Events that effected Coin Collecting

Please consider this a fun thread and feel free to add to it.

1. Executive Order 6102 is an Executive Order signed on April 5, 1933 by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt "forbidding the Hoarding of Gold Coin, Gold Bullion, and Gold Certificates" by U.S. citizens.

2, Richard Nixon abandoned the Gold Standard in 1971

3. The Stock Market crash of 1929 made coin collector of Millions of people. Relatives are still finding buckets of coins in basements and other hidden hiding places. You never really know how rare your coin is today.

4. The Hunt Family Silver Venue[SIZE=+2].
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I have always had the dream of purchasing a house to restore, and finding a huge hoard of old coins stashed away in a "secret hiding place." If anyone knows of one of these places, please let me know.
P.S: I prefer gold...

 

5) The 2008 collapse of the US banking system; the collapse of the housing market and the US economy; unprecidented job loss that continues today.

The result: people are cashing in jars of loose change. The influx of loose change has flooded the banks and caused less 2009 coins to be minted. The banks lack of a need for coinage has caused a clog in the distribution pipeline. 2009 coinage can't get distrubuted to bank branches. This lack of distribution has caused coin collectors to pay outrageous prices for the limited number of dimes, nickles and cents that do make it into circulation. This appearance of rarity is only temporary but still collectors overpay for common coins at an alarming rate.

 

I have to agree. I don't want to be one of those suckers paying $5+ for a 2009 dime, but I would pay a small premium. Check out ebay, if you want to see what fools are willing to pay for base metal coins!

 

Lets not forget the finding of the S.S. Central America

 

The discovery of the SS Central America had quite an effect on the prices of gold coins. Quite the hoard, to say the least.

Edit: I suppose this is what I get for walking away from my computer mid-reply for fifteen minutes.

 

How about the Ted Binion Murder ? I always blame everything on Las Vegas.

 

Then we have The Pitman Act of 1918
The Pittman Act was a United States federal law sponsored by Senator Key Pittman of Nevada and enacted on April 23, 1918. The act authorized the conversion of not exceeding 350,000,000 standard silver dollars into bullion and its sale, or use for subsidiary silver coinage, and directed purchase of domestic silver for recoinage of a like number of dollars. Under the Act, 270,232,722 standard silver dollars were converted into bullion (259,121,554 for sale to Great Britain at $1.00 per fine ounce, plus mint charges, and 11,111,168 for subsidiary silver coinage), the equivalent of about 209,000,000 fine ounces of silver. Between 1920 and 1933, under the Act, the same quantity of silver was purchased from the output of American mines, at a fixed price of $1 per ounce, from which 270,232,722 standard silver dollars were recoined. The fixed price of $1 per ounce was above the market rate and acted as a federal subsidy to the silver mining industry.

 

The GSA Sale
Release of dollars by the US Treasury: the GSA sale

Because of the size and weight of the dollar coins, they circulated minimally throughout their history, except in the West (especially at casinos in the early to mid 20th century, where they were commonly used both at the tables and at slot machines.) As a result, the coins were generally shipped to Washington and stored in the vaults of the US Treasury; at times these stores numbered into the hundreds of millions.
They were very popular as Christmas gifts, however, and from the 1930s to the early 1960s, many bags were annually released to banks nationwide to be distributed as presents. In November 1962, during this annual distribution, it was discovered that there were some rare and valuable dates, still sealed in their original mint bags, all in uncirculated condition, among the millions of dollar coins still in the Treasury vaults. Collectors/investors/dealers lined up to purchase them in $1,000 bags, trading silver certificates for the coins. Before this event, the great rarity of the Morgan series was 1903-O, which was by far the most expensive of the entire set. It was discovered that there were millions of this specific date and mint in the Treasury vaults; an estimated 84% of the entire mintage sat in these bags, untouched for 60 years, all in uncirculated condition. While still relatively expensive in circulated grades, uncirculated examples can be had for a modest amount over common dates.
On March 25, 1964, Secretary of the Treasury C. Douglas Dillon announced that Silver Certificates would no longer be redeemable for silver dollars.[9] Subsequently, another act of Congress dated June 24, 1967, provided that Silver Certificates could be exchanged for silver bullion for a period of one year, until June 24, 1968.[10]
Following this, the Treasury inventoried its remaining stock of dollar coins, and found approximately 3,000 bags containing 3 million coins. Many of the remaining coins were Carson City mint dollars, which even then carried a premium. The coins were placed in special hard plastic holders and the General Services Administration (GSA) was given authorization to sell them to the public in a series of mail-bid sales. Five sales were conducted in 1973 and 1974, but sales were poor, and the results unspectacular. There was much complaining among the coin buying public, many stating that the United States Government should not be in the "coin business", especially considering that the government had spent little more than a dollar to mint and store each coin. After these sales, more than a million coins were still left unsold.
These sat again until 1979-1980, where, amidst an extraordinarily volatile precious metals market, the remaining coins were sold under chaotic conditions. The GSA, having published minimum bids in November 1979, announced on January 2, 1980, that those minimum bids were no longer valid, and that prospective bidders would have to "call in" to a toll free number to get current minimum bids. Then, on February 21, 13 days after the bidding process officially began, the maximum number of coins per bidder was changed from 500 to 35. Many bidders, under these confusing conditions, ended up with no coins at all. Complaints again flooded in to Congress, but the damage had already been done, and the last silver dollars held by the United States Treasury were gone.

