Why are American coins so overated?

Thinking about it, I just don't understand how anyone can spend anything over $1000 on an american coin. Even the patterns shouldn't be worth more than $20,000. This excludes the early colonial coins-they count as intresting.

They are WAY too exspensive.


Look at the miserable wire rimmed St Gaudens that people pay thousands for? Personally, I would prefer to have 2000 roman, greek, german states, early french etc coins than anything like that. Even the flowing hair dollars are overated, especially as they are so many of them. Why are they so popular anyway ?? And please don't answer with stuff about pariotism, because that is pathetic. And eagerness about american history cannot enter into it...there is hardly any american history that is really mirrored in the coins.....

Apologies if I have offended anyone.

 

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supply

and


demand

(in this case mostly demand)

 

BUT WHY ARE THEY POPULAR ??

I don't get why you would buy a 1909 VBD S instead of an Athenian tetradracm !

 

well some people wouldnt understand you wanting a Athenian tetradracm over a 09 s vdb

It all comes down to taste in the end

chocolate or vanilla

 

there are a LOT of american coin collectors who want a LOT of american coins, and since american history doesn't go very far back, and during america's earlier years not a lot of coins were made, there aren't a LOT of american coins available (at least for those ones that are way overpriced).

IN summary, supply and demand...high demand, compartatively low supply.

I would prefer a 1909 vdb over an old greek coin because a 1909 vdb makes me think of America in 1909....call it patriotism or just love of my country's history.

 

I want an explanation why ANYONE would ever want the 09svdb over anything ancient...sorry, I'm going to be off this contriversal thread for 12 hours....so I won't beable to argue with everyone on it for a bit !

 

I agree. It has nothing to do with patriotism. After all, cheap coins have patriotic symbols too. The prices are high because there are more people who want them than there are coins to go around. There are 300,000,000 people in this country. Even if only 1% of the population collects coins, that would still be a lot of people to divide up some rare issues that might have mintages only in the 1,000's; even fewer in mint condition.

 

Some people would ask why you would possibly want coins with (often) poor portraits of glorified dictators. Your reasoning is inherently flawed. Asking why someone wants to collect a certain thing is like asking why some people have the orientation that they do. It's pointless. You like ancient coins, I like US coins. Call me a brain dead patriot, unaware of the impending 'viva la revolucion', but I like the Saint Gaudens double eagle better than any other coin I've ever seen.

 

A 09Svdb is thought to gain value over a shorter period of time, thus people look at it as a wise 'investment' choice. How much has an Athenian tetradrachm gone up in the last 2000 years?

I agree with your point on the the coin (tetradrachm) itself. It does look better than Lincoln, and it possesses many times the historical significance of most US coins that are far more expensive.

 

Because I was raised using them, started collecting them when I was ~8, I like their appearance, and I can relate to them. None of this relates to any ancient.

 

I'd take the Tet.

It's as simple as folks like different things. If you have absolutely no interest in ancient history why would you want the Tet? If you don't know any/much Greek history the Tet would have little meaning to you. If you're interested in US history you might see the 09s VBD as a pretty significant coin.

 

To be honest, I have wondered the same thing myself. I go to the coin dealer down the block from my university and get 6 world coins from the 19th century for $10. I asked, "Why are these coins so cheap?" He said supply and demand like everyone else is stating. And then I thought any American coin from the 1850s even in "good" condition would sell for at least 20 bucks. Why are the world coins so much cheaper? The dealer agreed with me that it is strange how the world coins are worth so much less.

I went to a coin show a couple weeks ago and a dealer had the only slabbed British nickel that was minted on a copper planchet (something like that). Anyway the point is he said that it is worth 20,000 but if it was American it would be worth 20,000,000. Maybe not exactly but it is just emphasizing the point. This is why I am going to start getting involved in world/ancient coins. They are much older, have a great history (not that America doesn't, I am American lol), and are much cheaper. Maybe some day the prices will even out, but for now since ancient coins are cheap, I am going to start buying.

 

BUt you could buy a normal 1909 for far less....

