The 2009 Ultra High Relief $20 Double Eagle Gold Coin is one of the most exciting US Mint offerings this year with collectors jumping in to purchase 102,311 as of Nov. 1.
Nothing highlights the coin’s popularity better than the sizzling sales of 28,173 on their Jan. 22, 2009, launch day. And that was in spite of a recession, a one coin order limit preventing bulk buying and gold hovering around $860 an ounce making the double eagle’s issue price $1,189 — a hefty amount for the average collector.
Flash forward 10 months… The economic picture continues to be cloudy — worse for some with the unemployment rate now at 10.2%, and gold has touched $1,100 pushing the UHR price up $250 more to $1,439 (and knocking at the door of $1,489). Despite the US Mint lifting order limits, it’s not surprising that only 1,607 more were purchased during the last two weeks of October. Throwing aside all the negative factors, it would be rare indeed for sales to be thrashing for months on end.
However, an analysis (see chart below) of eBay completed auctions from September 1 through October 31 shows there is still excitement in the air. Graded MS70 UHRs continue to command solid premiums in the secondary market.
UHR Realized Prices on eBay
For most of September and October, average UHR MS70 premiums ranged from $385 to $465 above the same time US Mint offer price. In early September, premiums were actually hitting the mid $500 levels. They dipped for several weeks before rising again in October.
Ungraded and graded MS69s show mixing, with instances where ungraded examples actually commanded higher premiums. But neither reached higher than $150 above the Mint’s current price. There are times when they sold lower, likely indicating the seller purchased the coins when they were cheaper at the Mint and they were willing to sell for a small, but quick profit. The chart notably shows that the only items trending up in October are gold prices, US Mint UHR prices and the MS70s.
To check out current listing prices and bids, see 2009 Ultra High Relief Gold Coins on eBay.
As of this writing, over 90 of the Ultra High Relief Gold Coins are listed. Less than a dozen are MS70s. Buy It Now prices for these range from $1659.00 to $2,395.99.
As a side note and for consideration when reviewing this information, it can be a difficult proposition to collect and analyze completed auctions for certain types of coins on eBay. The process is not perfect nor completely encompassing. Sellers list auctions differently and often use a variety of descriptions. In all cases for the above data sets, researched filters were used to collect the widest range of data available during multiple 10-day windows at the time of sales. In the end, nearly 600 listings were examined. Each had an average of nearly four bids and 71.7 percent were sold.
For reference, the following chart shows the weekly UHR sales increases as reported by the US Mint for Aug. 30 – Nov 1.
UHR Weekly Sales Increases
The 2009 Ultra High Relief Gold is a modern day recreation of the famed Augustus Saint-Gaudens’ designed 1907 $20 Double Eagle gold piece. The one-ounce highly detailed coin is struck in 24-karat, .9999 fine gold and is limited to a single year of issue. Its smaller diameter of 27mm is more than 50 percent thicker than modern US Mint gold coins.
The coin may be purchased from the US Mint website (http://www.usmint.gov/), or by calling their toll-free number, 1-800-USA-MINT (872-6468).
A very interesting article with solid analysis behind it! The first chart, aside from confirming that graded MS70 UHRs fetch a premium, also reveals that the price of both graded MS69 and ungraded UHRs at open (eBay) auction has fallen to equal to or below the US Mint price. All economic uncertainties aside, it would be a surprise if high Mint sales continued when consumers can find UHRs of known (i.e., MS69) or unknown (i.e., the same as the Mint sells) quality elsewhere at equal or lower prices. Perhaps the Mint should look at your analysis and reevaluate their current… Read more »
these 69s could have been bought at cheaper UHR prices 1189 and sold at the higher UHR price.