We are in the golden age of coin collecting. Prices of old coins are decent, but will keep going up in price for years to come. Most coins minted since the 60s are not worth very much, and I doubt there value will increase much over the next 100 years. There are more collectors today than ever, more [newer] coins are being preserved in high grades, making them less scarce and more common. If I had $100,000 to invest, I would invest it in old coins. It always seems the market holds well on old coins, I have never seen it drop. The old (1700s-1800s) coins will be worth a lot more 30 years from now. So if you save $100,000 worth of old coins today, you would probably have twice that in 30 years.
If you haven't seen the coin market drop, you must not have been collecting very long. There have been numerous busts and booms in my 60+ year lifetime and I am sure that will continue.
I don't like to offend anyone, but it all depends on how many YN's we can bring into the market. I have read that the average age of a coin collector is 57. When the old school dealers (many baby boomers) pass on, the coins will be back in nuismatic circulation. I see a buyers market in about 10 years or so.
I buy gold coins and silver as much as I can. I think gold will be the currency of the future. Money won`t be worth much since they are making so much of it. Back in the day they would make 4 million now they make way more.
I agree. The busts and booms also seem to happen at different times from one coin type to the next. Over a thirty year period some coins would be worth more and others will be worth less or the same. There are ways to increase your odds a bit but that's probably a topic for a separate thread.
I agree it's the golden age for collecting as far as prices for purchasing and information goes. With the internet we have access to information most didn't have just a few short years ago. We have the ability to buy from thousands of sellers all over the world. I don't look at it as the golden age as far as value of the collection goes because quite honestly I don't keep track of nor do I care what my collection is worth now or in the future. So, yes, it's a golden age for many different reasons to many different people. Guy
No - I disagree and I do not think we are in the golden age of collecting. Yes - more are buying and more are collecting. There is good and bad in that. One possibility is all the new collectors(even those in 30 years) like high MS or high proof cameo coins creating a demand for the moderns and thus driving up the prices. So in thirty years it could be reversed - high demand for moderns and low demand for older coins. Now for the lower 1800's coins you have plenty of nice pieces available, but in low grades - even the higher MS grades are not the quality of the moderns. If nobody collects them - they are worthless in 30 years. Think of it like the 1909-S VDB coin - a not rare coin with a high demand and a high price. Yet there are several coins with lower mintages that you can get cheaply. As a collector I am not worried about what my collection will be worth in 30 years - I want the best possible collection for me to look at. Heck in 30 years I will be probably be dead and I do not really care what my heirs get out of the collection. I will make some recommendations for disposal, but that is it.
Mintage is not nearly so important as survival rates. This is exactly why some low mintage coins are worth far less than significantly higher mintage coins of the same type. I believe old coins will always be popular. They are pieces of history and that will always attract collectors. There may be less nationality-specific collecting in the future, as world populations slowly blend towards a much less firmly defined line of race and nationality. Overall I think the prices for these coins will hold and/or increase perpetually. As for those coins with only a handful of examples know, they will likely become less rare due to more being found as a result of more people looking for them. I have one coin that the Krause lists as "4 known". However, there are at least 10 known and likely a handful more out there waiting to be discovered. I only collect foreign coins though.
Thats about a 2.7%/yr appreciation. In 30 years, there will be such sophisticated equipment, that much of the "slider" level older coins will no longer be given a MS grade rather than an AU58 or 59. Friction wear will be a lost term, just wear. Lasers and microscopes will count the minute defects without the human sensory defects, and the grade will be consistent with such. New stickers will have to be developed to separate the "new grade" from the older ones of the year 2000. More coins will be considered "details", with maybe only 1/10 of older coins maintaining their current pricing value, the other 9/10 will price stagnate, or decrease. I would wager in 30 years one might do better in GE, iAppleRobotics, or even Wells fargo. How we grade coins will be more of a determining factor in value than rarity alone. Years ago, cleaning coins was acceptable to the majority of collectors ( even described in authoritative books), now it isn't, in the future, maybe any exposure to the environment will be frowned upon. Jim
I would sat the early-mid 60s were the golden age for collecting. you could still get many old coins out of cicrulation and from older relatives coin jars and cigar boxes. and they were silver. also nice walkers, mercs, buffalos and early pennys from bank roll searching. then a couple of years after clad coins came in they mostly were picked clean. then the state quarter program reignited collecting again and made it popular after a couple years in. the values of many older series climbed 'till the '08 crash took a lot of people's extra money away and prices stalled or fell. maybe there are 30yr or so cycles to collecting and prices.
