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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Gallienus, post: 2513328, member: 42034&quot;]I believe your analysis is incorrect from two aspects.&nbsp; These are:&nbsp; 1) Regarding the historical aspects of coins and:&nbsp; 2) The valuation of coins.</p><p><br /></p><p>You wrote: “The supposed “history” only exists in the minds of collectors who imagined it.”&nbsp; Well, the history exists independently of the collectors, and hopefully it was more factually based than just “imagined”.&nbsp; Perhaps what you’re trying to say is the linkage between the historical event and the coin is imagined in the minds of collectors? </p><p><br /></p><p>Let’s look for more&nbsp; “actual causality” in our historical things.&nbsp; One tangible item is the pre dreadnought era battleship USS Oregon (1898, displ: 10,288 tons).&nbsp; She made a historic journey from the Pacific to the Atlantic to fight in the Spanish American War.&nbsp; She was also a classic model of early iron ship design and was THE 1st Warship of the Modern US Navy.&nbsp; Unparalleled historical importance.&nbsp; Unfortunately she was scrapped in 1956 as it was decided the scrap value of the ship exceeded her historical value. </p><p><br /></p><p>I’ve never heard of any private collectors of pre-dreadnought iron warships.&nbsp; Had I only known I could’ve purchased her &amp; kept her someplace (only 10,300 tons).&nbsp; Of course I wasn’t born yet in 1956.</p><p><br /></p><p>What else is there since you don’t wish to compare coins to artwork; which can be very highly valued?&nbsp; Some people collect WW-I and WW-II tanks &amp; armored vehicles.&nbsp; Also vintage WW-II aircraft.&nbsp; Old cars are popular here in Sao Paulo, Brazil, however, are expensive &amp; difficult to keep. </p><p><br /></p><p>Firearms.&nbsp; I’ve always thought it’d be neat to own a nice US Civil War revolver: a Colt model of 1860 or 1851.&nbsp; If you only spend a few thousand or so, you’ll get a fused piece of iron clump found in the ground after a couple of decades, chemically cleaned and completely nonfunctional.&nbsp; For nice things (still not recommended to be fireable) you may need to be in the 10’s of thousands of $. </p><p><br /></p><p>1) On coins &amp; history.&nbsp; Two “historical” examples which I acquired somewhat inexpensively in 2011 and 2015.&nbsp; This is a matched pair in that shown are coins of both sides of an important conflict which shaped the Argentine Nation.</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://www.coinsandhistory.com/pix_coin/Arg_8R_1836_both_med.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> </p><p>Argentina, silver 8S, possibly an 8 soles or a die trial for a gold 8 escudos, Province of LaRioja, 1836</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://www.coinsandhistory.com/pix_coin/Arg_8R_1840_LaRoija_both_med_JE.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> </p><p>Argentina, silver 8 Reals, “Republica Argentina”, Rebel forces, 1840</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>The 1st coin was issued by General Manual Rosas, known as “tyrant of the Argentines”.&nbsp; He became Governor of the Province of Buenos Aires in 1829 after a war between the Argentine provinces.&nbsp; He was a complete dictator during that period. While coins with his name were issued throughout, portrait coins were only struck in 1836 and then in 1842 with a more mature portrait.</p><p><br /></p><p>All of his large size (crown sized 8 Reals or 8 escudos) portrait coins, are rare.&nbsp; There are only an estimated 5 or so of the silver pieces with perhaps the same number or less in gold.&nbsp; In 1842 there perhaps 12 known gold 8 escudos ???, 1 reported uniface silver 8 Reals (or Soles*), and a larger quantity of silver 2 reals &amp; gold 2 escudos which saw limited circulation.&nbsp; I have a “cheap” AU 2 Reals (prob AU 50 or 53) but have never seen or heard of a better one.</p><p><br /></p><p>On the 2nd coin: there was a serious rebellion of to break free of his (Rosas’) rule and establish an Argentine Republic.&nbsp; These people were called the “Unitarians” and struck “crowns”: silver 8 Reals and gold 8 escudos only in 1840.&nbsp; This was the first coin mentioning “Republic Argentina” &amp; the silver ones are known as “Rebel Pesos”.&nbsp; After the Unitarian defeat in 1841, The dictator Rosas ordered all their coins destroyed.&nbsp; The silver 8 Reals are particularly rare with only about 12 specimens surviving in all grades.</p><p><br /></p><p>The 1836 I bought when the Porfino collection was auctioned by Stacks and the 1840 is from a Jim Elmen (World Wide Coins) auction &amp; is his photograph.&nbsp; I’m working with a guy on this site to buy good coin photography stuff so I can finally decent good photos.&nbsp; Neither of these two coins cost $10,000 and my 2 Reals of Rosas was just a couple of hundred.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>2.&nbsp; On coin Valuations.&nbsp; I don’t know if these things will increase in value or not.&nbsp; I’m in good health, and don’t plan to sell them even in the distant future.&nbsp; Are they undervalued regarding other items thought of as historical? </p><p><br /></p><p>By “undervalued” I feel that the value should increase at some point.&nbsp; Right now things are going very well for society and one well known academic even published a book: “The Better Angels of Our Nature” showing a systemic decrease in violence in our society over the past 30 years and predicting greatly improved social conditions and harmony going forward.&nbsp; I tend to disagree with this thesis.</p><p><br /></p><p>While I &amp; many on this site have hardcopy book collections, a lot of man’s knowledge is becoming stored digitally. With even a small disruption in power or a bit of damage, these archives become completely unreadable.&nbsp; Thus I see coins as relatively durable, a way of preserving knowledge or a record of events.&nbsp; They can also represent portable transferable wealth, transferred to one’s heirs, and are difficult to tax.&nbsp; Of course there are opposing factors contributing to a decline in the values of historical coins. I’ll leave it to you to list those.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>*Reals &amp; Soles.&nbsp; After the Wars of Independence many of the new nations kept the Spanish Colonial denominations but substituted &quot;Soles&quot; for &quot;Reals&quot;.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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