What modern coins will be sought after in the future?

I was daydreaming earlier and started thinking about coins. What coins that are found in pocket change today will be collected in, say, 50 or 100 years? I'm talking about ordinary coins that are found every day. Coins that are rarely seen like Ikes or halves don't count because they aren't usually consider pocket change. Small dollar coins do count, even though they're uncommon. Proofs, special coins like the 1996-W dime, SMS coins, bullion coins, and NIFC coins like the baseball HOF half dollars do not count. Regular change only. I can imagine that in the '50s before the reverse to the Lincoln Memorial design was announced nobody would think that we would be collecting wheat pennies in 2015. Same with the Indian head penny in the early 20th century. I'm sure that in 1920 nobody thought thought anything of the buffalo nickel, and even further back to the V and shield nickels. The precious metal coins might have been looked at as being valuable in the future, but this mindset didn't really take off until the clad coinage was announced in the '60s. What is the sleeper modern coin that folks will want to collect in 2115? Or will the only reason anybody collects them is merely because they are old?

 

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anything with eye appeal + rarity.

 

Based on what some people on these forums have stated, it doesn't matter. The bidiots will buy anything short of road kill.

Chris

 

Not sure anyone can answer with 100% certainty. For one thing, who knows where coin collecting will be in 100 years. Although I believe it is unlikely, it is possible that the hobby dies altogether - making just about every coin worthless. That would be an extreme though.

There are several factors that could improve the chances of something not only holding value but increasing in value. Metal content probably being the most obvious. Rarity and condition as well. I would put design (alone) below the aforementioned factors on a scale of significance. Of course design could affect demand/supply so I suppose it does indirectly contribute to a coins value. The most sought after coins excel in one (or more) of these categories. I didn't name any coins specifically, but I think this is a good place to start when trying to predict future values.

 

Well said wise man. Pop culture rules the day. We see it everywhere. When it is announced Warren Buffett is buying x stock, others follow along. When Kim Kardashian has something, more people want it. I guess that's why they pay these people to "endorse" things. Bunch of followers us humans. By the way, my coins listed on eBay are being bought by Warren Buffett and they were rubbed on Kim's butt

 

Coins will be a novelty item. They will laugh at the old timers who worried about paying for things with bits of metal - and wonder why gold was so valuable when with a simple bit of atomic restructuring you can make as much as you like in what ever form needed.

 

Sticking with the question posted, I'm thinking the 2009 nickels and dimes as well as a few of the rare ATB quarters and presidential dollars.

 

Because you are using a 100 year timeframe 2015-2115, I will go with bicentennial (1976) coinage especially in high grade. In 2076, America will celebrate its tercentennial (or tricentennial) and demand will increase significantly for bicentennial coinage because the US Mint will release tercentennial coinage even though we will no longer be using coins at that time. Prove me wrong...lol. TC

 

Not necessarily rare coins, but scarce coins - those that are plentiful enough to make it worth dealers’ efforts to promote them.

 

In the next 10 years never mind 50 or a 100 years from now the mint will most likely not be minting pennies or nickels, thus pennies and nickels minted today might be collectable in the future.

 

One thing is for sure, coins will be collected, saved, enjoyed and cherished, studied and written about. Coins have been around for 2500+ years and they won't die out anytime soon.

 

Well, you kinda eliminate any possibilities other than cents, nickels, dimes, quarters and the occasional small dollar so, that's my guess.

 

Those are the coins that circulate in large numbers today. You take a group of 100 Americans and 99 of them would only have any of those five coins.

 

Thanks for your predictions. I invented a time machine and I'm about to go to 2115 and open a coin shop.

 

the key to coin collecting is......buy what you like. if you are in it just for the invesment part of it you will not enjoy it as much.

 

Let me know what the most valuable coins are in 100 years I will be sure to by plenty of them.

 

Coins that weren't saved in large quantities by collectors and over time due to circulation, attrition and have largely disappeared from the collecting world.

Hoping Cladking posts to this topic.

 

I couldn't stay away if I tried.

I think many of the moderns will be sought after in the future. Some will be very low mintage coins like the platinum issues and some will be high grade issues like silver eagles in MS-69/ 70. I believe most moderns will enjoy some demand though it might never be deep and broad like it is for classic coins.

But there is one area of moderns that are almost certain to have strong demand; circulation issues. It's impossible to predict how this demand will manifest but it's probable that collectors will want nice attractive examples. They might collect in F or VG, MS-60 or Gems but they won't want the typical ugly coin. Even in "chBU" many clads are very unattractive because they are poorly struck from worn dies. This is the typical condition of a great many of the date/ mm combinations of all denominations. They sometimes are improved with a lot of heavy wear but coins last so long now days and circulate so hard that they tend to get damaged over time before they even get to VG condition. Already about 55% of the '65 quarters are gone because they've been lost or destroyed. About 20% are circulating culls with stains and gouges. Another 15% are just ugly. Of the 20% surviving in "collectible condition" the vast majority are between G+ and F condition. VF's are still around but XF's are getting decidedly scarce. AU's are virtually gone.

I believe the interest in clads is already long overdue. In the 1890's civil war tokens were popular a mere 35 years after their use but clads have been around for 50 years now. Longer life spans may account for some of the delay.

These coins will surprise people someday. Right now demand for a few hundred of an issue can cause prices to spike so it's quite obvious that the supply is quite limited and the demand is even more limited.

 

For some of the reasons previously mentioned, and as Mouse alluded to, because the mint is losing money on cents and nickels (seigniorage) they are looking at cheaper metal alternatives; if there is a change, it would probably stimulate another round of collecting both the old and new compositions. Also, periodically a member of Congress will try to propose legislation to change an existing design (e.g. Roosevelt Dime, that has had the same Design Elements since 1946), and if that happens, a new type coin would emerge.