Market Movers and Shakers

The year 2023 was exciting for the coin market. Many great coins performed well over the year. Of course, not all collectors collect coins for investment – many acquire coins for sheer enjoyment. However, it’s a great treat to be in a hobby where you can collect, have fun, and at times see some of your coins appreciate in value. Multitudes of coins performed well last year, but let’s highlight the top 10 biggest gainers of 2023 based on changes reflected in the PCGS Price Guide.

The first coin on our list is an 1856 $3 graded PCGS PR62. It’s an extremely rare issue, with only five or six examples believed to exist. The coin is so rare that if someone would like to own one, they’d likely have to wait several years before a specimen shows up in the marketplace. And even then, there’d be no guarantee that the potential buyer would win that coin at auction.

Prior to 2023, the last such piece that sold at public auction was in 2017, and the last that crossed the block before that was in 2012. So, even if a collector had the funds to buy a specimen, they cannot just go out and buy one. On February 9, 2023, Heritage Auctions sold a PCGS PR62 for $90,000. The previous auction sale for a PCGS PR62 sold for $12,650 at auction in 1996. Before the sale of the PCGS PR62 example that was sold in 2023, the PCGS Price Guide had this coin listed at $30,000. So, with data stemming from the most recent sale, the PCGS Price Guide listing for the PR62 grade was raised to $95,000, representing a 216% increase.

The coin bringing the second-highest gain in 2023, based on the PCGS Price Guide, is the 1969-S Doubled Die Lincoln Cent. This coin is now over 50 years old, but it remains as one of the most nostalgic and exciting coins to come to light in the past half century or so. This coin is responsible for bringing many collectors into the hobby, as so many dreamt of landing an example of their own when the news of this spectacular variety came to light in the 1970s. Even though most of these incoming collectors never found one in circulation, this coin still managed to attract many numismatic newcomers over the past several decades.

In January 2023, GreatCollections sold a PCGS MS66RD for $601,875, which was a record price for the 1969-S Doubled Die Lincoln Cent in any grade. Before the auction, the PCGS Price Guide listed the coin at $200,000 in PCGS MS66RD. Following the aforementioned January 2023 sale, we moved the price of the MS66RD to $605,000 on the PCGS Price Guide to reflect the current state of the market for this coin in that grade, which shows a 202% gain.

The third coin in the Top Gainers list for 2023 is the 1914-D Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle graded PCGS MS67. Although this issue is not rare in lower grades, it is scarce in the grades of MS66 to MS66+. They’re virtually unheard of in MS67, with the exception of one lone example graded by PCGS at that lofty grade. In January 2023, Heritage Auctions sold the only PCGS MS67 specimen for $204,000. Prior to the sale of the coin in 2023, the same piece traded in 2005 for $43,125. This appreciation in value warranted pricing changes for this coin in the PCGS Price Guide, which saw the listing increase from $85,000 to $250,000 – a 194% increase.

The featured chart also reveals the top 10 coin gainers for the year. To view many more coin price changes for the year as well as market data for other date ranges, you can visit the PCGS Price Guide and click on “Price Changes.” Once there, you can view many more coins listed on the PCGS Price Guide Gainers list, including the top daily gainers, weekly gainers, three-month gainers, one-year gainers, two-year gainers, three-year gainers, five-year gainers, and even the leading 10-year gainers. We can’t wait to see what other extraordinary coins will show up on the Top Gainers list in 2024!