For many collectors New Orleans gold dollars are a perfect set to assemble. They are within reach of nearly any budget and with only six pieces required to assemble a complete set they do not require years and years of patience to complete. The New Orleans mint produced six different gold dollars between 1849 and 1855. Two design types are found in the series.

Although I can’t take credit for inventing the concept of Market Premium Factor (MPF), it is something that I have discussed before and find very interesting. The basic concept of MPF is that in a specific series of coins, certain dates trade for premiums over the common (or basal) issues. An interesting series to explore the concept of MPF is Indian Head eagles.

The Baltimore coin show opened to the public on Thursday and to the public on Friday. Thursday was one of the more active days at a coin show that I can remember. I had a steady stream of dealers looking through my coins and made a number of sales, including some to other dealers that I have not done business with in a number of years.

I did something fun last night. I was asked to speak in front of a local coin club. Randy Clark, the President of the South King County Coin Club, asked me to make a presentation to his group. The meeting was held at the Tukwila Convention Center which is a few miles south of Sea-Tac airport. The facility is extremely nice and I was encouraged when Randy told me that the meeting usually attracted thirty to forty collectors.

When discussing “rarity” it is important to realize that there are two different types of rarity. These are “fundamental rarity” and “grade rarity.” Fundamental rarity refers to the overall rarity of an issue. A coin like a 1796 No Stars quarter eagle is fundamentally rare in any grade. The value of such a coin is due primarily to its rarity and not its grade. There is a high level of demand for this issue, even in very low grades.

I’ve recently had a bit of an epiphany regarding modern coins. For someone who has traditionally snickered at Walking Liberty half dollars and Mercury Dimes because they were “too new” this isn’t totally unlike the President of Coke admitting that a Pepsi tastes pretty good with a Cheeseburger. Now don’t get to thinking that I really “like” modern coins because I don’t.