With the PM market spot prices increasing at astronomical rates over the past several years, is it time for collectors to focus more attention on bargain clad modern (1965+) coinage? Any specific denominations, years, mint marks, etc. you think may be a good deal at this time. Thanks, TC
Only if you can get it for face value and never think it will go up in value. Unless your willing to jump in deep and go for the top graded items the mid range stuff loses money in my experience. Problem is most of the modern items are made by the millions and they don't wear out.
Spoken like a TRUE Numismatist. LOL! In actuality, ignore them long enough and there just won;t be enough to go around. Ever price original clad rolls from the 70's and 80's?
Actually, I was thinking about this, and think you might see more attention being given to nickels. Think about it, good sized coins, go back almost 150 years, and unaffected by PM prices, (except war years). Cents would be the same, but they are already the entry way into the hobby for most young collectors.
It's good thinking. It would probably be wise to stash rolls of Kennedy halves IMO. They aren't made for circulation and they only make about 1.5 mil of each mint mark for collectors now. I think the series will become very popular when it's eventually discontinued. The other stuff I don't know. Part of the problem is that there are many factors that make it seem it isn't worth it. Not only are they making millions, but some mintages are in the billions these days. There's more people, more dealers, more being hoarded. Because everybody thinks everything's going to be valuable. Stuff that's cheap now will probably still be cheap 100 years from now. The huge numbers are a detriment to anything ever being rare any more. At the ANA show, there was a dealer who had a case full of the Constitution $5 gold commems from 1987. It looked like he had about 100 of them. And there were 865,884 of those made total. By today's standards, a low mintage but not low enough to where they're rare or demand a premium. Despite being 24 years old. That being said, I was looking for a 2001 silver dollar commemorative there the whole time and I didn't spot even ONE example of either MS or PF in any case. Very surprising.
Actually clad is in a SERIOUS buyer's market right now. I used the oppurtunity to complete my Jefferson nickels... If it isn't silver (or gold), it's dirt cheap right now. The biggest problem I had in finishing my Jeffs was that dealers were so PM crazy, that they didn't want to deal with hobbyists anymore. If I want collector coins, and go to a dealer nowadays, they are usually rude and in short supply of collector coins.
The nice thing about PM crazy dealers is that they will sell you a 2004 clad proof set for 5 bux to get rid of you. Sets like the 2004 I got the other day for 5 bux went for 20 or so before the PM boom. Also getting great deals on copper too lately. Picked up a really nice large cent type for my 7070 the other day for a song.
Everything is cheap when it's new. It's hard to predict but some things go WAY up in price over the years. 1909SVDB Cents once cost $0.01 to acquire.
Maybe if you can get some BU rolls on the cheap, otherwise I wouldn't, but 50 years from now when those clads are pushing 100 years old they may be worth having then.
I know it isn't clad coinage, but I still hoard any copper cents I can find. They're already worth well above face, and even if copper plummets, I'll still break even.
Good question TC! A few years ago I was buying up OBW rolls of 1969-1972 Washington quarters looking for the elusive Type-B reverse. I didn't find any, but I got some very nice specimens. I doubt many of these early clads were saved in great numbers and anything MS66 or higher is very collectible (imho).
I personally really like the 2005-2010 SMS (Satin Finish) coins. They were only released in Mint Sets, which have relatively low mintages. They are available in gem MS67 and higher grades for peanuts. There are MS69 coins of almost every denomination, year, and mint mark for this 6 year SMS run, with the 2009 and 2010 MS69 coins proving to be relatively scarce. The only MS70 graded Lincoln Memorial cents from NGC or PCGS come from the 2005 and 2006 Satin Finish issues. Attached is a picture of my MS70RD 2005 Lincoln Cent. As of August 26, 2011 NGC has graded 60,881 Lincoln Memorial Cents (years 1959-2008). A total of 12 of them have received the MS70RD grade. All 12 of these MS70 coins are SMS coins struck in 2005 (10 coins) or 2006 (2 coins), all at the Philadelphia Mint. These hardly ever come up for sale, and the handful of PCGS Satin Finish MS70RD coins are just as elusive. EDIT: P.S. -- YES, I know not all of the SMS Satin Finish coins are clad, but the point about "sleeper" modern coins still applies.