Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;gmarguli, post: 26769913, member: 246&quot;]1/4/6) You&#039;re saying demand is increasing. Isn&#039;t that a good thing? Increased demand means prices go up. I collect because I enjoy it, but it is an investment. No way would I invest so much money into it if I thought when I&#039;d sell I&#039;d get the same or less. </p><p><br /></p><p>2) Highly annoying as it looks like greed, but not really a threat to our hobby. Buyers deduct the BP from their bid and sellers get a higher percentage of hammer. It&#039;s a wash.</p><p><br /></p><p>3) Yes, hurting the hobby. I started in the 80&#039;s and I used to see kids putting together sets of Walker 50c and they&#039;d pay $4-$5 each. Morgan/Peace $1 were $7-$9 each. A kid on an allowance was able to get a bunch of cool coins including new US Mint products. Today there is $25 in silver in the 50c, $50 in the $1, and a proof Silver Eagle from the mint will cost you a kidney. Even super common Roosevelt 10c have $5 in silver in them. No way a kid can enter the hobby and get a bunch of cool coins on a typical allowance.</p><p><br /></p><p>5) Basically meaningless. My experience with &quot;cultural property&quot; in EU countries is that the item may not be exported from one country, but has free ability to be moved to another EU country that doesn&#039;t have the restriction. I had one dealer literally tell me that he couldn&#039;t send me the item from his country as it was restricted, but not to worry as he goes next door (another country) once a month to mail from there. </p><p><br /></p><p>7) This isn&#039;t 1989 Wall Street. I doubt there are a lot of speculators pumping this market. </p><p><br /></p><p>8) I agree moderns are awful, but there is clearly a large segment of the market that likes them. Every mint is producing this garbage, but it clearly sells. </p><p><br /></p><p>9) It just changes what and where you buy. These fees have always been there.</p><p><br /></p><p>10) I think everyone feels that was in every hobby. However, we&#039;re not competing with the &quot;elites&quot; for most coins. We&#039;re not two billionaires going after the 1804 $1. We&#039;re competing with people of similar means. </p><p><br /></p><p>I believe the TPG are harming the hobby. </p><ul> <li>While they did a lot of good helping remove counterfeits and problem coins from being sold as genuine and pristine, the fact that now every coin &quot;needs to be in a slab&quot; is infuriating. </li> <li>The vast majority of collectors can&#039;t grade. </li> <li>Many (most?) dealers aren&#039;t good at grading. </li> <li>The TPG have become greedy with pricing. </li> <li>The TPG don&#039;t stand behind their guarantees like they used to.</li> <li>Their quality of graders has clearly worsened over the years. </li> <li>And there are literally millions of modern coins in slabs that never should have been there. Do we really need 25 MILLION Silver Eagles professionally graded? </li> </ul><p>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in