I don't get the hype with MS70

first strike and the rest of the graded bullion in slabs. I see this material as bullion first and maybe some day one of my great grandchildren or x2 or 3 greats will see it of great importance and have to pay some ridiculous premium to buy one, but I just don't get it.

It is obvious to me that people are buying this stuff, can somebody give me a plausable explanation as to why?

PMs are traded as commodities, right? Would you pay more for first harvested wheat bread? Am I way off-base with this line of thinking? Does anybody here buy this, and if so can you tell me why?

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

I'll just say I don't think MS-70 aes worth buying but are worth selling. Kind of like I wish I could buy college kids for what they are worth and sell them for what they thing they are worth. I don't buy slabbed coins but the difference in price in Ms-68 and MS-70 is to great for me to buy a 70.

 

Its the Registry sets that have started this frenzy......I will never be a registry member just because I enjoy coins that speak to me..........some cases they are top pops some cases they are blast white and not my kinda thing, Im sure you have met somebody that had more money than sense......... one of those guys that has to have the best of everything and has the money to back it up!!! sometimes I think they get more thrill out of outbidding everybody than actually opening the package when it arrives

 

More money than sense make a lot of sense in this case, or cents if your prefer. It just escapes me that some will pay 5x market for a commodity because somebody told them it was the best it gets, but it is still a common commodity.

I'd really like to go "back to the future" in a DeLorean and see if there is something to this, or if they'll be laughing about it.

Seriously, if you look at some of the websites of the bullion sellers, they are pounding this stuff really hard. It's obvious some people are buying this, it's not me and most on here seem to be the same way. I was hoping somebody could give me some better logic than "I have the dough and want it to show" mentality.

 

probably easier to get a MS70 50$ gold piece then a MS70 buffalo head nickel. a new way of getting old designs the way i think of it.

 

There is much more to the registry than being number one, although I personally find the competition aspect very compelling. NGC Signature sets are a fantastic aspect of the registry.

In addition, NGC awards members with the BEST PRESENTED each year for the top five collections with the best descriptions, photos, and overall presentation. Our own Physics314 was a winner of this award in 2008 for the Poe Collection of Franklin Half Dollars. I have said publicly that I would covet a BEST PRESENTED award more than a BEST SET award. Having the top ranked set only requires money. Having the best presented set requires passion and a love for coins.

I implore you to take a second look at the NGC registry. I can be a whole lot of fun if you have the right approach.

 

Unfortunately thats just the way i believe it is. I have never owned a 70 but I have a Jamestown MS69 and I cannot see a single thing wrong with it.......In my opinion Luck is the difference between MS69 and MS70

 

Same reason people pay ridiculous prices for contemporary baseball cards I suppose. This is their chance to get an "MS70 1909 T206 Honus Wagner" baseball card. But of course it's not really worth the price of the cardboard it's printed on with millions printed and nearly every single one hoarded for "someday".

The reason old baseball cards are worth so much is because NOBODY hoarded them back in the day. 99.99% were thrown out by moms, clothespinned to bicycle spokes or otherwise thrown away. Very few remain today; hence the intrinsic value.

Or look at all of the bazillions of postage stamps pumped out over the past 50 years. Most are worth face value for use as postage- and that's about all. Yet many are housed in expensive archival albums, etc. But there were simply far too many of them printed and saved to ever be worth much.

My .02 as a forum noob who has been around "collecting" for 50+ years.

 

I can see best presented being an honor, thats something I havent really thought of since my photo skills are not very good. But When I look at some of the dime sets I would like to be competitive in I see lots of ugly coins that were purchased because they needed it. Look at Joshua II registry and you will see that there are some population 1's that are no different if not uglier than "lesser graded coins". If I was to do a registry I would be aiming for that number 1 spot! for those of you that are fine with less I applaud you. But like I said before I just dont get it. Another example would be TomB's 1939D which in my opinion is the number one mercury dime in the entire world. but it plays second fiddle to 14 1939D's that are graded higher in that year.



BTW I enjoy your Jeffersons and other toners that you post even though I dont comment on all of them........they seem to always be dimes which sometimes I feel you do to get a rise out of me (guess the cats out the bag) It works everytime........keep them coming Lehigh


One last note I started drinking the jefferson coolaid so maybe I can post some that do the same to you

 

Noob or not, that was an impressive well thought out first post. Welcome to the forum!

