Anyone following the market in recent weeks has endured some serious whiplash.
The price of precious metals, recently driven downward by the implementation of tariffs, is experiencing gyrations that make tracking the value of one’s coins difficult. Simply put, volatility makes pricing more difficult, as the values of many world coins (and even U.S. coins) are primarily driven by their precious metal content. This could open doors for arbitrage but also leave you catching a falling knife or taking a bath.
From mid-March to April 1, 2025, gold and silver especially kept making forward strides. In the days leading up to the publication of this column, we locked in new baseline precious metal prices for all four metals listed at NumisMaster. Silver was priced at $30.50 an ounce, with gold exactly 100 times that value, $3,050. Platinum landed at $935, and palladium was locked in at $940 an ounce.
Sometimes dealers “work up” coins in 2x2s and keep them in stock for years before a buyer (perhaps an astute buyer) recognizes that either the coin’s real market value or precious metal value is now greater than the price indicated on the coin’s holder.
It happens all the time across U.S. and world coins.
Perhaps the seller notices the discrepancy between the precious metal value and shrugs, figuring that his cost was fixed long ago. He’s not going to quibble with what may be a minor difference in revenue to him. We’ve seen other dealers who know that this possibility exists that forewarn customers with signage or a verbal acknowledgment that silver prices will be adjusted accordingly when the transaction is consummated.
But then the tariffs were implemented, and metals prices dropped.
With market movement of such variance, it is impossible to report accurate pricing across the world’s hundreds of thousands of coins. To combat this issue, some backend work was accomplished to round up the value of lower-grade coins so that the coins did not appear at prices less than their “melt” value. However, that only works if the baseline price in the system accurately reflects the prices in the market.
About one week before we implemented the new pricing scheme on April 4, 2025, I was concerned that prices would be too low, but nearly a week after those prices were set, they appear too high. We are committed to being more responsive with baseline precious metal pricing at NumisMaster in 2025 and trying to reflect the proper market. We are always reviewing pricing for various segments.
We recently priced dozens of recent issues from Canada based on current market conditions. These coins were released in the last three to five years, pre-dating the recent introduction of tariffs. The new tariffs will affect modern new issues from world mints, especially the aforementioned Canadian coins. Coins issued in 2025 under this reality will have to be priced higher at release and in price guides. The long-term prospects for these issues remain to be seen.