Why are most world coins relatively cheap?

Quite likely.

This highlights another reason why European coins have lower demand than US coins - European income and per capita GDP are way behind the United States*. The EU per capita GDP is $33,400 per annum, while the US is $47,000 (40% more).




* UK $36,600, Germany $34,800, France $32,700

 

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Hmm.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)_per_capita
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_per_capita

Besides, the per capita GDP does not actually have much to do with a "growing middle class". And while disposable income does of course influence what you can spend on hobbies, it is just one of many factors ...

Christian

 

Its also worth noting that American collectors have a comparitively narrow scope of what they can collect for their country (230-300 years), whereas a British collector such as myself can go all the way back to the iron age to collect coins of my country. And those who like to specialise in say, ancient (celtic and roman) or hammered (Anglo-Saxon to Civil-War times) will generally not be in competition for the same coins as those British collectors who like to specialise in coins whose era encompasses the time in which America has been in existance...