 

Columbian Exposition (1st Commem.)

WWII (resulting post WWII spike in hobby interests)

 

This was News to me.

[SIZE=+1]The Redfield Hoard[/SIZE]
One of the most famous silver coin caches in history was the �Redfield Hoard� of Morgan and Peace silver dollars. Lavere Redfield was a Los Angeles financier who left the big city in the 1930s to become a farmer in Reno, Nevada. Having lived through the Depression, and with a passionate distrust of both government and banks, Mr. Redfield decided to hold much of his capital in silver dollars. Whenever he accumulated $1000 in paper money, he would cash it in at his local bank for a $1000 mint bag of Morgan or Peace silver dollars. Hoisting his bag of silver onto his back, he�d carry it to his simple home, then toss it down the coal shoot leading into his basement! When Mr. Redfield died in 1974, over 600 bags (at 1000 coins per bag, that means 600,000 coins!) were discovered, untouched, where he had �deposited� them decades before. Several original bags of rare dates were found, as well as a vast number of exceedingly high quality specimens of common and scarce date silver dollars. It was truly a treasure trove!
The �buzz� surrounding the discovery of this unusual hoard was very loud. It may seem strange to contemplate, but times were simpler as recently as the late 1970s. Only governments and universities had computers, and the Internet was still just a gleam in Al Gore�s eye. So the dispersal of this amazing cache of Redfield dollars into the market was done the old fashioned way: through advertising in trade publications catering to collectors, through some telemarketing, and through a little mass media advertising.
The numismatic market at that time was largely collector-driven, and had not yet evolved into the investor-oriented market it is today. So the dispersal advertising was geared mostly towards the story behind the Redfield coins: what a neat and historical find they were, what an unusual opportunity this was, and of course, how beautiful and rare some of these coins were. Little, if anything, was said about their investment potential or future financial value because the buyers were mainly collectors who were stimulated by the diversity of the find.
The Redfield Hoard represents a fine example of a successful hoard dispersal. The marketing of the coins was a grass roots effort, very broadly based, with almost the entire dealer community participating. The coins were dispersed over the course of three years. Prices for many issues rose significantly and values have remained high for the most part, and not only because due to the demand generated by the sensational news of the discovery.

 

There has been numerous theories that we are decended from almost anything over the millions and millions of years. If it is true that Birds are decended from Dinosaurs, then we too may come from Birds. Now haven't you ever heard of how so many crows find and store shinny things. So think about that and look in a mirror. If you think you look anything like a Crow, that could well be why you collect coins.
AND not just crows, but lots of other animals, such as Pack Rats, find and store shinny stuff. I could see the resemblance in many of the people I see at coin shows with Crows and/or other pack rat types of animals.

 

You peeked at my page

You peeked at my page here JC?

So you know my fellow horder.

I think the variety of NEW STUFF made available through all time has made it desirable to preserve OLD STUFF, just because we can.

 

When I think of major events I think of the technology changes. From items picked up, to hammer striking, screw presses, steam presses, to the massive presses we have today. We had shortages that made private issues available.

 

The shift from 90% silver US circulating coinage to clad composition in 1964/1965 has had a huge effect on coin collecting (at least for me). TC

 

I have problems with Clad Coins but that is just me. I also have problems with selling coins. I've never sold one and I doubt I ever will. I do have a couple hundred Morgans that I really should have sold when the price was right.

 

The release and promotion of the Statehood Quarter series. Brought tons of people into the hobby.

The rise of the Internet and easily accessible Internet auctions. Coins become much more accessible to everyone.

 

I think an event that bears mentioning is President Jackson refusing to renew the charter of the National Bank. This action led to a diffusing of banks thru the country, and also is reflected in the hundreds of "hard times" tokens. I have a small collection of the tokens and find them very interesting.

 

The elimination of the large cent and the introduction of th small cent in 1857. Before that time there were almost no collectors in the US, but the elimination of the large cent resulted in a great many people attempting to put a date set together before the disappeared from circulation, resulting in a huge influx of new collectors, dealers, clubs, and books about coins and coin collecting.

 

Found an old bank note in a book once, But it wasent worth much