The Business of Numismatics: February 2026 Greysheet Editor's Letter

One of the premier coin shows of the year, the FUN Convention in Florida, has been very busy on both a wholesale and retail level. Precious metals have continued to dominate the conversation. As can be read in this month’s feature article, the trajectory of the silver spot price has exceeded even the most optimistic forecasts. As I write this, silver is trading at $75.50 per ounce, with the price spending some time above the $80 level recently. As stated in prior issues, this has put pressure on dealers who are faced with many individuals looking to cash out and take their long-earned profits. This has obviously impacted premiums, with the greatest impact being on 90% silver coinage. Commonly referred to as “junk” silver, the wholesale buy prices on this bullion product are at all-time lows. Also to note on bullion prices, we have continued to receive many questions about the discrepancy in our print publications. Our online pricing updates every single hour that the markets are open with a spot price data feed directly from the COMEX. To have the most up-to-the-minute pricing, our website and mobile app are critical tools.

On the other hand, retail buying of bullion, in particular gold, has ticked up. With gold now settled well about $4,000 per ounce, it appears that the public fears missing yet another spike higher. This agrees with the old adage that in general the public tends to buy high and sell low. In reality, it may be that more and more individuals recognize that owning even a little bit of gold is a good idea. It is clear that from a policy perspective, the current administration is fixed on weakening the U.S. dollar. This causes real asset price inflation and forces institutional and retail investors to rotate out of cash. With all of the year-end 2025 numbers now in, the S&P 500 was up 16.4% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 13%. In 2023 the S&P was up 24.2% and in 2024 it was up 23.3%. The three-year total return of this index was a staggering 88.1%. This was the highest run since the five-year period of 1995 to 1999, when the S&P was up 220%. These returns have generated significant wealth, and it has been deployed to purchase collectibles from art to coins to sports cards and memorabilia. This is also why we see some truly remarkable prices realized, from the $9.12 million for 1939 Superman #1 comic to $12.9 million and $3.17 million for a pair of basketball cards.

Readers will find some modifications and updates in this issue. The primary change is a shortening of the VAM Morgan dollar section. This section previously took more than four pages, but this made the chart difficult to use and took up some valuable real estate. We have shortened the chart to try and highlight the most important varieties, from a market perspective. This chart matches the VAM varieties that will be found in the upcoming (and fully revised) Tenth Edition of our Mega Red Book, which will be hitting the shelves very soon. Of course each and every VAM variety is still available on our app, in our online price guide and on CDN Exchange, and they will be updated just as the ones which appear in print.

Sincerely,

Patrick Ian Perez, patrickp@whitmanbrands.com