Paul

 

The bullion dealers are "pounding it" as you say because it presents a very high profit margin for them, and they have to sell it otherwise they risk losing their contract for purchasing the "Green Monsters" from the Mint.

Do you think they care about you or anyone else as a collector. Hell no! As long as they are making their obscene profits from the "First Strikes", 70's and all of that other crap, they could care less whether your family eats or not.

Chris

 

This I can understand, and totally agree that it takes some serious passion and dedication to put forth the effort to make what you have look like the best it can be. I understand this.

What I don't understand is buying a commodity that somebody tells you its condition is as good as it gets. It is still a commonly traded commodity.

You can put lipstick on a pig's lips, a bow in its curly tail and even powder its while skin, but it's still a pig.

 

NO. There is no reason what so ever to turn this into a "bash the dealers" thread, and would appreciate it if you don't try to do that. I'm not talking about the 6 dealers that buy directly from the mint.

There are hundreds of dealers selling the bullions ASEs to the modern commems that are graded, and the gold bullion US mint issues. There are even some that, if you check, do not sell the modern commems in the original packaging, at all, and it's hard to find generic bullion ASEs and other bullion coins on their websites. That tells me that people, or consumers are buying them. I just need somebody to give me a rational explanation as to why they are buying them, or why should I.

 

Welcome....and stick around..you'll probably end up liking this place.

While I can understand the "future" aspect of it, a 1909 baseball card in a day when very few thought of it as a collectable vs a day when coins are "white hot" as collectables might be an apples to oranges comparison. I'm sure many of these will survive and be handed down through estates, wills and the like, I just don't get the massive premium they are commanding and why there are so many.

 

My comment was directed toward the institutional dealers who buy directly from the Mint, no one else. I thought that was obvious.

Chris

 

That's fine, but I think they all most likely have employees and need to earn a profit to pay their compensation packages. So lets just leave this aspect alone and move on.

 

I wish I would've understood the concept that the MS70, First-Strike, and Early Release labels really don't mean jack diddly #@$% when it comes to American Silver Eagles.
There is absolutely no reason to pay for a graded piece of bullion if you can get a raw one for less money.
I understand the registry aspect of collecting these, totally get it. But, the smarter route would be to just choose another series, versus buying 40 something ASE's proof and unc, and spending so much money, when you could pick them up raw for less.
I paid quite a bit of my money in early 2009 when I joined this site, for ASE's that were NGC graded at MS69. Most I had at one time was around 5 or 6, sticking around this site for a little while made me realize I needed to sell them things and fast. I lost money on them.

First Strike and Early Release are just two fancy titles that do nothing for a coin. It is just a quick and easy way for TPG's to make money. Don't get sucked into it.

 

I do not know much about slabbed bullion but I think that collectors are buying these because they want to collect them. That is the only reason that I can see on why they are they are buying these slabbed bullion coins. They are willing to pay a "collectors" premium to get these.

People who are not collectors and just want to buy the gold and silver are going to buy the raw bullion and are not going to buy slabbed MS-70 bullion.

As long as you have collectors that are buying them, then they are going to continue to sell well. I also guess that since the slab says PCGS or NGC and it says first strike, then collectors are probably thinking that there might be "future numismatic value" in these and they are probably thinking that they are getting in on the "ground" floor.

Some of these collectors might be thinking that, for example, that MS-70 PCGS "First Strike" 2006 Gold Buffalo that they bought for a "low price" of $500 over spot gold will be the next "Action Comics #1".

 

I've always thought it a bit silly to pay a premium on for an MS 70 coin when I can't tell the difference between it and an MS 69, or in most cases an MS 68 for that matter.
But obviously some people value the fact that the slab says 70, or they wouldn't be selling like hot cakes.

 

But, I think this has everything to do with your original question because the institutional dealers are one of the primary reasons we have the First Strikes, Early Releases and MS70 garbage being sold at ridiculous prices. You'd only be fooling yourself if you thought that all they do is buy the Green Monsters and then sell the raw coins to the smaller dealers.

I don't know why so many people believe the hype. No offense intended to anyone here, but some of the members are even falling for it. Hardly a week goes by that we don't have a new collector tell us that they are buying 70's as an investment, but when someone tries to explain that they are never going to get the return they think they will, they just get mad and don't believe it.

Chris