Changing Face Of Coin Collecting

For as long as I can remember, I could hold any old coin in my hand and read its story. The history that old coin had seen read like a good book in my hands.

I have witnessed many changing attitudes toward coin collecting in my years. The most dramatic being the advent of the TPG’s and the minutiae of grading, die states, varieties and all that goes with it I most imagine would be quite intimidating to a new collector.

Now we have the mint producing modern collectibles routinely and some of these releases are extremely hot ticket items. Heck, I get it. A flawless strike in silver or gold is a sight to behold.

Just has me wondering if old coins are the domain of the older coin collector and modern strikes being more favored by the collector entering the market today?

 

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I would wonder if the collector category should be expanded, as to the domain, to include the hobbyist collector or the profit oriented collector or the dealer-collector, and the strictly investor oriented purchaser?

 

As most know, I have been a collector for over 70 years. I have completely removed myself from any interest in new US coins. New US coins are being produced with the intent of making profits for the mint, large dealers and TPG's. These new coins are "manufactured rarities". The trend today is to get a coin that is graded higher than your neighbors. Or, limited in production to make it difficult. We are in a "mine is better than yours" environment.

Next will come 69.5, 68.5, 70+, etc. I'm done with that childish approach to collecting.

 

That is odd since the mint doesn't need to be a profitable as a government agency.

 

As some new collectors have said elsewhere, they buy new stuff from the mint because there are not major grading controversies. Sure, there is MS or PR-70 versus 69, but that's the difference between high flying registry chasers and investors versus collectors. For some new collectors, grading issues make the hobby scary and complicated.

 

and potentially expensive and a place to get burned.

 

All "collectables" are like that now. There is limited edition Sneakers, Special edition comic book Variant covers, Limited Trading cards. And all quickly get sent to their proper grading companies for high markup afterwards. GoFundMe for limited action figures from Mattel & Hasbro is now the norm too.

It really does take the enjoyment out of collecting. It's all about the $.

 

Being a newer to the hobby (3 years) My interests are in the modern coinage for a few reasons. I inherited 1/3 of my fathers coin collection, it was varied and unfocused, but included some nice older coins (Morgans and peace dollars mostly) plus many newer coins.
What got me started collecting was when I found a W mint mark quarter in my change. I knew enough to know that it was unusual, but not exactly what it was. Once I researched it and discovered what it was, I became a CRH enthusiast and started slowly with that hobby, learning as I went. It was (is) fun to me and very relaxing. Thus the interest in modern coinage (1900- present).
my coin budget is modest, I do not have the funds to buy the older coins, graded or rare coins. Capped busts, Draped Bust etc....hold little interest for me. What interests me is what I can find in modern rolls. Maybe as I evolve in the hobby, things will change. But right now, I'm good with moderns. I have always been a treasure hunter at heart, and love finding things that have some out of the ordinary value. Not in it for the $$$, since I share more then I sell. The thrill is in the Hunt and the Find.
I have never sent a coin to be graded, I do have some I would like to have graded, but that will have to wait.
I have had some luck with modern CRH, like the time my bank called and told me they had $1000 in half dollars and asked if I wanted them. I bought them and they were almost all 40% silvers. I ended up with 100 rolls of silver, and I did sell most on eBay for a very nice profit.
Recently my work called and asked me to come check out some quarters they thought were fakes, I got there, bought the 4 rolls, and they turned out to be Proofs and Silver Proofs. I have stashed them away, probably wont sell them.
BUT the thrill was in finding them, not value.

 

You may be correct, but I wonder. Philately, without a doubt the most popular hobby in Americana in a bygone age, and certainly influenced by Roosevelt, and actually still very popular in Europe and some Asian countries, has not seen any resurgence. There are a couple of TPGs, of course, to serve the periphery hobbyist collector, but no return to yesteryear is on the horizon. The path seems to be the same...popularity gave way to monetary collecting interests and that was increased with the advent of philatelic TPGs, and that was followed by the investor dealer/investor collector and then followed an overwhelming issuance of so many stamps by the U.S. Postal Service and at a cost that became to much for the average hobbyist, and here we are. Yet, the monetary bargains in stamp collecting is phenomenal, and if one takes the time to do so, buying up older generation collections, breaking them down, and selling to Euro/Asian interests can be very fruitful.

I don't see a return to the old days. Numismatics is now in the hands of for profit corporations for better or worse. It is the capitalist way, and I do not envision these corporations going to a graveyard. Quite the opposite, I predict expansion expansion and expansion.

 

Why do they sell new releases to "Authorized Dealers" at a premium several days before the official release? These then get sent to a TPG for grading and slabbing and further mark-up. Why is this a function of the US Mint?

 

Amen. I collected stamps for as long as I collected coins. I have about 95% of all US stamps from the 20th Century and a good portion of the 19th Century. I stopped when the mint started manufacturing Wallpaper. Releasing so many new stamps each year that it became a financial and organizational nightmare. I stopped at the end of 2000.
For what it is worth, here are photos of my US Stamp albums. The first is up to 1975. The second is 1976 to 1995. The third is 1996 to 2002. Most of the pages are full. You can see the increase by the thickness. This is where coin production is going. It is easier to measure and present using the stamp albums.

Edit: I said mint when I should have said USPS, sorry.

 

Except, not really.

 

Excellent examples of my commentary.

 

I sort of collected stamps back in the 1990s, I bought sheets of USPS stamps for WWII and Civil War commemorations. I started using them for postage recently since I am too lazy to go to the post office.

 

Thanks. I see the mint making ballast and USPS making wallpaper. I have to bring my US collecting to an end.

 

Exactly. I am using my surplus for postage. Sometimes there are many stamps on an envelope and the clerks have to get their calculators out.

 

The mint is ruining coin collecting just like the USPS and the post offices worldwide destroyed philately. I'm a former (small time!) stamp dealer. The plethora of UNNEEDED new issues year after year after year killed stamp collecting. Just look at how large the Scott Standard Catalogue has become. Any dealer who shells out $800 for a complete set every year is nuts. I could buy a lot of inventory for that kind of money! It's gotten way past the point where anyone can keep up, and numismatics is RAPIDLY getting there, all for the almighty dollar. Well, they are killing the goose that laid the golden egg. I predict a large fall-off, just like the stamp hobby did several years ago (and it hasn't recovered). TOO MANY ISSUES!!!!!

 

Idk, I'm 43, and been seriously interested in collecting and learning about collecting since I was 9. Right now it seems that other people are the main reason I'm drifting away from the hobby. It's not the ballast coming from the mint, or the world of tpgs and cac, it's the importance other people place on them. I'm lost in the hubub.

 

When I was young our little informal club would hold swap meets and trade coins. We never traded for money exactly. But, we did trade based upon mintage and scarcity. We were collecting and helping each other. You might trade three quarters for one dime, but it was not a financial transaction as such. It could have been three pennies for one nickel, much more than that if it was a 50-D. Those puppies were hard to find. Those days are gone.