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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Valentinian, post: 3373932, member: 44316&quot;]Why do you think coin prices have gone up?&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Perhaps the headline coins in <i>Coin World</i> have gone up, but most coins have not. As my local dealer says, when a 1909 S VDB Lincoln cent came into the shop decades ago, it could be sold immediately. Now &quot;every dealer has a dozen&quot; and buyers are scarce.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>If your coins are actually worth several hundred dollars and up, each, you might be able to approach this return, but auctions now have typical 15% or more seller&#039;s fees and now many buyer&#039;s fees are approaching 20%. 35% of the amount the buyer actually pays (the true cost of the coin) is more realistic and then only for high-value coins.</p><p><br /></p><p>If your coins are worth $100 or less, each, the return when selling may be less, or much less.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Yes. &quot;Massive shock.&quot; Be prepared for it. Many people who have not sold coins have opinions about the value of their coins, however if they have not sold a few thousand dollars worth of coins, they must admit their experience is limited. Their expectations might be colored by hopeful thinking. </p><p><br /></p><p>My area of expertise is ancient coins. I have numerous paper catalogs from firms from which I bought in the 1980&#039;s and 1990&#039;s. I look at them for education and entertainment (e.g. during football games which have lots of dead time between plays). The great majority of those coins could be bought for those prices, or less, now. </p><p><br /></p><p>I think the &quot;EF&quot; US coins that used to be desirable decades ago are less desirable now and have not gone up. It is not fair to select coins that are desirable <b>now</b> and apply facts about them to coins that were bought and desirable long ago. For example, everyone now realizes the importance of extremely high grade to value. Did you recognize that then? Most didn&#039;t. Today&#039;s hype is about the very best coins but very few collectors were buying them <b>then</b>. How many coins in your collection are worthy of <i>Coin World</i> headlines? How many are typical coins that you can be proud of but less than MS66?&nbsp;&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>We hear a lot from collectors who <b>assert</b> coins are worth more now. We would be better off hearing from to dealers and from members who have <b>actually sold</b> thousands of dollars worth of coins to dealers or at auction. (By the way, I have.)[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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