CoinTalk Members Say High Gold and Silver Prices Have Shrunk Collector Premiums

This article is based only on posts in a CoinTalk forum thread titled "Collector vs silver or gold content value." The source text does not give the dates of the posts. One post mentions "FUN 2026." What follows are members' own accounts and opinions, not verified facts, and it is not a price forecast or advice to buy or sell.

"Almost upside down"

In the first post shown, fiddlehead wrote that with gold at $5,000 an ounce, collector value and gold value seemed to be upside down. The poster said they used to worry about paying much more for collectible gold coins than their gold value, and that this was no longer the case.

Here, "premium" means the amount paid above the value of the gold or silver a coin contains.

"The premiums we paid are being eroded"

Pickin and Grinin wrote that they prefer varieties of constitutional silver to gold. With silver at $110, the premium they had been collecting is now gone, and selling now would mean taking a loss even though they would make money on the investment. The poster added that they did not see a major reduction in value.

GoldFinger1969 wrote that they did not think members were losing money on their silver and gold coins, but that members were finding the premiums they paid are being eroded. The poster said premiums paid on gold years ago have been more than offset by the higher gold price. Bigger premiums paid on silver, the poster wrote, have absorbed 70-90% of the rise in the silver price, so they might need $150 silver to make up for the premiums paid on many of the commemoratives and a few MSDs.

The 1908 Saint-Gaudens example

Publius2 wrote that they saw a promotional ad in the WSJ that morning for a 1908 No Motto Saint-Gaudens in BU for $4,860, limit one.

Publius2 also described a personal purchase. In July 2023, when spot gold was $1,920, the poster bought a 1908 No Motto Saint-Gaudens graded PCGS MS-65 for $2,400. The numismatic premium at retail was then $400 to $500. The poster wrote that it is now essentially zero, but that the coin could be sold today for about $5,000, a profit of about $2,600 in nominal dollars. The poster noted that a Double Eagle does not contain a full ounce of gold, that the numbers were only representative, and that the opinions were their own.

The poster added that a dealer who sold that coin could not replace it in inventory for less than about $4,800 and could then sell it for no more than about a $50 to $100 premium over spot, so the margin on these coins has been sharply reduced.

"Premiums compress" in a spike

medoraman wrote that every time precious metal prices spike like this, premiums compress for a while. The poster gave an example of an MS-65 that might once have been $800 over melt and might now be $200, but said these figures were "just guessing from prior movements." The poster also gave the personal opinion that trading an AU double eagle for an MS-65 should be cheaper right now than usual.

More silver coins for sale

mrweaseluv wrote that with silver prices so high, many harder-to-come-by "common" Morgans are being sold. The poster said they bought 1887 Morgans S and O plus an 1884p, all for under list price. A week earlier they could find only one or two examples of each, then 20 to 30 of each appeared at auction and most sold for just over melt. The poster said they got $300 worth of list-price Morgans for $220, which would have cost $350 to $400 a week earlier.

Barney McRae wrote that the rise in spot is sending a lot of better dates to the smelting pot, and urged members to hold on to them if they can.

At a local shop

mark_h wrote that selling their gold was easy; most of it was AU with little numismatic value. The $5 coins, except one, were bought around spot for about $450 and sold for over $1,000 each, and the eagles were bought around $950 and sold for "over 2k." The poster said they are not really interested in selling their 1836 half eagle in AU50.

mark_h also wrote that the local shop was doing more selling than buying. A few people came in to sell silver coins, but more came to buy silver, and the shop was selling rolls of silver eagles. The poster thought, but was not sure, that the shop's premium on them was spot plus $4. The poster said they saw no one else even look at the coin inventory.

Source: CoinTalk, "Collector vs silver or gold content value" (forum thread).