Analysis of numismatic auctions conducted during the last two weeks of October points to several trends.

First, prices for many coins are holding up beautifully, as though there's no reason to be concerned with the economic storm the world is experiencing. Many people keep much of their money in areas they understand, like stocks, real estate and coins, and often they don't venture into multiple investment types.

Many people who are building coin collections as their primary investment or retirement plan are feeling quite comfortable these days compared to those who've owned equities or single-family homes, for example, as investments that have plummeted recently. Of course rare coins are not the answer to all things, but as timing goes, the coin market is healthy at this time.

However, two trends within the auction market are occurring that result in particular coins not selling. First, off-quality coins, or those low-end coins for the grade, are either getting walloped on their prices, or they aren't selling because of high reserves placed on them by sellers.

This same problem of high reserves is also occurring with great-looking coins. Sellers are beginning to realize that we're not in a runaway market any longer. Similarly, the Wall Street Journal recently reported that the fine art market is experiencing the same thing. The auction houses of Sotheby's and Christie's are encouraging sellers to reduce their expectations and reserves by about a third.

But those results are for artwork priced much higher than many coins are priced – multimillions versus multi-thousands. So discounts may not be as pronounced for many coins, except for the very high-end and high-priced rare coins.

In recent major auctions, I've continued to observe another phenomenon: Coins that people believe are undergraded and that have a chance of receiving upgrades if resubmitted for grading are selling for prices that are high for the current listed grade. This has been an ongoing trend during all market conditions and isn't expected to change.

Also, record prices continue to be reported in several recent numismatic auctions, including several gold $20 coins sold by Heritage.