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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 670269, member: 19463&quot;]I don&#039;t have an answer for this one but I have plenty of questions.&nbsp; </p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>US collectors can convince themselves to pay several times the regular price for a very minor variation (spacing between A and M) or poor workmanship (double dies 1/100th as obvious as the 1955).&nbsp; Are World collectors as skilled at creating demand for things that would go unnoticed by the population at large?&nbsp; </p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>US collectors include people trying not only to get one of each date/mint but a complete set of grades from Basal 00 to Proof 71 (Its only a matter of time until someone comes up with a coin with more detail than most dies had).&nbsp; Add to this the desire of some to have complete sets of toning variations and there is a market for melters and coins that a few years ago would have been dipped to make them presentable.&nbsp; How many grades are recognized by most World collectors?&nbsp; Do they want more than one or just the best one?&nbsp; </p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>A recent question on one of the ancient boards brought out the opinion that many collectors seek coins that will make them the envy of their fellows (the rare, the beautiful, the interesting).&nbsp; US collectors seem very good at finding new avenues for collecting that will prevent anyone from having a completed collection.&nbsp;&nbsp; What does it take to make you envy a collection?</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>There can never be a complete set of Ancient or World coins (way too many exist as only one example) so the lack of pressure means demand for rarities will be reduced to the few people who actually want a type rather than those who &#039;need&#039; it to fill a hole in their Whitman folder.&nbsp; US coins are best documented and catalogued with the most universally agreed upon price schedule for each coin.&nbsp; The Red Book is cheaper than 90% of the coins listed in it.&nbsp; An equally complete set of books covering all coin outside of the US (600 BC to date), it it existed, would fill the shelves in a good size room and 90% of the volumes would either lack all hints of prices or would not have been updated for many years.&nbsp; The cost of this set of books would exceed the lifetime hobby budget of 90% of all collectors.&nbsp;&nbsp; </p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>US collectors consider 1793 really old.&nbsp; World collectors have a term for 1793: &quot;modern&quot;.&nbsp;&nbsp; </p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Fifty years ago an elderly coin dealer told me that the driving force behind the coin market prices was the demand created by the Red Book and (Blue) Whitman folders.&nbsp; Much has changed in 50 years.&nbsp; Has this become untrue?[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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