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Message:: [QUOTE="Curtis, post: 8229163, member: 26430"]I think the past empirical evidence would indicate that war typically causes the prices of ancient coins from that area to drop because coins start flooding out of the region: That's what happened in the recent past in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and the Balkans. Stepping back a couple generations, WWII had many competing effects on the coin market, but caused many massive great collections to be liquidated. Many coins were being sold at desperation prices across the continent and in the UK. As only one early example in the run-up to war, much of the Russian state collection from the Hermitage was sold for funds to fight the Nazis. It was ironically liquidated through Schlessinger, whose coins, library, business, family and life were all then taken by the Nazis. There are also the breakdowns of government controls that keep illegal coins from being smuggled out and, in some cases, museums being looted. Another big effect is that many people will turn to metal detecting for coins/ antiquities as a source of income in economically difficult times. That was a major factor in the former Yugoslavian republics in the1990s.[/QUOTE]