13. US Rare Coin 1913 Liberty Head Nickel sells for US $4.15 million

One of the greatest ironies of the United States rare coin market is that one of the humblest coin denominations, a 5c piece, could be so exalted. The 1913 Liberty Head Nickel is often referred to as the ‘King of Coins’ in America. The most important law ruling the market of numismatics (coin collectors) is that a coin is only as rare as its numbers. The fewer the specimens of any coin, the more rare and expensive it is. There are only five 1913 Liberty Head Nickels. To own one is to be at the pinnacle on American numismatists lists. Even one of the mighty Rockefeller’s had a Liberty Head Nickel in his private coin collection. King Farouk also owned one of the specimens at a particular point in time.

Sitting on the right hand side is King Farouk of Egypt, who also owned one of the 5 specimens of the 1913 Liberty Head Nickel.

The obverse (head side) and reverse (tails side) of the famous Liberty Head Nickel 5c piece. It is often referred to as the King of United States’ rare coins.
Another significant point to also consider is that the Liberty Head Nickel was a currency coin, or money. That is to say that it could be used to buy goods and services at the time of it’s minting, just as you use money in your pocket today. The reason for mentioning this is that we are seeing a growing number of uneducated collectors and investors buying non-currency coins, thinking that they will become rare in the future. Coins that are minted by national mints that are not currency coins cannot and will not ever become rare, regardless of the metal that they are minted from. The reason for this is that they do not satisfy the basic criteria of a rare coin, being that it must be money of the day. As non-currency coins cannot ever become rare they are always going to be valued at their metal content regardless of the small numbers that are minted. Numismatists (coin collectors) only collect currency coins. Without the market forces of rarity to assist them, non-currency coins will never attain the performance levels of rare coins. They will always just be valued for their metal content.

This is the Rwanda 2000 Mandela Gold Proof coin, of which 50 000 were minted. It will never become rare because it is a non-currency coin. Each time one of these coins is sold, the only beneficiaries are the mint and their promoters. They are not the best coin investments to make.
Rare coins have been coveted for centuries. After all, coin collecting was once referred to ‘as the hobby of kings’. Kings only collected things of great value. Today the rare coin market is seeing a greater and greater influx of investors. They are attracted to the rare coin market due to the limited levels of volatility, high returns and attractive tax advantages.

The Liberty Head Nickel above was sold for a record US $4.15 million. It is the finest known of the 5 specimens and has been graded by PCGS. Click here for more info
Rare coins throughout the world are renowned for their stellar financial returns. Many collectors do not like to talk about the financial aspect of collecting coins, but prefer to talk about collecting coins for the love of the hobby. But as always, times change and today even the most ardent collector cannot dismiss the fact that they are always pleased and have sense of pride when their collections increase substantially in value over the years.

The rare coin market has a long history of providing some of the highest financial returns in the world. There are few better examples of this excellent rare coin performance than the 1913 Liberty Head Nickel. The coin was recently sold for more than US $4.15 million. It had been bought two years earlier for US $ 3-million from previous coin dealer, Dwight Manley and had made its new owner a profit of over a million US dollars. This is a profit of around 37% in just two years. In the United States, rare coins have proven to be such good investments that investment in this market has outpaced investments in gold bullion.

In the United States, there are more investments in rare coins than in gold bullion. This is due to the high performance of these coins.
The most interesting fact about the sale is that it was owned by a coin dealer named Jay Parrino. He sold it to a coin dealer, Dwight Manley. Manley in turn sold it to another coin dealer by the name of Ed Lee who sold it to yet another coin dealership known as Legend Numismatics. This investment product was so excellent, that dealers stumbled over one another in order to purchase it. In fact, this coin is so coveted that it never seems to reach a collector or investor. Dealers are snapping it up too quickly. There can be no greater stamp of approval on rare coins, than the fact that dealers in the industry are also investing in the product that they sell.

Obverse side of South Africa's most beautiful coin Reverse of the Veldpond

Rare coins are amongst the best performing investments in the world today. Our South African Veldpond for example in most cases consistently performs at an aggregate of over 50% per annum.
We can also all be sure of one thing that any coin that is costing US $4.15 million is no longer viewed just as a collectors item. Four million dollars is serious money and no one places that type of money into anything that is not going to give a good rate return. A close examination of the Liberty Head Nickels past record of financial performance speaks for itself. It is unarguably one of the best investments in the world.

The chart above shows why more and more investors are being attracted to the rare coin market due to its performance. The chart is compiled by PCGS, one of the largest graders of coins in the world.
The South African rare coin market has been on fire since our country became a democracy in 1994. Renewed international and local interest in our rare coins has made South African rare coins one of the best investments in the country. Now that South Africa has been accepted in the international arena, we can expect our rare coin market to mirror the US rare coin market. Hopefully, it will go the same way as any other healthy investment sector, providing good, stable and consistent financial growth over the medium term.

South African rare coins have an advantage over other maturer rare coin markets. Our coins are rarer than other countries’ coins when calculated on a relative ratio basis. This is partly due to the unusually small amount of coin collectors throughout South Africa’s coin history. By default, this has given South Africans the ability to outperform most other countries’ rare coins. The most important law regarding rare coins is that they are only as rare as their numbers are small. We have, for example, the rarest coin in the world with a mintage of only one. This coin is known as the ‘Single 9’. To our knowledge, this is the only official coin ever minted by a government with a mintage of one. Our rare coin market has also been kept out of the international arena for over forty years. This means that our rare coin market has been undervalued by forty years in relation to its overseas counterparts. For investors and collectors alike, they will have a bull market ahead of them for at least four more decades.

Most South African rare coins are growing at a rate of 35% per annum with some of the more rare coins performing at even higher multiples. There has never been a better time for investors to enter the South African rare coin market. E-mail us for more information or call one of our brokers today.