Forum

[sylvester]

Well i feel i ought to contribute something to this.

I'm interested in the way the US market is working, from what i can understand the State Quarter program has brought millions of extra collectors world wide into the US coin market, and naturally many have drifted into the classic coins, others have stayed following the modern. This has created an upturn in the market, and yes i can understand why series will drop and all that. (As explained above)

Now i'd like to draw an interesting contrast between this and the UK market (which is the one i'm kinda in), there has been no state Quarter program and coin collecting here is generally only slightly on the upswing, pretty stagnant insome areas. Ebay etc. has helped to keep the numbers up, but prior to this only about 15 years ago coin collecting in the UK was a shrinking hobby. Many shops in the 1990s shut up for good or went bankrupt due to lack of interest, the 80s boom had sustained them the 90s killed them off. So maybe on a general level things have increased lately. My local coin dealer one of the very few in the north said business was kinda slow lately and had been for a few years. (this was a few months ago), he said some days you make somedays you don't... it's just a matter of attracting the tourists in. The profits don't sound too great though. Comfortable is about the best, he doesn't sound bothered though he's doing it cos he loves the hobby not because he wants a massive profit, i asked him if he ever thought about sending out mail order lists or the internet. He said he wasn't all that bothered these days. (He sells good stuff cheap too, alot of that sticks and doesn't sell!)

Which suggests that competition from the internet is taking it's toll, but most of the stuff i see on ebay is low grade junk or gold bullion not much in the way of collectable UNC silver. Some areas have shown a dramatic increase but it appears that non-English collectors have taken an interest in those areas.

I'm afraid the UK coin market though resembles that of something someone mentioned earlier. Someone mentioned that there was a time when no-one ever checked their change for coins newer than 1964. Well in the UK change checking is for the novices (yes the elitist approach is prevalent), the only coins considered worth collecting are the pre-decimal issues pre-1970 that have to be bought. And most dealers don't stock much after George V, nice coins after 1936 are run of the mill, infact it could be argued that most coins after 1920 are seen as run of the mill in general terms by alot of dealers, except for Wreath Crowns.

Most focus their stock on Victorian coins, and this is an area where alot of people start collecting coins, i certainly did, my first goal was to put together an 1887 set. (I came close but never achieved it, cos i decided to concentrate elsewhere). I'd say Victorian and Edwardian Silver in high grades is the hottest stuff around and the price will probably drop from those as interest in pre-1662 hammered coinage continues to build.

I don't think we tend to get excited by trends... so what if high grade Victorian and Edwardian silver is hot... i've talked about this on another forum but none of us have decided to actually buy any of it. One still collects his high grade 20th century bronze coins, the other is thinking of moving into maundy, i'm still on my mid-grade 17th and 18th century sixpences, and another is still collecting mid-grade Victorian coins. So there was no flocking from one series to another, the whole Victorian and Edwardian silver market could crash and i'd not even notice.