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Error Coin Market Report - July 16th, 2021

Wow, what a July it has been for the error coin hobby, as well as for coin collecting as a whole! We can officially say that the coin market is “hot” and not feel like we are in any way exaggerating. Coin shows and auctions are hot, with coins realizing high prices or selling quickly. Anything fresh tends to go fast, and coins that are not “fresh” are still selling well.

The first major coin show of the year happened this month at the July FUN coin show in Orlando Florida. We had a table there, and all we can say is it was a great show for both dealers and attendees. Every dealer we talked to had a good show, and at least one (a well known dealer in U.S. coins) said it was their best show the have ever had. Many dealers said it was one of the best shows they had ever had as well, with dealers selling large volumes wholesale, and also there was a good retail presence. We sold quite a few coins, and had more trouble buying than normal due to a lack of fresh material—but we still managed to pick up some fresh coins that will be offered in the coming weeks and months.

Collectors have money, and want to spend. Major auctions have been doing very well, with many of the coins fetching jaw-dropping prices. One of the last big error sales brought what could easily be referred to as “crazy prices” for many, many of the coins. Coins that sold for $400 in 2019, often brought $1,000 or more. Some coins sold at normal “retail” (what is the new normal—perhaps we have to adjust our view on what “normal” retail prices are?), while few coins slipped through the cracks. Some (but not all) of the higher dollar coins over $5,000 or thereabouts sold cheap, and were actually weak, while some of them did sell for normal retail or actually strong money. Coins under $5,000 or so were strong, many selling for multiples of what they would have sold for about a year ago.

So, between the strong prices at auction, and the strong action at coin shows, and also coins dealers simply selling a lot of coins at their websites, we feel comfortable terming the coin market, including the error coin market, “hot”, with of course some weakness on some (not all) of the higher priced items and a few types (but not many) of the cheaper error types, and overall very strong prices on most of the mint errors in the under $5,000 price level.

Coins with great eye-appeal, or which (for whatever reasons) are popular right now, such as 11c cent on dimes, nickels on cents, cents on dime planchets, most double or multi-struck coins, etc, all are selling exceptionally well at auction and in dealers’ inventories.

We look forward to the rest of this year with excitement, as we have the next big show, the ANA World’s Fair of Money in Rosemont, IL in August, and it promises to be a blowout show of memorable activity. It will be the first of the truly giant coin shows since January of 2020, and will likely be one for the books.

We will continue to search for errors at the best value and offer them on our website. If you need assistance with either buying or selling, we are here to help!