Market Movers and Shakers

With 2024 rolling into gear, we can now look back and reflect on some of the modern coins that performed the best in 2023. There were some huge winners last year, such as a 1969-S Doubled Die Lincoln Cent graded PCGS MS66RD. It realized a record price when it was sold by GreatCollections in January 2023 for a stunning $601,875. There were many other modern coins that sold for remarkable prices.

In the past few months, we have also had other modern coins that have performed very well in the market. However, because of space limitations, we only listed 10 of the Top Gainers from the PCGS Price Guide in the graph above. To view all the Biggest Gainers and Losers, please visit the PCGS Price Guide and click under “Price Changes.”

The first coin on the PCGS Price Guide’s Gainers list for the past three months is the 2020-W American Samoa V75 Quarter. The coins were first issued back on April 6, 2020, and immediately collectors all over the country were searching for them. The coins are popular for several reasons. One of them being that the new quarters were struck at the West Point Mint, and they were some of the first quarters to enter circulation that had the “W” mintmark. The coins also have a mintage of two million, which is relatively small for a circulation-strike U.S. coin of the modern era. Additionally, the coins feature a privy mark, making them extremely appealing to collectors. This can explain why the coins have seen a huge demand and significant price increase, especially in PCGS MS66+ grade. We recently raised the price from $95 to $250, reflecting a recent public sale where the coin took $400. While we are careful to not let any single sale influence our pricing, this showing suggests that the market value for this coin has improved in recent months.

Our second example on the past three months' Gainers list is a 2011-P Jefferson Nickel graded PCGS MS67+FS. The coin has a low population of three, with only three examples graded higher by PCGS. Therefore, collectors definitely would love to have this coin for their collection, especially those seeking high-grade examples for their PCGS Registry Sets! The last auction sale that we have on PCGSCoinFacts.com, is from 2021, where an example sold for $2,640 in PCGS MS67+FS. There have not been any other public sales of this piece in such a grade since then, and as mentioned previously, we don’t necessarily change the price of a coin based on one sale. Other variables go into play, and based on no other recent sale history and the coin remaining with a low population, a price increase was merited.

Our third example is a 1957 Franklin Half Dollar graded PCGS PR68+DCAM. For a coin that was struck 67 years ago, it's simply astonishing that it obtained and remains in this PR68+ grade, let alone that it boasts Deep Cameo surfaces. Even coins struck today aren’t always of this quality. This coin currently has a population of just one in PR68+DCAM and only three examples grade finer by PCGS. Less than a year ago, this exact coin sold for $6,600 at a Heritage Auctions sale. A subsequent market price increase was necessary for this conditional rarity.

These were just three of the modern coin highlights that performed the best, in the past three months based on the PCGS Price Guide changes. In the graph above, you can also see the 10 Biggest Gainers, and if you would like to see more Gainers (or Losers), visit the PCGS Price Guide online and check under “Price Changes,” where you can go back and see the biggest Gainers and Losers in the past day, week, month, or even several years back.