So what can we expect this year? Pre-owned single family home sales are displaying a pulse. Interest rates remain low and sellers have run up the white flag, their expectations of value having finally surrendered to the dictates of the market. Pent up demand and attractive pricing are exerting a positive impact on the sector that should continue to build at a steady pace.

Multi-family residential units are the current stars of the real estate world. Prices are solid, financing is affordable and rent rates are up with more families having lost a home or postponed their ownership dreams as a result of the economic duress. This single out performing sector will continue to lead the way out of the darkness and into the light of the next real estate boom

Commercial properties appear to have bottomed out. Vacant square footage declined in 2011 and lease rates began to inch upward. The big challenge facing the commercial sector is the tide of notes issued in 2007 that will come due this year. Overall economic growth will factor into how well some of those mortgagers fare in meeting their obligations. Whatever level of growth is achieved, there will be a new wave of defaults. The only question is how bad it will be

Despite hopeful signs in the final months of 2011, new home construction will continue to lag behind the other sectors. Too much inventory, too many like new units and a reduced buying pool will all conspire to keep builders on the sidelines for another year. New homes will always be built. They are an enduring element of the American dream. Presently the hard sole of economic reality has its heel squarely on the neck of the developers and contractors. This too shall pass; but the shake out in that sector of the industry has been dramatic

Raw land remains challenging except in the agricultural heart of the nation where farm commodity prices have driven the cost per acre upward in certain areas. Eventually, well capitalized developers will begin quickening the pace of their purchases in preparation for the next housing boom. For now, those that have the vision and the resources will continue to drive a hard bargain and bank undeveloped tracts for a future date in time.

So there’s your overview. The market remains weak; but, like a fighter that survives a knockdown, it is slowly regaining a rhythm and pace that will propel us toward the inevitable revival. It won’t be quick and it hasn’t been easy. The cost in dollars and dreams has been steep. There is light at the end of the tunnel. It’s just been so long and it’s still seems so far away.

What does this mean to the auction consignor? Barring unexpected events that translate into substantial economic turmoil, the next six months probably represent your best opportunity to capitalize on the two year run up in gold and silver prices. Domestic political conflicts, mega disasters or world economic and diplomatic challenges may serve to sustain precious metal spot levels for a while but ultimately the trend will be to the downside of current values.

Silver jewelry along with sterling silver tableware and hollowware will probably be the first common auction categories to be impacted. Silver bullion coins, items devoid of a numismatic premium, and their modern commemorative counterparts will follow suit as well although the metals frenzy of the past twenty-four months has served to reinvigorate a category of collecting that was already experiencing something of a renaissance before the precious metals uptick.

Overall, if you are looking to convert antique and collectible items that contain precious metals 2012 probably represents your best opportunity to cash in at the out sized levels we are currently experiencing. A slow but steady economic recovery, the resolution of this year’s political contests and a stabilization of the European debt crisis resulting in a prolonged but viable extraction will all serve to exert a downward pressure on precious metals prices, a trend that will accelerate as other investment opportunities offer more attractive risk return ratios

Cast in 1990 at the Maiden Foundry in Sandy, Oregon and released by the Liberty Mint in cooperation with Silversmiths Group USA and the Borglum Foundation, the sculpture   depicts President Lincoln lost in contemplation upon hearing the news of the casualties suffered at the Battle of Gettysburg. Fifty-six statues were produced in the numbered limited edition. Gutzon Borglum believed the original “Seated Lincoln” to be the finest example of his work.

Another historic artifact to be sold at the auction event is an eighteen troy ounce gold disc salvaged from the Santa Margarita shipwreck by Mel Fisher’s Treasure Salver’s Inc.  The round amalgam, recently assayed and determined to be fifty-one percent gold and forty-three percent silver, found its way to the floor of the Gulf of Mexico in 1622 when the Santa Margarita sank in a violent storm while returning to Spain with a full cargo of New World treasure.

Significant examples of American coinage complete the gold and silver portion of the Golden Fantasy, Silver Dreams Americana Auction.  A full set of Morgan Carson City Mint Silver Dollars including the key 1889, 1891 and 1893 dates will be offered in individual lots. Twenty- four Peace silver dollars in MS63 state represent all dates and mint marks issued in that numismatic series. Thirteen Liberty Head Double Eagle twenty dollar gold coins and three of the St. Gaudens variant will cross the auction block along with ten, five and two and a half dollar gold pieces. Canadian Maple Leafs, a South African Krugerrand, a five dollar American Eagle, a one hundred troy ounce .999 fine silver bar and two Congressional American Arts .999 fine medal sets containing five and two and a half troy ounces of pure gold respectively are the standout bullion lots included in the auction catalog. In all, more than fifty gold and one thousand silver coins including certified, brilliant uncirculated and uncirculated examples will cross the block in two hundred lots.

The gold, silver and coins are part of a single collection assembled over fifty years by an advanced collector of Americana and precious metals. The Renaissance Auction Group, based in Reading PA, has been contracted to design and produce multiple auction events in order to disperse the collection in a considered manner.  The initial event in the Golden Fantasy, Silver Dreams Americana Auction series will begin at 11 am on May 21^st at the Holiday Inn Lehigh Valley Conference Center in Breinigsville. Contact information is listed below.

