Market Blog - Written by Doug Winter on Tuesday, June 8, 2010 11:11 - 8 Comments
The DWN Online Rare Gold Coinapedia
For many years, it has been my strong belief that the best DWN client is one who is educated. An educated collector is a confident collector and a confident collector is a more active collector. This is one of the reasons that I have tried to share as much of my knowledge about United States gold coins as possible. I’ve written the standard reference books on Charlotte, Carson City, Dahlonega and New Orleans gold as well as hundreds of specialized articles and blogs that can be found on my website www.raregoldcoins.com.
With few exceptions, I don’t think there are many other dealers who can make the claim that they are as interested in educating their clients as much as I can.
My current work-in-progress is something that I am especially proud of. I call it the DWN Online Rare Gold Coinapedia and I am proud to officially announce that it is available for collectors to use immediately.
What this online project consists of are hundreds of high-quality images (obverse and reverse) of 18th, 19th and 20th century United States gold coins along with descriptions of each. These descriptions, while taken from write-ups that originally appeared on my website, are informational as opposed to commercial and should provide the new collector with lots of basic facts about the coins they are interested in.
The beauty of this project is that it is totally non-commercial. None of the coins that appear on the on-line encyclopedia are currently for sale. No hype, no sales pressure, just useful facts about coins. And the quality of the images is superb.
At this point in time there are around 300 different images posted. These include the following:
*Over 40 gold dollars
*Over 65 quarter eagles
*Over 15 three dollars
*Over 85 half eagles
*Over 55 eagles
*Over 60 double eagles
And, there are miscellaneous images of coins such as Territorials as well.
As time passes, I will be adding images and descriptions to this resource. I hope to double it in size by the end of 2010. While it will never be totally complete (there are clearly a number of very rare issues that I will not be able to image in the near future) I anticipate that it will become an important, widely used reference in the months to come.
Please visit the DWN Online Rare Gold Coinopedia. Use it often and give me input as to how to make it better and more useful to you. I look forward to hearing your comments.
8 Comments
Doug, you have hit a grand slam home run…again. The first paragraph in the article says it all. Thanks for all your work and willingness to share your knowledge.
Awesome. Simply awesome.
Wow, that is really cool! Thanks!
Great addition to your excellent site.
Thanks!
Doug, Your willingness and your outstanding efforts to share your years of knowledge and experience with collectors has always impressed me. It is what makes you a cut above, or two cuts above, most other dealers and it is why I have enjoyed purchasing coins from you for the last 15 years. You are a terrific coin dealer and in my opinion a national treasure.
Doug,
Another great reason to keep coming back to Rare Gold Coins! Recognized a number of familiar faces and really enjoyed meeting new ones!
What are your thoughts about including images of coins in client collections that you either previously sold @ RGC or bought as agent at auction? Perhaps you could put out a monthly call to your customers for a coin you previously handled, e.g. 1861-S $20, ask them to write to you describing the piece in their collection, then you select the one you’d like to image. Your description might include a backstory on where and how you and your client came to the piece.
Good luck!!
Bill
Doug,
Another great reason to keep coming back to Rare Gold Coins! Recognized a number of familiar faces and really enjoyed meeting new ones!
What are your thoughts about including images of coins in client collections that you either previously sold @ RGC or bought as agent at auction? Perhaps you could put out a monthly call to your customers for a coin you previously handled, e.g. 1861-S $20, ask them to write to you describing the piece in their collection, then you select the one you’d like to image. Your description might include a backstory on where and how you and your client came to the piece.
Good luck!!
Bill
Doug,
Let’s focus on the 1863 Gold Dollar. OK, this coin is pretty rare. In fact, it is the single rarist gold dollar in terms of total known to exist. So, I see why it is the only Philadelphia gold dollar on your list. And, yes, I have a very nice MS64, borderline gem, for this reason. A totally random addition to my collection.
However, I could argue that this coin will always remain obscure. Who collects Philadelphia gold dollars? And then, these coins are so small that you need a magnifying glass just to appreciate them. The NGC holders (until recently) further obscure the coin. So, its demand is not bolstered by being part of a particularly popular series (unlike branch mint) or denomination. About the only thing going for it is that 1863 was during the Civil War, and a pretty interesting year (Gettysburg, Vicksburg campaigns, Emacipation Proclamation was written).
So, while it might be warehousable (is this a word?), I am dubious that it will likely every gain a lot of fame. Not until rarity, and rarity alone (not series) becomes a collection theme.
But then, that is an interesting idea. Would it fit into a list of the top liberty head coins in terms of rarity? A blog topic perhaps?
JL
Martin Kaplan - Jun 8, 2010 12:14 pm