UP, UP AND AWAY FOR RARE COINS

SPECTACULAR COINage COIN COLLECTOR'S YEARBOOK

- BY MICHAEL GAROFALO

This was a banner year for rare coins and their strong values as evidenced by the results of hammer prices for auctions of amazing coins.

The 2025 price realized at public auction for each coin featured here is the total price realized as any buyer's fee has been added. I've done my best to include many of the year's highlights and focused on my personal favorites.

In January, all three of the major American coin auction companies— GreatCollections, Heritage Auctions and Stack's Bowers Galleries—planned to start the year with public auctions of important rare coins. The Florida United Numismatists (FUN) coin convention is usually the first major coin show of the year. The show is considered as a bellwether for the health of the coin market as dealers and collectors flock to Florida in early January to avoid the snow and cold weather in the northern climates.

Heritage presented a number of great rarities for sale in its FUN Signature Sales series. One coin offered, a 1927-D $20 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle gold coin graded MS65+ by the Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) and verified by the Certified Acceptance Corporation (CAC), is the rarest regular issue of any American coin, in any metal, struck during the 20th century. There are only 12 or 13 known examples of this extremely rare coin. This coin was likely the 6th highest-graded specimen behind an MS67 and four MS66-graded examples. This coin easily sold for $3,840,000.