Timewarp: Old Coin Prices

Hi, guys -- I know some of the veteran collectors here remember the old days (and prices even lower than the ones I list below), but for the younger Coin Talk"ers" who are newer to the hobby, I thought you would get a kick out of this.

I was going through my old coin books from when I first got into the hobby and found my Oct. 1992 Edmund's coin prices book -- the first coin book I bought (brand new at the time). Today, I was comparing some prices relating to the Lincoln cents I am putting together for my Lincoln cent project....

Wow, have prices changed since 17 years ago. Consider these prices taken right out of the book:

1909-S, Good $40
1909 VDB, Good: $1.65
1909-S VDB, Good: $240
1914-D, Good: $90
1922-D, Good: $4.25
1922 Plain, Good: $165
1931-S, Good: $30
1970-S Small Date, MS-65: $12

I'll be hopping into my time machine now....:goofer:

 

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Somewhere around here I have a 1973 blue book. I will have to look for it.

 

Ah, that would have been nice. I really got big into the hobby when I was 12, which happens to have been about 12 years ago. I wish that I had had money and could have bought some stuff even that recently! I looked back at the 1999 Redbook, one of my first coin books, and wished I could have paid some of those prices.

 

I was wrong - it is 1975. And it only goes to vf for some coins and xf for others.

1909 S VDB G 67.50
1909 VDB G .75
1877 IHC VF 150.00
1922 No D G 22.50

Found a few others with uncirculated prices.

 

I have a 1947 Redbook, the real one - bought for a dollar at an estate sale a few years ago, talk about some price changes.

 

THOSE were the good old days!

 

Great deal you got on that book! :thumb:

There's an advertisement for the '47 reprint in my "Guide Book to Lincoln Cents" by Q. David Bowers...the sneak peek of prices in the book show $3.75 for a 1909-S VDB in uncirculated and $10 for the 14-D in uncirculated!

I HAVE to get the '47 reprint and take a look at the coin market of yesteryear. ;-)

 

Absolutely! I think back to '99 when we had the start of the Statehood quarters...despite all the buzz around the hobby, even then the prices were not as high as today.

I could have purchased a number of the Lincoln cents I need now for a 1/3 less than they now cost. This may have a lot to do with the increases in the bullion market, but I was still buying G and VG Barber halves for less than $6-7 back in '99 and '00. And gold...well, I think we all know where gold has gone since 1999!

I must say, it's times like these that I miss the 20th century....

 

I have a 1969 book I checked out from the library and never returned. Talk about fines.

 

It in itself is a collectable item. In 1947 the issue price was $1.50.
Today it's worth...
VG $325, F$750, VF$1,500 for the 1st Printing
VG $275, F$500, VF$1,250 for the 2nd Printing

according to the 2010 Red Book

 

What's that again about coins not making decent investments?

 

What a coincidence. I happen to have a 1973 blue book on my bookshelf. It's the oldest coin price guide I own and the first coin book I ever owned and read. I inherited it from my older brother when I was a kid. I still enjoy pulling it out from time to time to compare how the prices for these coins have increased over the years. It's also fun to reflect on how the first time I looked at that book back in the 1970s I didn't own any coins at all and now I have a bunch of the coins listed on those pages.

 

Plus I see little notes and 3 x 5 cards I had when I was just 13 years old. I looked in my 1968 book and your 09 S VDB was listed at $87.50 for "VG" condition.

If I had only knew what the future help, internet and spreadsheets.

 

Sounds like a bargain, but then again, I'm sure $87.50 was a lot of money at that time.

 

Of course. It's just the realization about how things change.

 

Gee, at that price, I'll take TWO :kewl:

 

Well in 1967 it was a months take home pay for me in the Air Force.

 

Just under 55 hours gross pay for someone earning the federal minimum wage ($1.60/hr.)

According to the 2008 20th Century Krause (I don't own a recent Red Book) it has almost exactly doubled in real value, to just over 110 minimum wage ($7.25) hours' work - $800.

 

WoW. My 15th Edition Yeamon's had even better prices.

Is it old enough to PDF for reference now without copyright infringement?

Sure glad I hid it after my wife threw it out.:vanish:

$95 for DDO 1955 Unc.

 

Well for 41 years that is just about a 3% per annum return on investment, or just about the so-called rate of inflation. I guess it is a decent investment, if you consider breaking even to be decent.