Demise of numismatics

The availability of coins online really does change our perspective. Back when I was collecting coins in grade school in the pre internet days, an SVDB seemed like the ultimate rarity. Now it just looks overpriced and there are so many much rarer and more exotic type coins I could buy for the same money. If more people start thinking like we do then the price has nowhere to go but down.

Before there was an internet there were fewer options for acquiring rare coins, so perhaps the SVDB was in such high demand because of its availability. People didn’t have as many opportunities to branch out as we do now. So a lot of the price declines we are seeing may be due to structural and generational changes rather than a decline in the hobby in general. Also the money spent overall is likely more spread out than before, into world coins, specialized varieties, etc.

 

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That's a very good point about coins like the SVDB. In the pre internet days one didn't run across very many examples in their local area so it's reputation as THE key added to it's high price. Now one can find many nice examples regularly in most online auctions. It also lets one appreciate the difference between weak and well struck examples of other seemingly common dates and how rare some of the well struck examples are.

 

I believe there are so many rarer and more exotic coins that could be bought for LESS money.

 

I could not agree more. I can certainly see how some of the "keys" got their reputation in the pre-internet/TPG days and it's understandable how they hung onto it. It was also much easier for someone to corner a market in those days. The one's who could have potentially known would have been sellers which wouldn't be in their best interest to not let the rare reputation build up.

You did touch on another very relevant price factor as well too with how buyers behavior is just changing. The money is without a doubt spreading more. World coins are coming in by the boatloads to TPGs it seems as both PCGS and NGC have longer wait times for world coins and every week that goes by you see more and more graded for sale ect, and the thing is they are selling hence the process continues.

I have no doubt that the average collector today has a much more diverse collection than the average collector of 40 years 30 years ago ect. World coins are growing in popularity, type collecting and buy whatever you like has overtaken set building ect. I can't really find any evidence that suggest the price drops we've seen are because of a dying hobby, they all make perfect sense considering how it's changing.

 

That is definitely true and it describes a lot of the coins in my collection

 

I have the 1921 Pilgrim 50 cent commem. It's not MS, so maybe it's worth $100.
20,053 minted. 1909-S VDB 484,000 minted and worth 10x as much, with 24x more coins.

 

It's all demand. If the number of people collecting commemoratives was the same as the number collecting Lincolns it would be worth much higher.

 

Back when I was collecting in the 90’s I distinctly remember a dealer ridiculing world coins and ancients due to their lack of resale options. At that time he was correct, because in a local market I can’t imagine reselling them to a dealer without a steep discount. Therefore I stuck to U.S. coins. Now I have several dark side pieces in my collection that are certified and that I could easily sell on EBay for close to what I paid. That changes the equation for me and allows me to spread my money around.

 

I can’t tell you an opinion on this particular 64BN because I didn’t look at it up close. I did observe it was truly brown, but I had more interest in other pieces. I did snag:
An 1820 large date large cent - VF
Upgraded my 1869 2-cent piece to a solid XF
Filled a hole in my 7070 with a 1833 half dime in XF
Did the same with an AU/BU slider 1889 dime.

Not at all what I had targeted going in, but what I needed that went cheap.

I have a color-coded system of highlighter marks that I use. All 4 purchases were “orange”, which means look at the piece closely and if it doesn’t have problems and doesn’t take off, buy it. I seldom buy ANYTHING below VF, but some early coppers I will. All my “greens” went higher than I wanted to pay, and on most I was the “back bidder”.

 

I have a bunch of graded world stuff as well. I probably actually lean a little more towards the world side at the moment but from tokens to classics to us to world to modern/ultra modern I really like things from all various parts and wouldn't fit into any one group. With moderns I'm hands down more into worlds, several countries blow away anything the US mint is doing.

I really enjoy how the market has expanded how it has. I'm pretty tempted to try and do one of the world coins made by the US mint set. You are spot on though, these areas of collecting are no longer the black holes they once where where you could never get any money back out of what went in.

At least it wasn't an empty handed trip and did find some stuff.

 

I am tempted to save numismatics from its demise.

This is my solution. Yet another slab:

 

I like your signature. If I put my mug on a slab no one would buy it.

 

...and they would buy mine?
Totally.

 

What happened to the original topic?

 

It was "demised".