When I was a kid (I'm 57 now), there were about 30 coin shops in my city in addition to the department stores that had busy coin/stamp departments. Sears, Eaton's, Hudson's Bay (major department stores in Canada) did a bustling business in coins until the early 70's and then they started to shut them down and by the end of the 70's most were gone. There was one coin store right smack in the middle of the city that was huge! The shelves behind the counters were full of albums of coins and the 50 or 60 showcases were jam-packed with coins. Some of these shops had been in existance for more than 40 years previously (opening in the 20's). Now there are 5 and from what I hear, it's going to be down to 3 early next year. Full page ads used to be in the newspapers for coin shops. I remember taking that page, heading to my room and circling all the coins I wished I could buy. The only ads you see now are for gold or silver buying. The times have changed with the use of the internet, opening the markets to world-wide collectors but I certainly wouldn't call this the Golden Age of Coin collecting. It's nothing like it used to be.
I agree that the "golden age" has long passed us by. I'm not sure what you would call the present numismatic age, but "golden" it ain't.
Man... My Grandpa lived and breathed coins. He was never a dealer, but had outstanding taste in coins. He told me that in the 1950s every single one of his friends collected. Can you imagine all of your change is 90% silver!? What a time to collect. I was too young to appreciate what he tried to teach me, but am so thankful for the advice given by seasoned vets. Thank you Al Gore for inventing the internet.
But then, that's what it was. It's like our kids, grand-kids (or great grand-kids) fifty years from now saying..... "Can you imagine all your change being cupronickel!? If we only knew back then what we know now...that the aliens needed it as a fuel supply, I'd have hoarded all I could....."
I associate the "Golden Age of Numismatics" with a time when you dealt with dealers face-to-face, and you can even stretch it out to include the introduction of the TPGS'. With the advent of the internet, I think we have now entered the "Golden Age of Marketing" which, unfortunately, includes SleazeBay and disreputable sellers hiding behind usernames and alt's. Chris
This thread kind of reminds me of a phrase often used by just about everyone when discussing just about any subject - "the good old days". Well, have ya ever noticed that the "good old days" always changes ? What I mean by that is this - today, now, when you hear someone say the "good old days" they are talking about a period in time that was when they were young. The time period they are describing can be anywhere from 10 to 60 years previous. But what about 60 years ago ? When people in 1950 used the saying the "good old days", and they did, what time period were they talking about ? Obviously it was anywhere from 10 to 60 years before that. And the same for previous time periods. The point I am making is this - the "good old days" is right now, today. It always has been and always will be. 10 to 60 years from today somebody, somewhere, will be describing the end of 2011 as being the "good old days". It's merely a matter of perspective. And Detecto, as other have already mentioned, the coin market is not what you seem to think it is. But to illustrate take a look at what has happened to coin prices in general over the years. The past year - The past 3 years - The past 10 years - And the past 40 years plus - As you can see, whether or not a person gained or lost is entirely dependent on when they bought their coins, and when they sold their coins. You have to be very, very lucky to get the timing just right. Otherwise you'll lose your shirt. And probably your pants too
Many great responses on this thread. I have always said "the good old days" are always today, since unless you invent a time machine you cannot do anything about prior years, and most likely today will be cheaper than tomorrow. Everyone has always dreamed about being able to go back 30 years from today, but as Doug said those people were wanting to go back 30 years from then. If all you do is dream about the past, you will never take advantage of the present. Yes, its different now than it used to be, there are many fewer shops. However, that is simply because they are not needed, and most are buying online. I personally would probably never would have collected ancients since in Iowa there simply were no places to learn about them or buy them. Today, I am one of probably just a handful of collectors specializing in a very esoteric sub-field of ancients. It simply was not possible 15 years ago, so its a "golden age" for me. Chris
Thats exactly what I was trying to say as well. In fact, for most of us collecting today, we wouldn't have anywhere near the diversity in our collections if not for the internet. We would have to rely on local dealers and what they had, if you even had one nearby. The availability to just about any coin imaginable has never been so great as it is today. If people think thats not better than it was 20 or 40 years ago, then they must not collect anything beyond pocket change, or they live within a few blocks of a dozen well-connected dealers' shops. Guy
I don't disagree or agree. As the World turns to coin,less & paperless transactions. I think coins & paper money will still be collected sold traded and graded til the end of time. I have never thought of my New or Old coin's in my collection as a Cash Cow/Investment. but it if has you weight the silver & gold that in it.