 

Many Americans collect US coins because they are American! just like Canadians are more likely to collect Canadian and Brittish are more likely to collect Brittish. Because ther are so many Americans the supply does not equal the demand and therefor higher prices. Basic economics-sell the people what they want. Just because you don't like them doesen't mean that the millions of Americans that do like them are crazy.
another thing that may keep people from colecting ancients and paying big prices is that you may pay thousands for a "rare" ancient coin only to have some farmer unearth a huge jar with hundreds of that very coin. Price tanks and people get scared off- its happened before.

Ziggy

 

Ok, to me, you are an investor and not a coin collector if you buy a coin thinking of monetary gain.

Does everyone here agree that we collect coins because of :

Artistic Beauty

History

Numismastic Value

Rarity

Misc. Interest

I don't see why you would pay $1000 for a cent from 1909 which had a mintage of 26,000 or whatever, when you can buy a beautiful 17th century taler, which was only minted in the hundreds, is a fine example of the art of the period, and is of genunine historical interest....think about it, which looks more impressive.

I know this is a point that I am driving in a bit agressively.

 

This is a fair assumption, many people collect coins with both collector and investor interest. There are old CT threads about this if you go digging.

 

Then it would not be a complete collection.

 

I Changed My Mind-dont Even Want To Be A Part Of This Asinine Thread-

 

Its personal taste, plain and simple. Some people like the looks of the American coins, some people like the traditions of the American coins (that are mostly French : ) People like the imagery, and the history. To say American coins are not historical is flawed completely...they are as historical as any other coin past and present...they are a part of history once minted. If you remove a love for history, you remove the only reason why I collect any coin be it a coin minted this year or one in 60 AD.

You could ask the same about why a person would attempt to collect ALL Constantine campgate or fel temps....those coins...while ancient...are often horrid ugly coins...tedious at best as they are all very similar but you will still find people who want every kind and will pay more for the one with a rare variation.

People collect a lot of things and often when they do they go by some pattern...all nickels, all Belgian, all Constantine, etc...

To be honest I am not a huge fan of American coins, the old ones remind me of cheap, less attractive French coins...newer ones arent that hot either...but then again a lot of people have no interest at all in Notgeld and I want one of every kind...I DO want one of every type of american coin...thats how I collect...some dont understand this I am sure.

Its best not to belittle what other people collect because someone is going to feel the exact same way about what you collect and will belittle it...

I mean...all you are collecting is a little chunk of silver, copper, whatever...dont you have anything better to do with your time and money? Some people wouldnt think of paying hundreds...even thousands....for a small chunk of silver with just a small fraction of the value bullion you are paying for it...its historical? Some dont understand history as it relates to your pocket book. Some people dont and never will understand why you care about coins..maybe the same way you cant understand why people like American coins...or maybe the way I dont understand why people collect in certain ways (serial numbers collectors, type set collectors, etc...) or why people collect dolls, baseball cards, or whatever else I dont care about that people collect.

Me, I dont limit myself as the American 1 cent in no different in my mind to the Roman AE4...it hold a similar place in history, it is coins, and coins is good regardless. I refuse to limit myself to ancients...that was my major collecting interest but I decided I like all coins, even the cheap common ones...even those american ones.

 

I agree with Jerome for the most part. American coinage is overrated and generally overpriced. But, people are willing to shell out thousands and thousands for whatever reason in order to obtain certain rarities. I have a U.S. type set that I am proud of and am still working on, but I would never spend more than $200 for any coin in that set. Most hover around the $40-$80 range. At the same time, I love world and ancient coinage because there is so much more history and beautiful artistry just waiting to be discovered, and because they are so 'cheap' compared to U.S. coins.

I guess it definitely comes down to personal taste. However, I think most Americans who collect ONLY American coins are simply uninformed as to the vast variety of collecting opportunities that exist outside the realm of U.S. issues, and maybe don't feel like investing the time in learning about another nation's coinage. Certainly, most Americans are fairly ignorant when it comes to world history/politics, so I don't see why this kind of self-absorbed behavior wouldn't carry over into the numismatic realm [and yes, I realize that comment is going to probably garner some negative feedback].