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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;cladking, post: 620954, member: 68&quot;]Again, I don&#039;t believe collector behavior can be predicted even in the long term but would point out that we&#039;ve had two generations of collectors being taught to buy the best they can afford or the best they can understand.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>In the old days it required a huge amount of work and large expence to collect something like Franklin half dollars in high grade.&nbsp; You had little choice but to go through rolls and rolls looking for yourself.&nbsp; Back in 1965 every coin dealer in the country would just laugh at you if you called them up and asked if they had any really nice 1956 Franklins.&nbsp; If you asked for FBL or crisp strikes from new dies they&#039;d hang up.&nbsp; If you asked them to count the marks on the front they&#039;d call for the guys in white coats.&nbsp; You could rack up a $20,000 phone bill without finding a single coin.&nbsp; So you had no choice but to do the leg work and heavy lifting.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Today you could call every coin shop in the country and it doesn&#039;t even cost anything.&nbsp; But you don&#039;t need to since all you have to do is go to your favorite site and order the &#039;56 MS-67 FBL half dollar.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Does this mean it&#039;s going to last?&nbsp; God only knows but it certainly could.&nbsp; There&#039;s no reason that collectors won&#039;t continue to value high grades even if the services were to fail.&nbsp; When you consider how so few modern coins are nice even nice now days it&#039;s not difficult imagining that quality could be a prime consideration for many years to come.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>We each have to make our own choices and decide what we think are the excesses to which the hobby has always been prone.&nbsp; I&#039;m not a big fan of brand new coins nor of looking for excuses to pay a big premium where there is little justification. But I do enjoy collecting and have never seen anything in the hobby that is &quot;unworthy&quot;.&nbsp; Graded bullion is no exception.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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