What happens to the value of our coins if the monetary system fails? I'm not talking about the bullion aspect of collectible coins but more to the numismatic premium currently placed on them now. With all of this talk about Fiat currencies failing and computerized debit and credit systems taking over replacing cash, makes me nervous!:desk: Please give me your thoughts.
I don't think numismatic values are really correlated with the literal value of the dollar. If the dollar collapses I think I'll have a lot more to worry about than the effect on the value of my coin collection.
It always boils down to what someone else will pay for it. In reality the fears are unfounded, but to each their own fears, I suppose. Guy~
Let me put it in an optimistic way: It will be a great time for us to buy coins, especially those key/semi-key dates we always wanted. TC
As was stated here, if the monetary system collapses, we're going to have a lot more to worry about than the value of our collections. As my accounting professor once stated, in an all out worse case scenario, gold & silver won't be worth a thing, as you can't eat it or shelter yourself with it. In this case the only thing that will get you a loaf of bread is a gun, so invest in lead.
I'd rather have a sack of potatoes than a silver halfcrown, but I'd rather have a silver halfcrown than a piece of paper with a picture of an ex-queen, and a promise from an ex-bank. Whether you expect the apocalypse or not, we can be sure that the next five years are not going to be like the last five years, so a big box of silver under the bed is going to make me feel a lot more confident than any assurance from anyone. Personally, we are extricating ourselves from it all bit by bit. We don't use banks, so we don't use cards, so we're not in debt. We don't have a TV, a mobile phone, or a fridge. We don't have an employer or a landlord, we don't pay tax, and we don't vote. We claim nothing, and ask for nothing in return. We grow our own food, live in a bus that we built, and aim to be generating our own electricity by next year. In five years time we hope to have our own little couple of acres to park up on, a few animals, and a lot of peace and quiet to run our little coin business, be left alone by the disintegrating state, and watch it all with detached amusement from a safe distance.
this is all true about you? how do you use the internet? that is pretty cool, i would love to be able to do that, but i know i would go crazy without my electronics and my big lcd hd tv.
It depends on what you mean by "monetary system fails". My guess is that people will still want to buy historic American coins and people will still want to sell coins and therefore you will have a market (though it may be based on barter). We are not talking about Elvis collector plates here.
Grandma? Your Grandma was Napoleon? Or did he say "An Army Travels on it's stomach". "Value" and coins have NEVER matched up folks. You want it bright or greasy? Slabbed or RAW?
Yes, it's all true. We're still getting our electricity from the mains, with a long extension cable draped across a farmyard and into our bus, and paying the landowner for the amount we use - hence the need to make our own soon. We don't use much - two PCs and two lights. We get the internet by picking up a wireless signal from a building about 100 yards away - the owner knows, and is cool about it. No names on anyone's databases though, so we're happy with that. Mate, it's the TV keeping you crazy - throw it out of the window - tonight! Declan & Suze the UKs only coin dealers who live in a bus (probably)
^^ no way i can throw a $2,000 tv out the window. it is the tv that made me crazy though, i can't even sleep without it on! that is cool that you are able to do all that, and will be even cooler when you can make your own electricity :thumb:.
I agree. There will always be collectors - it's in our nature. People would have been collecting pretty pebbles in the Stone Age. So I think a numismatic premium will always exist - regardless of the exchange mechanism. I'm kinda relying on it. Our insurance policy isn't about bullion value, it's about specialist interest. Not just pretty things either - rare varieties and so on are only of interest to our numismatic colleagues. Perhaps the more difficult question to answer might be "how would we manage without the internet?". I don't suppose there is a single other coin collector in our nearest village. Yes, there were coin dealers before the internet, but we couldn't all be coin dealers then. Now we can.
Not the easiest of lives in mid-winter though, with all the water frozen, and all the firewood wet. Don't get swept away by the romantic gypsy dream!
What happens to the value of our coins if the monetary system fails? Who cares, we have bigger problems.
There's always that little difficulty. But I don't see coin collecting going away over the next few hundred years, even if, as it seems likely, all coin and currency passes into history in a couple of decades. Low valued coins probably won't get hurt much. And the truly rare and high valued coins will probably maintain that value. Most of the damage to value will probably be to the coins in between.
A currency system always replaces the last system that collapses and the only physical effect of a collapse is it wipes out any and all life savings that you have. Collectibles and Coins will still sell in any new system or else where in the world as well. So in effect having any wealth stored in collectibles would benefit you in a collapse. Many countries currency systems have collapsed through out history already, but their old silver collectible coins still find a premium all over the world today.
When inflation is high but short of a complete collapse, money rushes around inflating one fad after another. Sudden unsustainable price rises for collectibles would be something to expect. During a serious, damaging upheaval, there won't be much market for luxury goods except at fire sale prices. After an upheaval, your coin collection will still have value but your mainstream investments may have completely evaporated.
That is a good point and that is the very reason many hoard gold and silver. They are hoping that bullion will be a way to store wealth until the next currency system is introduced. It’s not really about the value of the bullion in today’s currency but the value under the next system. Numismatic coins are a different animal altogether. Coins that have little numismatic value above their bullion value will probably revert to bullion values. Coins with more numismatic value may lose most of their value in the short term but will come back after the crisis settles (may take years). After all, people have collected rare and unusual coins for two thousand years. It is a wonderful diversion. I do not think numismatic coins are insurance for a dooms day scenario. However, I do not think bullion or a fist full of fiat currency will provide any relief in the middle of the crisis either. Bullion will not fill your stomach and stacks of fiat currency burn too rapidity to keep you warm very long.