Icg Mint
How much is this coin worth?
Hello. I have just obtained the first 1 oz. Gold Buffalo ever produced for the year of 2007. It is in a wooden case with the Certificate of Authenticity from the U.S. Mint and it is graded an MS70 by ICG. The IGC also labels it “First Day of Issue” and “#001 out of #798″. How much is this coin worth? I want to know if I got a good price.
My coin is a bit like this one, except it’s #001 out of #798 and it’s a buffalo, not an Eagle.
http://cgi.ebay.com/2007-50-Gold-American-Eagle-ICG-MS70-/180516436651?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a079e3aab
Here’s the deal on this:
All #1 out of #778 means is that it’s the first of the 778 coins that ICG slabbed from coins that the US Mint certified as being struck the first day of issue. The Mint did, and does, release certain issues with seals indicating the first day of release. The seals are broken once in the hands of the grading companies, under tight security to ensure authenticity.
The problem is, ICG is not the only one doing this. NGC (who calls theirs Early Releases) and PSA (First Strike) do it as well. The marketplace seems to place the highest trust and thusly the highest values on PSA-slabbed coins, with NGC a reasonably close second, and ICG and ANACS about the same, and a distant 3rd.
Recent sales show the following realized prices at one non-ebay online auction. Prices do not include the 15% buyer’s premium this site adds to the winning bid.
5-16-2010 — PSA 70 1st Strike $1450
3-29-2010 —NGC 70 Early Releases $1200
11-22-2009 “” “” “” $1200
No previous PSA examples that I found. There were other NGC going back into 2008, with prices $925-$950, which reflects the lower price of gold at the time.
One somewhat disturbing thing I found: An ICG MS70 that sold for $925 in December 2008. But, this one said on the label “A first strike coin”, and it is numbered 093 of 742. So, ICG has ‘First Day’ and ‘A first strike coin’ deals going. What other marketing ploys have they used to trick collectors into a notion of ‘limited edition’ false scarcity?
I hope you didn’t pay more than 10% over spot gold at the time of the purchase. If you did, I’m afraid you got scammed. Because the market seems to consider ICG a step below, in other words, an MS70 in an ICG holder is considered about the same as a PSA or NGC MS69, there’s only a small premium over bullion.
1904 MS62 ICG O-Mint Morgan Silver Dollar