Are lower grade numismatics keeping up? Will they catch up?

AS, with both silver AND gold as the price goes higher, numismatic premiums most definitely fade. Coins trade more and more as bullion.

 

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I hope not !!

I posted a 1985 NY Times article talking about the destruction of Morgans and silver coins in 1979-80 (which was somewhat saved by the collapse in silver after the Hunt Squeeze). The article talked about the hit to new collectors.

If you guys can't find it I'll repost it.

 

It depends on the particular coin and the dealer's financial strength.

If it's a coin that he knows he can sell with great liquidity -- AGE, Maple Leaf, Krugerrand -- he's more likely to buy it and/or hold it and NOT immediately melt it. He knows he can find a buyer pretty much every day or every few days or something like that.

But get a coin that you have to pay a premium for and if you don't sell it right away you are either (1) tying up capital for weeks or months and/or (2) will be forced to sell it to a refiner at a loss, eating the premium.

 

AlabamaStacker....assume that silver goes to $500 an ounce (hypothetical).

All of a sudden, all the Morgans and other silver coins that sold at 50-200% premiums but in absolute dollars maybe $100-$400...will now be only worth the silver value plus MAYBE a slight premium, if that.

As the underlying metal value of the coin goes up....the number of potential buyers FALLS.