In my honest opinion, Major numismatic corporations are turning the US rare coin market into a get rich quick scheme. Here's what I believe is happening. Many people here about the major auction prices for rare coins, then they want to play their hand and see if they can flip for a profit. A large focus point here is how simplified that TPGs have made a coin purchase. Don't know anything about a coin? That's okay, just type in the number on the slab and it'l tell you all you need. All you need to know about grading is that the higher the number, the better. (In most cases.) Authentication is taking a large portion of the challenge of coins and wiping that away. Making it easy for the average Dan (Lucifer, anyone?) to purchase and sell rare coins. Nothing wrong with new Dans joining the hobby but TPGs remove part of the skill and research required to collect coins. Agree? Disagree?
The profit motive as part of coin collecting has been around for a long time and I suspect it always will be. With that will be people trying to profit from collectors who are trying to profit. There was B. Max Mehl in the 30's. Numerous books have been published about coin investing. There were even night school and college courses on coin investing. And of course TPGs and their buzz phrases: "un- locking value," "sight unseen," "market maker," ect. Only the people and methods change, the profit motive has always been here. https://coinweek.com/education/b-max-mehl-a-texas-master-of-coins/
To a degree I agree with this part. It often is what catches one's eye and provides the impetus for collecting. And it's to be expected I guess because money is something that does catch one's eye. Of course most of the news articles and stories you read are about the scarce, rare, or higher dollar coins because let's face it - low dollar coins just aint news. They don't make headlines. But the thing that these articles that do make the news don't tell you is just how rare it is for something like to happen ! For every one that does happen there's millions that don't ! So some folks get the wrong idea and think they can too can strike it rich. In a way it's kinda like the gold fever of the days of old - they came by the thousands but only a few had any success to speak of. But it does do one thing and does it well, it piques an interest, get's people started down a path. Not many perhaps but enough to matter. And in a way I kind of used to something similar myself by carrying a 1 oz gold coin in my pocket every day - for years on end. Those coins provided the spark that brought more than few into the hobby - simply by me having them in my pocket and showing them to people. In the end it's all advertising, just different forms of it. But advertising works - that much cannot be denied.
Ed Cogan is considered by some to be the very first coin dealer in America. He started out as a book dealer with sidelines in artwork and curios in the 1850's. When someone offered him 2x face for a coin he'd gotten from a sale, Cogan had another side line. But Cogan also allowed coin collectors to have meetings in his shop after hours. No doubt, he was trying to flip coins to them but so what? Coin collectors were exchanging information with each other which was very important at that time. There were very few books or information about US coins in the 1850's. Collectors had to learn from each other and the profit motive induced Cogan to let them gather at his place for that purpose.
Speculation is an oft-maligned, but integral part of the economic cycle. Speculation cannot continue unchecked, however. The idea is, I buy a coin, flip it to someone else (who, in your scenario, is then going to flip to someone else). The problem is, there are only so many people to flip to - there is a maximum price they'll pay. "Values" appear to be going up as long as there's someone else to pay the higher price - but then there has to be a correction. As hobbyists, we can observe these market trends. I buy less when its booming, I buy more when its declining.
The more investors who enter the hobby, the more inflated the prices get, and the bigger the bubble gets. It will burst in a generation or so when the investors realize that there is little to no gain to be had in coins. The TPGs cater to the ignorant and lazy, and those people allow the TPGs to get away with gradeflation and woefully variable standards. They don’t know the difference, so they buy the plastic, even if it is an overgraded POS that will turn out to be a money pit. I’m seeing more young people getting into dealing coins (mainly certified though). Where there is money to be made with minimal skill and knowledge and effort, you can bet that the younger generation would be all over it.
Couldn't agree more. Of course. Because our generation typically LOVES going off half cocked about matters, and prefer to take the easy way out. Put these folks in a room with 20 Mint State Coins in various grades, cover up the numbers on the slab, and the real knowledgeable Numismatists will be separated from the flippers, the know it all hacks, and the profiteers, REAL quick.
Considering that you are someone who flips coins for a profit, I find your flippant attitude about the ease of the process disingenuous. You know damn well that the reason you are able to successfully turn a profit from flipping coins is because of your coin knowledge and ability to interpret online photos. The people without those skills may get lucky from time to time with a nice rip, but they are also the most likely to end up with a stale inventory of over graded coins.
It’s been said before (not by me): once someone has a greysheet and buys certified coins below bid and sells them at ask, then they can be a dealer without knowing anything about what they are dealing, especially by selling on the internet. And I find the last part of your sentence surprising, assuming you are talking about certified coins.
