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The Overpriced Coin Market 150 Years Ago
Ronyahski
Posts: 3,119 ✭✭✭✭✭
Some debates never die.
Some refer to overgraded slabs as Coffins. I like to think of them as Happy Coins.
5
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That is so true.
Successful Trades: Swampboy,
Wish they had some examples with prices !!!
Reminds me of the old adage...."The more things change, the more they stay the same." Cheers, RickO
Interesting comments, which indicates there were probably more coin collectors in 1869 than is usually thought - "The fact is that the demand for rare coins is always greater than the supply."
I wonder what Confederate gold pieces went for in 1869? Were collectors already searching for and stashing conf. coins or did they not want to touch them yet, in general?
Here is some background if you want to take a look.
The reader's comments were in response to this post made by Ebenezer Mason in his Coin and Stamp Collector's Magazine.
The MacKensie sale was Edward Cogan #20, June 25, 1869. You can find an annotated catalogue, with prices, here in the NNP:
https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/auctionlots?AucCoId=19&AuctionId=510478
Perhaps Mason was just screaming sour grapes because he was a bidder in the auction, bought several high priced items, and maybe was upset that he spent too much.
However, I have seen several contemporaneous reports post-Civil War, circa 1868 -1870 timeframe, making the same comment that prices were increasing dramatically. Maybe someone who has studied this era can chime in, but it appears that there was a post-war booming coin market.