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 After digesting the FUN coin show, and reviewing sales of coins from online auction sites, dealer activity, and also sales of our own inventory, we can confidently say that the coin market is hot, and collector and dealer activity is excellent. It is not the "crazy days" of 2020-2022, when anything sold and often for a new record every time it was offered—those days seem to be behind us—but there is a steady and regular amount of activity that continues to go on in the coin market.

At Sullivan Numismatics, we had our best year ever (2024) in the coin business, with both the availability of inventory, as well as both wholesale and retail activity being the best overall that we have seen and contributing to our success. Coin collectors are avidly seeking the coins they need for their collections, and dealers, who are always closely monitoring the market for changes in precious metals, coin prices, and overall activity, find that in the current market conditions, they keep needing to “restock” because they are selling coins. We have a healthy coin market, and that is a good thing, since both buyers and sellers can can buy with more confidence. 

Mint error coins are somewhat different from regular coins, in that there are no “price guides”, and as a result, one of the most frequent questions we get is “how can you tell what a mint error coin is worth?” The answer is really just an amalgamation of seeing what dealers sell their inventory for, what auction results are, and having a knowledge of mint errors. Some errors are so rare, they may not have sold in decades, and pricing is often done by simply knowing how rare the coin is, overall demand for that particular error type, and then also how the coin ranks in terms of appeal to collectors—grade, if it has any “special attributes” (such as exceptional eye-appeal), and to a degree, what a dealer has to pay to acquire the piece. At Sullivan Numismatics, our goal is to always give customers a good value—we try to pay fair prices, but also sell at fair prices. This creates a two-way market, and allows customers to both buy and sell to us, which is a mutual win. 

If we can be of help building your error coin collection, or if you have other related questions, contact us.