There’s a successful businessman in St. Louis who is an avid outdoorsman and a stamp collector. Like many others, he uses his acquired wealth to participate in hunting, fishing and wildlife conservation. This gentleman is especially enamored by the annual duck stamps issued by the US Fish and Wildlife Service and required of all waterfowl hunters. He has made it a point to purchase both the stamp as well as signed prints of the artwork used on them.
Once, this man’s collecting interest extended to a set of privately minted silver ingots featuring dramatic outdoor wildlife scenes. The attention to detail and allure of the artistry was compelling. Each ingot was struck from two-ounces of sterling silver and strictly limited in the number minted. Each ingot sold for $75....
In all, there were 20 of the good-sized ingots originally selling for a total of $1,500 (plus tax and shipping). A beautiful wood case to house them cost another $100. Truly, the complete gleaming set was astonishingly gorgeous. After owning it for roughly 20 years, the collector figured his set had at least doubled or tripled in value to between $3,000 and $5,000. Maybe more.
The gentleman decided to downsize and sell some of his superfluous belongings including the set of ingots. He contacted an individual who was well known as an honest broker of such collectibles. He asked the broker to get the best price he could. Hopes were high. After all, as has always been the case, rarity plus demand equals value. The limited mintage meant these were rare. The broker communicated with numerous buyers. The result wasn’t good. Demand was weak. The offers weaker.
The broker also checked with several auction houses. Their estimate of a probable sales price was equally low. Plus, the auction sales commission was 30 percent. That seemed steep. In the end, the broker had several dealers bid on the set. Each bid was almost exactly the same. Low.
The final price realized was $40 per ingot. $800 for the entire set – essentially the price of silver. Each prospective buyer only factored in the silver value because they had no immediate customers for the set and might not have one for a long time, maybe years. Saddest of all, chances are all those gorgeous ingots were melted down simply for the silver content.
I still see countless ads online and in magazines for similarly attractive silver “coins,” or worse, silver-plated ingots containing virtually no precious metal. Certainly, all are beautiful or interesting but hold the same fate.
Even the US government has a hand in it. A current offering from the US Mint is a series of presidential silver medals. A new one is issued every few months. Weighing in at one ounce each of pure .999 silver – half the weight of the wildlife ingots – each features a beautifully detailed portrait in profile of one of our US presidents. They’re currently up to James K. Polk.
Each comes in an attractive presentation case and there is no limit to the number minted. So, no rarity. The cost of each medal is $65.
As of last week, the spot price for an ounce of pure silver is barely $21 – less than one-third the price being charged for the medals. With unlimited numbers being minted and tepid demand, unless the value of silver goes stratospheric, prospects for future profits are equally tepid.
A less speculative and more attractive option would be the acquisition of one of the aforementioned duck stamps. Long recognized as one of the most exquisitely detailed stamps produced, an annual competition is held to select the most appealing design. Fans of the movie Fargo will recall how important the contest is to wildlife artists. The 2022 stamp features two Redhead ducks on water.
Valuable as many of the early duck stamps have become (some exceeding $3,000 each), most impressive is that 98-cents of every dollar spent on the stamps goes to wildlife conservation. Since their inception in 1934, over six million acres of wildlife habitat has been acquired. For a successful businessman or just a plain old hunter, that’s an invaluable return on an investment. Sold at most post offices and Walmart stores for just $25 each, they’re also not a bad idea for a holiday gift.
For more collecting information and advice, log onto www.PRexford.com.