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Originally Posted by sylvester
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.
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This is truly a world wide phenomenon. People all over the world simply quit collecting new coins in the latter half of the 20th century. The exact date varies by country and perhaps the only exception is Russia. Even here though there are many dates of the Soviet coins which are extremely difficult to find.
In England there was a huge drop off in saving new coin in 1920 when the sterling coins ceased and the coins became only half silver. Finding these coins in high grade (even XF) from the early and mid-1920's is extremely difficult. Prices on these coins has begun to reflect the difficulty.
New Zealand makes a very interesting case study for the entire trend. Here the silver was dropped from the coins in the late 1940's and the new coins were made of cu/ni which no one bothered to save. Despite having the same very attractive designs as the silver issues, virtually the entire mintage was allowed to wear in circulation for a couple decades. Most of the few coins which survived were saved inadvertantly in mint sets or year sets. Now, despite having higher mintages and not containing silver, these coins usually sell for much higher prices than the older coins which really isn't bad when you consider that there still is very little demand for them. The even newer NZ coins may in many cases be even scarcer. The decimal coins were also ignored but the government did make significant numbers of mint sets. These sets contain very well made coins so the very few collectors who desired decimal coins normally would buy these. Unfortunately many of the varieties do not appear in the sets. In some cases these varieties account for the bulk of the mintage but finding them in uncirculated condition is a virtual impossibility. The president of the largest NZ coin collectors club said several years ago that "the rarities of tomorrow are in circulation today". ...and this same is true in country after country.
In many cases these coins have been destroyed by the issuer after many years of use. Millions of old coins are destroyed every day to make appliances for the Chinese markets or as alloy to make stainless steel.
...Nor is it as though the US coins are any different. There are dozens of really great coins in circulation which simply don't appear in mint sets. Some of these were scarce enough that it's entirely possible that not a single example survives in uncirculated condition. An entire run of great quarter varieties from 1977 to 1984 from both mints doesn't appear in mint sets except for one single year ('81-P), and it's scarce in the set. Still even today, with modern prices seemingly so "crazy", there aren't people scrambling to assemble sets of these coins. Rare modern coins sell for a tiny fraction of what comparably rare old coins sell for.
Indeed, many of the rarities of tomorrow are in circulation today.
