Hopefully it's nothing like sports cards. As some of you know from my other thread, I'm 19 and just getting into this interesting hobby. I used to collect lots of sports cards, but now, even my cards that have value I see as worthless. Is there really anybody out there anymore that will buy your cards? Do you think the coin collecting hobby could eventually turn to this? I would love nothing more than to hand down the coins that I will buy in the future to my children or grandchildren and them have something better to do with them than throw them away. What are your views on the future of collecting? What do you think will happen to the values of coins as time goes on?
I know that especially some of the moderators can speak to the historical trending of the hobby, but as far as I can tell there is a cyclical rise and fall of the valuations of coins. The other little nugget is that I know valuations will have to fall off a bit from the current hysteria, but I am pretty sure that the long term outlook for the coin hobby looks pretty good. That is, until we stop using government issued money altogether. Then its GAME ON!
I think the only way to make truly a lot of money in the coin market is through a consortium of buyers (such as a partnership of many individuals) which can pool their money and buy the truly rare pieces. I am first a collector, but for investment purposes, I know there is really no way for an individual of moderate means to make a big return on coins. Therefore, I foresee a greater movement of groups of "investors" trying to acquire pieces (hopefully for long-term holdings), even more so than we see today. I know that this has been done in the past with investment funds, but those were different from my view in that it was done with a mutual fund type vehicle which, in my opinion, does not work well with the thinly capitalized coin market. Just look at the recent sale of the 1913 nickel, which was sold, in effect, by a large "corporation".
Well investing and coins are not the same. Four of the five Liberty Nickels are owned by private individuals. The majority of the Million dollar coins are held by individuals. The investors in the coin market are very few and far in between. There just isn't enough valuable coins to support them. So where will collecting go? Coin collecting has been around for thousands of years. It really began to take off in this country during the change of the small cent. Even then, Americans loved change. I think that the same coins will continue to be collectible. I do worry about our current designs and the possibility of new designs having a long term effect on the hobby as a whole. Of course, I won't be around long enough for it to make a real difference in my life. If we take a look at what brings people to collect coins, and continue in this fashion, our little hobby will continue to expand.
As Nd says - the really big money coins are few and far between. But there are many, many coins which have held & increased in value for generations. These are not your average, everyday coins either. And for some they could be termed to be quite expensive. I have little doubt that in the years to come they will only increase in value. But quite honestly - far too many collectors view this hobby from the wrong perspective - that of it being profit oriented. This is absolutely the wrong thing to do. For far and away - the vast majority of those who do this end up losing money. But - if you are determined to collect with an eye turned towards value for the future - and I don't mean 10 yrs from now I mean a generation or two from now - then you must first set your goal on learning as much as possible. Then you must only select and collect high quality coins that are now and always have been in high demand among collectors. This is where knowledge comes into play - for determining what these coins are is not an easy task. For the coin market always has been and always will be ripe with fads and 10 yr wonders. These are coins that are all the rage and bring very high prices - for a short time. Then they may drop in value by a factor of 10 - or more. So my advice - is do not attempt to collect coins with a profit motive in mind. Collect them because you enjoy it. And if in the end you do realize a profit when the time comes to sell - well that's just gravy for all the pleasure you had over the years
