I am curious what some of the members see as a difference in this hobby for the PCGS 3000 peak in the early 90's. This period of time I was out of coin collecting. Why was it so high back then/ To many dollars chasing coins? Since I am now back in it I see this may be a good time to get back in when as a buyer the prices are somewhat lower compared to the peaks. So I am asking the members here who were either buying or selling coins, what they see as a perceived difference from the peak periods. I have no idea if there is any difference at all. For example what did a certain coin sell for back then and what does it sell for now. Or as a seller did you enjoy better profits. This kind of stuff.
The reason for the price spike in 1989 is pretty simple really, but it had a couple of contributing factors. One is that the TPGs came into existence, PCGS in '86 and NGC in '87. And both companies were heavily promoting their products. Two is that Wall Street got involved. The nation's largest brokerage houses all created indexes on coins for the purpose of investment. And they heavily promoted their products. And when big money got involved prices skyrocketed. Coins that were routinely selling for under $100 for years prior to this climbed in price to $1500- $2000 each. Of course soon after prices plumeted - pretty much everybody lost their shorts. Fortunes, and I mean big fortunes were wiped out. Those investors from that time period that still own the coins they purchased, and many do, are still underwater with their investments. It is not likely that they will ever recover their losses. Many lawsuits resulted, the goverment got involved. New laws were instituted, brokerage houses paid huge fines and were forbidden from ever doing this again. Even PCGS was sued and eventually sttled out of court. And the TPGs and coin dealers were forbidden to ever use the word "investment" in connection with the marketing of their product or coins. Now it has been almost 20 years since this happened and coin dealers and the authorities have largely forgotten the incidents. And in the past few years use of the word "investment" in regard to the purchase of coins has slowly crept back into the marketplace. But nowhere near to the degree that it was used in the past. But techinically use of that word is still a violation of the law. And I wouldn't be surprised to see some new lawsuits come about if the current downturn in the coin market continues. For big money is again being lost. And just like it's not nice to fool with Mother Nature, it's not nice to fool with big money either.
Nice post, Doug. I didnt even know that happened. Mind you I was still a kid and barely a few years into coin collecting. I lost interest in 95. Glad my grandfather didnt "invest" in them during this time.
Yes, that is very interesting. I was wondering if that silver bust had anything to do with it, but that was afew years earlier. Thanks Doug, quite interesting.
Great info GDJMSP. Thanks for sharing. I too was very young (not even a teen) when that happened. It's always good to hear info for a more experienced collector with a lot of knowledge.