Contact: Bill Howze
Contact Number: 610-370-2879

The Golden Fantasy, Silver Dreams Americana Auction constitutes the premiere offering of a lifetime collection assembled by a dedicated collector of Americana, coins and precious metals.  The cap pistol grouping, most of which are offered in mint, unfired condition, typifies the quality and rarity of the estate, which was assembled through fifty years of unflagging devotion to the “hunt”. Toy guns by Hubley, Nichols, Fanner, Mattel, Kilgore and Leslie Henry represent the pinnacle of cap pistol collecting.

Examples include two Roy Rogers double holster gun sets; a Lone Ranger gun and holster set mint in the box (MIB); Wyatt Earp double and single holster sets; the Hubley 100^th Anniversary Civil War two gun & holster set in the original box; a Leslie Henry Gene Autry holster & pistol set; a Nichols Spitfire Hip Gun, MIB; a Mattel Fanner 50 holster and gun with original box; the Nichols Stallion 45 with interchangeable grips, MIB; early Tom Mix wooden cut out pistols; a Davy Crockett Auto-Matic Picture Gun with original box; Hubley’s Colt 45 & Deputy Pistol and Badge, both mint in the box and a complete cowboy outfit including double holster and pistol set still attached to the original cardboard display backing.  In all, over fifty cap pistols, all in mint or near mint condition will cross the block in the first hour and a half of the auction event.

Western ephemera is well represented in the catalog including Gene Autry and Hopalong Cassidy theater posters; a Kix Cereal Lone Ranger 6 Shooter Ring store poster; a Cheerios Lone Ranger Poster and Flashlight Pistol; two sets of Davy Crockett Trading Cards issued by Topps in the 1950s and two stuffed Rin Tin Tin toys.  A large collection of advertising premium rings from the 1930s – 1950s includes sought after examples of Western hero worship.  Many a cereal box top and more than a few nickels were mailed in during the middle decades of the Twentieth Century for the Sky King, Zorro, Paladin, Wyatt Earp, Lone Ranger and Straight Arrow rings that brought the Wild West to life for young cowboys and cowgirls everywhere. The Wrigley’s Chewing Gum Lone Wolf sterling ring, offered as Lot 69, was the first radio premium, released in 1932 at the height of the Great Depression.

In all, over seventy-five lots of Western memorabilia will be offered to collecting enthusiasts.  Buckaroos and cowgirls from across the country and around the world will leave with at least a smile on their face when the last lot of Wild West collectibles crosses the block at the Golden Fantasy, Silver Dreams Americana Auction on May 21st at the Holiday Inn Lehigh Valley Conference Center just west of Allentown, PA.  For an hour or two the Old West will come back East, the bidders will face off and time will stand as still as the hands of a gunslinger just before the draw.

Contact: Bill Howze
Contact Number: 610-370-2872

“Seated Lincoln”, a silver statue cast from a maquette by American sculptor Gutzon Borglum, the creator of Mt Rushmore, is a featured item in the auction event. Containing over one thousand troy ounces of .999 fine silver, the sculpture is a reproduction of the life size bronze monument dedicated by Theodore Roosevelt on Memorial Day 1911 at the Essex County Courthouse in Newark, NJ. The figural was released in 1990 by the Liberty Mint in a limited production run of fifty-six.

Selling just prior to the Lincoln statue will be an eighteen troy ounce gold disc recovered from the wreckage of the Santa Margarita by Mel Fisher’s Treasure Salvers Inc. The specimen, lacking the assay marks of the Spanish Court, is presumed to have been “contraband”, goods imported illegally for personal gain. This was a common subterfuge among those serving in New World expeditions despite the penalty of death assigned to the offense.

The numismatic portion of the auction includes outstanding examples of American coinage. Thirteen lots represent a complete set of Morgan Silver Dollars struck at the Carson City Mint. Twenty–four Peace Silver Dollars in certified MS63 condition constitute all dates and mint marks issued from 1921 until 1935. Sixteen Twenty Dollar Double Eagle gold coins include both the “Liberty Head” and “St Gaudens” variants. In all, more than fifty gold and one thousand silver coins, many in certified and uncirculated states, will be offered in catalogued lots.

Now back to the ranch. The initial two hundred lots in the auction span the spectrum of Radio, TV, Movie and American Nostalgia collecting. Examples of early advertising premiums, movie posters, dolls, action figures, animation art, character rings, watches and porcelain figurines, western memorabilia and vintage cap guns portray American history, entertainment and commerce over the past century.

Collecting is truly the great American pastime. On Saturday May 21st The Renaissance Auction Group will host the Golden Fantasy, Silver Dreams Americana Auction at The Holiday Inn Conference Center in Breinigsville, PA. All the great characters in the American story will be on display. Live, online, absentee and phone bidding are available. When the sun sets in the Lehigh Valley that evening, a unique collecting opportunity will be going once, going twice, sold!

BID ONLINE NOW