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Message:: [QUOTE="robp, post: 5244047, member: 96746"]Although prices have obviously gone up over time, it is difficult to say why each coin, or which general field has performed in the way it has. I've just had a quick look at a few diverse pieces and the long term performance is remarkably inconsistent. A Charles I halfcrown struck on a shilling flan (wt. 5.9g) was part of a lot of 4 in 1909 which sold for 17 shillings and 6 pence. In 2005 I paid just over £1750 for it. Not high grade, but probably the only one. Increase in 100 years say x3-4000.  My Philip and Mary portrait penny which has a long (and desirable) provenance going back to Cuff in 1854, cost £6 in that sale. When I bought it a few years ago I paid less than £3K. Increase say x450. Gold Soho restrike pattern halfpennies in the Murdoch sale 1904 sold for just under £3 a piece, i.e. melt given that they weigh about 23g and a sovereign face value £1 is 8g. When they resurfaced 104 years later in 2008 they mostly sold for £10K - 12K or 3-4000 times. A couple years later, that price had doubled to £20K minimum, but there's been no recent sales to give current prices. A lot of things such as high face value milled gold have increased 5 or 10 fold since the start of the millennium whereas others have been stagnant for the past decade. Quality has always done well over time and is likely to do so in the future, but the rocketing hammer prices seen of late suggest to me we are in a bubble.[/QUOTE]