Widgets Ahoy!
Dennis: I believe it was former ANA governor Laura Sperber, of Legend Numismatics, who popularized the term “widget” in relation to collectible coins. We won’t find this definition in Webster’s dictionary (or in the glossary of the Red Book), but in this context it basically means a run-of-the-mill coin with nothing extraordinary to recommend it to an advanced collector. Sperber has described a widget as a “nice (not wild) pleasing example of a common coin.” It’s not necessarily junk. It might be a Barber dime in MS-65 or even a High Relief 1907 double eagle.
A widget? To some collectors, yes. [Coin images courtesy Stacks Bowers Galleries.]
A widget won’t catch the eye of an advanced specialist, a “whale” (a big spender with deep pockets), a highly competitive registry-set collector, or others with discerning tastes and uncommon needs.
It’s kind of an elitist term. Most hobbyists can’t afford super-rarities, ultra-high grades, or unique numismatic bonbons, and are perfectly happy with widgets.
Whether we collect them or not, I think we all know widgets when we see them. Greg Rohan of Heritage Auctions describes them as “coins that are like buses”—if you don’t catch this one (in an auction, at a dealer’s shop, on the bourse, etc.), don’t worry, another one like it will soon come along.
On the other end of the hobby market are trophy coins, the opposite of widgets. Dave Bowers has talked about the “show and tell” fun that collectors get from owning trophies. He compares owning an 1804 dollar, 
or a set of the four different styles of $4 gold Stellas, to the achievement of an outdoorsman who climbs Mount Everest. It comes with bragging rights—even if the mountaineer hasn’t also climbed Mount Katahdin, Shasta, Mauna Kea, or Chimborazo.
A few years ago I bought a collection that definitely wasn’t a widget or a bus: Virgil Brand’s imperial German medals. The scope of the assemblage . . . the medals’ connection to one of America’s most famous collectors . . . and the fact that they’re precisely in my collecting wheelhouse, made this (for me, at least) the very opposite of a widget! If I didn’t buy this collection when I had the chance, it would never come along again. So I happily bought it.
Image: A German imperial medal once owned by Chicago beer baron and super-collector Virgil Brand, who passed away in 1926. For me, its provenance elevates it from “widget” status.
Steve, what are your thoughts on “widgets”?
Dennis, widgets definitely have a place in the hobby, though one person’s widget can be another person’s trophy. To a lot of collectors, the Proof only 1895 Morgan dollar, while special and always expensive, isn’t very different from other 1890s Proof Morgan dollars. They share similar mintages and survival rates, but the 1895 costs many multiples than surrounding Proof dates because of the absence of 1895 Philadelphia Mint Business Strikes. No Uncirculated 1895 dollars are known, and it is debated as to whether they were even struck. The Proof 1895 “King of Morgan Dollars” has a mintage of 880 and a typical Proof 64 sells for $60,000 or more. The Proof 1896 Morgan dollar has a lower mintage of 762, and one in Proof 64 sells for $4,000. While it’s a stretch to call any Proof Morgan dollar a widget, to many, the “King of Morgan Dollars” just isn’t very special.
PCGS has graded more than 100,000 1924 Saint-Gaudens gold $20 double eagles in MS-64 with 65,000+ finer and premiums over their bullion price have largely evaporated. Taking time to find an appealing one can transform a widget to a collector coin. [Coin images courtesy Heritage Auctions.]
Another area that’s caught my attention lately is a coin like an MS-64 Saint-Gaudens $20 gold double eagle. Bullion prices have increased, making the premiums between circulated examples and MS-64 coins nearly evaporate. Further, the supply of MS-64 “Saints” has increased as hoards have entered the marketplace, and the premium has fallen to less than 10% or so over the “melt value” for typical PCGS or NGC graded examples. Even a “Gem” MS-65 now sells for just $100 more than one in MS-64. They’re common and one can probably buy 1,000 in a day with a few phone calls. However, being picky and taking care in selecting one with scorching luster and great eye appeal can turn what would usually be a widget into a solid collector coin.
Be on the lookout for another installment of Collecting Friends next month or subscribe here and never miss a post! In the meantime, explore beautiful coins from the ANA's Edward C. Rochette Money Museum Virtual Exhibits.
About the Collecting Friends Blog
Hello! And welcome to the ANA’s blog series, “Collecting Friends.”
We decided to approach this much like a conversation between friends. One of us starts with a topic, then the other responds. Simple as that. Along those lines, we’ll keep the tone conversational as much as possible.
We both write about coins professionally, and will keep our relative style guides in our writing. For Dennis, Publisher at Whitman Publishing, that means capitalizing “Proof” and italicizing Red Book and never saying anything bad about Ken Bressett, who’s awesome anyway.
For Steve, who’s written with Coin World for 15 years, it means Winged Liberty Head dime instead of “Mercury” dime, and similar nuances and oddities. And, it means writing A Guide Book of United States Coins (better known as the “Red Book”).
Both of us started collecting when we were little, introduced to coins by a chance encounter with an old coin that sparked our curiosity. One of Steve’s interests is coin valuation, and he gravitates towards the intersection of art and coins. Dennis enjoys medals and world coins, and studying modern U.S. coins in the context of older series, what came before.
We met in 2012 at the American Numismatic Association World’s Fair of Money in Philadelphia at an event hosted by the Austrian Mint where there was both a Ben Franklin and a Betsy Ross impersonator. We’ve become great friends in the past decade. We even were appointed together to sit on the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee starting in 2016, but Steve resigned soon after he was appointed to accept a full-time job at the Treasury Department while Dennis was re-appointed in 2020.
We taught a course together on numismatic publishing and writing a few years ago at the Summer Seminar, and while life has gotten in the way of us teaching another class, we jumped at our friend Caleb’s suggestion that we write a column. We hope you enjoy it!
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About the American Numismatic Association
The American Numismatic Association is a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating and encouraging people to study and collect coins and related items. The Association serves collectors, the general public, and academic communities with an interest in numismatics.
The ANA helps all people discover and explore the world of money through its vast array of educational programs including its museum, library, publications, conventions and numismatic seminars.