I was recently having a numismatic conversation with someone about an auction (sad life, I know…) and the subject of “fresh coins” came up. This person is knowledgeable and I respect his opinion. And after three minutes of discussion, I realized that his view of freshness and mine were different. But then I got to thinking, “What is a fresh coin? Are there varying degrees of freshness?

In my 25+ years of specializing in United States gold coins, I have noticed some interesting trends as far as collector preference goes. One of these preferences is what I call “multiple levels of demand” or MLD. A coin that has multiple levels of demand is popular with multiple layers of collectors. As an example, a certain coin may have interest only to a date collector within a specific series.

Reader JF of Ohio gets full props for suggesting the topic of this blog: how are Proof gold coins from the 19th century graded differently than their business strike counterparts? Great question, JF, and one that has to be answered in a multiple-part format. In order to fully grasp the topic of this blog, there are a few concepts that I’d like to introduce. The first is the mistaken concept that “Proof” refers to a grade.

In my last blog, I discussed ways how the internet has impacted the concept of eye appeal when it comes to coins. Continuing this internet-related theme, I’d like to focus on how the web has impacted rare coin auctions. The impact of the internet on coin auctions in the past ten years has been monumental; more so, I’d venture to say, than virtually any other collectible.

I’ve recently read articles on other websites about how the coin market has changed in the last few decades. Surprisingly, few of these articles mentioned the internet; the single biggest game-changer of the past decade, certainly, and along with third-party grading probably the most important development with numismatic applications since the 1950′s. There are a few really important ways that the internet has changed the market.

The recently concluded Heritage sale was not really a stellar offering from this firm. Falling after the outstanding array of coins sold at the 2011 FUN auction and occurring before what is likely to be a solid group at the Central States sale in late April/early May, the Sacramento auction did, however, contain a few really interesting coins.