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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;robp, post: 5545570, member: 96746&quot;]I think there&#039;s a danger here of trying to apply rational argument in order to make a one size fits all explanation. As an outsider I see Americans wedded to the idea of absolutes - the grade on the label being just one manifestation. Overtime in a sports game to ensure a winner is another. With the grade assigned you therefore have a good indicator of the price a coin will retail at, irrespective of the quality of the contents. </p><p><br /></p><p>The US market for US coins is essentially saturated with mostly huge quantities of slabbed coins of a very limited number of coin types due to the short period of its existence. This I think is part of the premium paid for the marginal increases in assigned grade. Sure there are genuine rarities which are priced ever higher because there are sufficient numbers of collectors with the funds required, but for run of the mill types and dates, the sums paid for the labels are to me illogical. </p><p><br /></p><p>For world coins, there are signs that US collectors also apply the same conditional rarity logic leading to higher prices. Some auction houses insisting that coins be slabbed prior to sale doesn&#039;t help, after all, it is only a different opinion rather than a concrete fact. Go to other countries and the opposite mentality prevails. Those collectors have a vastly greater choice of locally struck material to collect due to the length of time coins have been produced. As Panzerman pointed out, the German states produced huge numbers of issues from the various cities and states. The populations of the various countries are also smaller than the US, so you have multiple reasons for a reduction in pricing pressure. People can collect widely and variously without taking out a mortgage to do so. If an area gets too expensive, try a different one. </p><p><br /></p><p>In the UK, the most collected denomination is the penny. However, unlike the US with its 200+ years of coining, I doubt you will find anybody collecting pennies from start to finish. The sheer number of varieties means that collectors naturally choose a period. Saxon and Norman sit comfortably together, but with dozens of kings or archbishops, well over 100 mints, many different moneyers at some mints not to mention varieties, it is an impossible task to complete. Short and long cross medieval sit together. Bronze and copper milled also - this being roughly equivalent to the US period. In the middle you have Tudor and Stuart, which are not so popular with penny collectors due to the reduction in size, plus there is also a much larger number of bigger denominations and size is always popular with collectors. Consequently it is possible to find a popular denomination with genuine rarities that are quite affordable.</p><p><br /></p><p>An example to sign off with. This is the complete corpus of first coinage Henry VIII pennies struck under the authority of Thomas Wolsey when he was Bishop of Durham. 7 coins in total, 3 of which have serious issues.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1241124[/ATTACH]</p><p>My coin.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1241125[/ATTACH]</p><p>DNW 60 lot 535</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1241130[/ATTACH]</p><p>ex- John Hulett, DNW 24/3/2019 lot 10</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1241131[/ATTACH]</p><p>Stewartby 1581, Spink 28/3/2017</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1241132[/ATTACH]</p><p>Spink 159 lot 58</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1241133[/ATTACH]</p><p>Shuttlewood 107</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1241135[/ATTACH]</p><p>Spink Circular April 1990</p><p><br /></p><p>The most expensive one was the Stewartby coin which hammered at £1K in 2017. It is inconceivable that such a rare US coin would sell for so little. I have a couple of unique coins that would grade as dire. Neither cost more than £200. </p><p><br /></p><p>This theme could be replicated across the non-US world and beyond because most collectors are spoilt for choice. The anomaly is the US.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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