Two years ago, I compiled my SOTC 2023, which stands for State Of The Cassettes rather then the typical State Of The Collection. That year, I didn’t do much in watch collecting. Instead, I shifted my attention to another long-time hobby — old fashioned HiFi. Similarly, last year I found myself spending more time and money in collecting… money, i.e. banknotes and coins.
So for 2025, I skip my usual retrospective of the year, and simply write about another SOTC of the year — my State Of The Coins.
I started 2025 with my first Double Eagle gold coin, a coin that I have been thinking of for a long time. I selected a 1925 St. Gaudens PCGS MS65, a Double Eagle that is exactly 100 years old, and I paid $2900 cash when gold price was at $2800 per ounce and that was on February 1. At the end of the year, gold price jumped above $5000 per oz and I purchased another Doble Eagle — 2009 Ultra High Relief Double Eagle PCGS MS70PL.
No doubt, St. Gaudens Double Eagle is my number one favorite coin of all time. Then among modern gold coins, my top pick is the 1988-W Olympics $5. It is a bit small, but the size is just right for Elizabeth Jones’ design of Nike the Greek goddess of victory, as well as the Olympic flame on the reverse designed by Marcel Jovine. Almost twenty years ago, I bought one NGC PF70 Ultra Cameo at a price slightly above $200. Now I have to pay nearly five times more, and I did, for a MS70. It is nice to compare a perfect uncirculated coin with a perfect proof side by side, and in this case it is clear that the PF70 Ultra Cameo is the winner.
Another gold coin that I really admire and like, being a music lover, is the 1oz Vienna Philharmonic €100. It is not easy to find a PR70 proof which was only minted in 2014 for 5000 pieces. I ended up with a MS70, along with a couple of MS70 silver ones.
Talking about silver, my favorite modern silver coins are the Silver Eagles, especially of Type I. There are many fabulous coins in the world, but either the obverse or reverse of the coin doesn’t speak to me. As for Silver Eagle, I love both sides of it.
It is with the Silver Eagle that I discovered reverse proof besides more traditional proof coins. I found out that in general, I still prefer proof to reverse proof, though the latter is usually more sought after and demands higher price, such as in the case of Silver Eagle, Peach Dollar and Morgan Dollar.
One exception to my preference is the modern Mexico Libertad silver coin — the reverse proof really stands out.
While most silver coins are in .999, few are .9999 and one such exquisite example is the Maple Leaf, and my top choice is an 1988 in high grade.
As popular as Eagles and Maple Leaves are the Panda coins, so many of them, so lovely such as the 2013 and the price was just a bit higher than spot silver.
The silver coins that I acquired in 2025 are mostly modern in perfect or near perfect condition, and they go along well with some old coins in my collection.
Among the daily-use coins, I actually like the most common Washington Quarter the most. But for collectibles, my first picks are the less common 1976 Bicentennial silver and 1998 Type 1 silver.
And for the paper bill, my favorite has been the small size ubiquitous George Washington Dollar. Wish one day I could acquire an $1 Silver Certificate PMG 70 EPQ.
I absolutely love the small size U.S. banknotes — they are the best paper bills for me — but was also fascinated by the large size original Federal Reserve Note.
Queen Elizabeth II is arguably the monarch or simply any human being who appears on the highest number of different currencies (coins and banknotes) so far and till foreseeable future. I love banknotes that featured the beautiful young queen.
And how can I not love the beautiful Clara Schumann on Deutsche Mark?
Back to coins, besides the highly regarded iconic coins from U.S. Mint, Canada, Mexico, China… I also discovered and fell in love with a few exotic silver coins such as those from Palau and Mint XXI for Cameroon. I was truly surprised when a Tre Grazie NGC PF70 Ultra Cameo was sold at $3050 (hammer price $2500) on Heritage. So I quickly grabbed a PCGS PR70 DCAM and an ungraded with original box and COA, both on eBay with total sum much lower than $3050.
For some reasons, obviously including technical reasons, one most impressive kind of high relief silver coins is the antiqued style. One of my favorites is the Resting Diana, which is a most faithful replication of François Boucher’s original oil painting Diana che esce dal bagno.
Kama Sutra is always my guilty pleasure. I was glad to find it also themed in high relief silver coins.
And another interesting theme: ultra high relief silver integrated with Tiffany glass.
2025 witnessed the rise of gold and silver. Too bad I could not afford a 10oz Johnson Matthey gold bar. A silver bar is much less costly and less risky (in terms of fakes) and I am happy that I have got a few, many years ago.
