The Business of Numismatics: March 2026 Greysheet Editor's Letter

Friday, January 30 will be a reference point, as gold and silver plummeted that day in what was a massive—but also needed—correction. That day gold opened at just a tick over $5,400 per ounce, and after briefly inching higher, the spot price was sent tumbling, touching an intraday low of $4,692 and eventually closing at $4,852, a better than 10% correction. The silver spot price was even more extreme that day. After opening the trading session at nearly $114 per ounce silver cratered to an intraday low of $76.67, eventually closing at $86.34, representing a decrease of more than 24%. As I write this in early February, the silver spot price sits at approximately $75, a far cry from the few weeks we had where silver was well above $100 per ounce. As I have written previously, the steep surge in precious metals prices had put a major squeeze on cash flow for dealers, had created delays at refineries, and pushed premiums to historic lows. There have been several forecasts from professional analysts considering the recent pullback, and it will be intriguing to observe the direction going forward. My instinct is that the spot prices, silver in particular, will be rangebound in the near term.

Back to the rare coin market specifically, the Heritage FUN auction netted $46.8 million in the United States coins section alone, setting numerous price records for individual coins. When speaking of (and reading announcements about) price records, an important thing to remember is that both Heritage and Stack’s Bowers increased their buyer’s premium at the outset of 2026. Thus, a coin with the same hammer price will show a greater “all in” price this year compared to previous years. This will cause several price records to occur this year even though the actual hammer is identical. One comment on the Heritage FUN sale, and that the $3.54 million paid for the Amon Carter Class III 1804 dollar graded PR58 is interesting to contrast with the $6 million paid in December for the newly discovered James A. Stack, Sr. 1804 dollar. With the originality and better state of preservation displayed by the Stack specimen, it is justifiable to think that the Stack coin is worth closer to $7 million based on the Carter specimen result.

Over at Stack’s Bowers, the second part of the James A. Stack, Sr. Collection was sold just a few days ago, consisting of 128 lots of all gold coinage, ranging from early Bust types to Pioneer gold. By far the most eye-opening result was the $1.8 million for the finest known 1911-D Indian Head eagle. Certified PCGS/CAC MS66, there have been three grading events at the MS65 level at PCGS, with a Gem selling for $195,500 back in 2007 which was the previous sales record. This singular MS66 was certainly worth a premium, but I am not sure many observers would have guessed the price at nearly $2 million. The three Indian Head gold series of quarter eagles, half eagles, and eagles are among the most competitive series in all advanced U.S. coin collecting, and there were multiple buyers in on this coin. The next logical question is what an MS65 will sell for next time one appears on the market. We hope to see many of you at our March Whitman Expo in Baltimore at the beginning of the month, as we expect no slowdown in the market for quality U.S. coins.

Sincerely,

Patrick Ian Perez, patrickp@whitmanbrands.com