
containing news and/or commentary pertaining to the world of
numismatics.
To receive future issues of the Telesphere
Numismatics newsletter by e-mail, enter your name and e-mail address in
the form below and click
the "Subscribe Now" button.
Our newsletter is strictly opt-in only. No
one will be added without
requesting it. To protect your privacy, subscriber info will not be
available
to anyone else. Requests to unsubscribe are promptly honored.
