1895 Pond MS62 sells for $31,877 on ebay

[geejay50 10]

Hello all,

 

Many of you may have seen that recently the finest known 1895 Pond MS62 PCGS was sold for $31,877 (R245,452) item 270616271643 on ebay 08.08.2010

 

This is a sum that may seem high until one realises that we are dealing with a Pond that is a) finest known and b) has the smallest number of Mint State specimens of all the ZAR ponden including the Veldpond.

 

Looking at the Pop reports of both NGC and PCGS, the rankings of MS coins are as follows;

1895 NGC 6 PCGS 2 Total 8

1892 SS NGC 7 PCGS 2 Total 9

1896 NGC 9 PCGS 2 Total 11

1894 NGC 14 PCGS 4 Total 18

1893 NGC 16 PCGS 2 Total 18

1897 NGC 19 PCGS 1 Total 20

Only the rarer years are considered

 

Finest known coins in world coin terms can fetch up to 7 times what lower order MS coins fetch

 

This price will be good for our SA coin market in general and make people aware that there is serious money involved at the higher ends.

 

Geejay

 

[ZARBOY 10]

This is not a high price compared to something like the Veldpond that sold here on BOB.

 

Considering that buyer, the purchaser of this coin bought a BARGAIN !!!

 

Wish it was me....

 

Regards

 

Thomas

[jwither 12]

I have already commented on the prices of recent Veld Pond sales and my opinion on this price is exactly the same.

 

The coin is scarce in MS but there are a decent number in AU. Focusing on the population of MS coins and ignoring AU speciemens makes no sense, regardless of the coin.

 

Moreover, an MS-62 as the highest grade does not bring a substantial premium versus slightly lower (in this case AU-55 or AU-58) graded coins in any other instance outside of South African coinage that I know. I have read several instances and exchanged private messages with several collectors and told them the same thing. In the United States, which is the model South Africa is following and has been for some time, few to no buyers will pay huge premiums for a conditional rarity with this grade.

 

At this price, this 1895 pond is relatively over valued. If anyone wants an example of a coin that ACTUALLY sold at a bargain price, it was the 1931 Union NGC "AU details" 6P that sold for $1265 last night on Heritage. (I was the under bidder on that coin.) THAT coin was a bargain. Judging from the image, its either an AU-58 or mint state coin whose only "defect" is that NGC would not assign it a numerical grade. But there is absolutely nothing wrong with the coin. Most collectors simply have what I would describe as the self-reinforcing wrongheaded opinion that "details" coins should sell for as little as 10% of a numerically graded specimen even when both look essentially the same.

[saiedm 10]

Hi AllCongrats to the winning bidder. I hope this coin was won by a South African collector as it's rightful place is in South Africa. I am sure a year down the line this finest known specimen will fetch over R1,000,000

[Pierre_Henri 35]

O Boy!

 

O Boy, seems like the top end collectors will pay "anything" for the highest graded coins.

 

But one must be careful - it looks like a bag full of brilliant uncirculated 1923 Union Pennies was dicovered somewhere in a vault or attic and graded the past weekend at NGC as MS65 and MS66's.

 

Wonder what that will do to the price of MS 1923 Pennies?

 

Pierre

[jwither 12]

O Boy, seems like the top end collectors will pay "anything" for the highest graded coins.

 

But one must be careful - it looks like a bag full of brilliant uncirculated 1923 Union Pennies was dicovered somewhere in a vault or attic and graded the past weekend at NGC as MS65 and MS66's.

 

Wonder what that will do to the price of MS 1923 Pennies?

 

Pierre

 

Northeast Numismatics must have been the buyer of this hoard because if you check on their site, they just sold NINE MS-66 BN for $525 each. The population for MS-66 just shot up from THREE to TWENTY and to 121 for MS-65. There are now OVER 300 in the census. Eventually, I expect many of the more common Union dates to have similar populaitons, though maybe not in MS-65 and above.

 

In my opinion, even before this hoard, this coin was ALREADY overpriced. Many collectors seem to believe it is scarce simply because the mintage was low but in actuality, it is and was by far the most common KGV penny. Possibly, it is more common than every or just about every KGVI date in high grade. Nevertheless, I do not expect it to impact prices much except maybe for the lower uncirculated grades if the price of these MS-66 is any indication.

 

I do not expect a hoard of MS 1895 pond to be discovered but even with the current population, there are plenty enough of them in better grades - just not MS - where this sale price does not make sense.