Options
Is the lack of interest in smaller coins due in part to the collector base aging?
braddick
Posts: 24,771 ✭✭✭✭✭
Is the lack of interest in smaller coins (such as the silver 3c) due in part to the collector base getting older and thus eyesight is somewhat weakening?
peacockcoins
6
Comments
That is definitely an interesting theory, although I am pretty young and do not like small coins in general, like the half dimes and gold dollars. They’re just too small for me, but I can see them clearly. I would like to hear the more experienced collectors’ opinions.
Always buying nice toned coins! Searching for a low grade 1873 Arrows DDO Dime and 1842-O Small Date Quarter.
I dont find the designs that appealing. Give me a heraldic eagle, walking liberty or big chunk of gold
No!
In my case, it is my wife's fault. I love half dimes but my wife does not like me spending money on 'small' coins. So age is not a factor in this one case.
Best, SH
I would say no since larger coins seem to have always been more popular and more expensive.
I like coins that are truly rare. Collecting smaller coins allows you to do this without spending astronomical amounts.
Although in the past I thought this was true, I've decided it is probably not the case. If it were true then small coins would have come down in value relative to big coins in the past decade or so. It appears to me big coins have always been more desirable (and thus more expensive) than small coins and but there is no great disparity in pricing direction or availability recently.
And by many accounts Roosevelt dimes and Lincoln cents (both relatively small coins) are among the most popular series.
LIBERTY SEATED DIMES WITH MAJOR VARIETIES CIRCULATION STRIKES (1837-1891) digital album
Mu guess: smaller coins just don't have the pizzazz for most collectors, not as striking as it were.
I like quarters already when I was young as they seemed like the perfect porridge diameters wise.
Seated H10c always looked like doll house dollars to me.
Even quarters are too small for my liking. Gold $5 is as small as I go...because, well it is gold. I used to collect Peruvian gold 100 Soles. Those babies are 1.357 Oz of solid gold. You could throw a shoulder out moving them if not careful.
I don't think so. I've always liked quarters through dollars. Besides, it still takes good eyes to see the details on those, as well.
Sometimes, it’s better to be LUCKY than good. 🍀 🍺👍
My Full Walker Registry Set (1916-1947):
https://www.ngccoin.com/registry/competitive-sets/16292/
When you consider the dwarfing plastic slab that distracts the eye (particularly the NGC white prongs), this too could be a factor.
"Got a flaming heart, can't get my fill"
No. Small size coins are less impressive, and that makes them harder to show off to others and get them excited about what the owner sees.
Plastic authentication holders increase the difficulty. They make creating an interesting display of small coins a bit problem....or is that the "Big Problem of Small Change" ...?
I like bigger coins!
I love small coins (trimes, half dimes and dimes) because they are often undergraded and overlooked. They are graded tightly in my opinion by TPG's these days and are often ignored by collectors as they are not as easy to ID as a morgan or other large and common coins. Mercury dimes are my go-to series and they always will be.
Trimes and gold dollars are hard to grade due to the nature of their planchettes...they are so thin that clashes often obstruct their grades and they are often bent or damaged due to their thickness. They also have much lower mintages than many other series.
With the high level of photography these days (truviews and other macro photos) their "defects" look "worse" than what a morgan or half dollars would normally would look when blown up. Being patient and picky, I have found you can find gems at reasonable prices and they can turn out being great purchases. Their size may have something to do with that, however, I enjoy collecting these types of coins more than any others...and I'm a millennial. I don't think the size of the coin matters, I think they are simply harder to grade.
I'm digging the toning on your smooth Peace dollar though!
peacockcoins
Not according to the data I have been able to find. To my knowledge, given approximately equal characteristics and scarcity, the larger coin is and has been overwhelmingly more valuable and presumably preferred. Even where the larger coin is more common which is not unusual due to having circulated less, still often more valuable.
This is most evident in different denominations of the same design. Coin like Bust dollars versus half dimes and pillar dollars versus the smaller fractionals. I don't believe this is going to change, as this preference is limited to coin collecting. To believe otherwise is to concurrently believe that consumers will prefer the small size over the super size meal combo for the same price. Big trumps small by a lopsided proportion.
I also prefer the smaller coins in the series I collect because it is a lot scarcer and a much bigger challenge. However, I am in the distinct minority, probably by a factor of 10-1 to 100-1.
This is SAD. Us small-time collectors seemed shunned out. I'm an aged-based collector on a fixed income. Not everyone can shell out $100s or more for collectables. Some of us common folks seem to be out-classed here that's not true demographically. You want more interest in the hobby? Don't kill us common folk. Interest is there. Is this a truly forum for the wealthy?
Did the smaller coins really see more usage then quarters and up? Just thinking from a money perspective and what things cost back then and the change given? Does anyone know for sure? The reason I ask is at first glance it seems like common sense but with more thought it may not be true. Thanks
Interesting topic. I collect coins that I like and those that appeal to me, regardless of size !!!
I would not let my eyesight dictate what I collect. That's what loupes are for and I see younger collectors and dealers using them.
Great transactions with oih82w8, JasonGaming, Moose1913.
L8r
Here we go with the 'aging collector base' myth again.... The collector base has always been aging.... that is reality. We see members passing and we see new members (young) joining.... The only way the collector base will stop aging is the end of humanity or the hobby. There are plenty of young collectors - and, they too are 'aging'....
Cheers, RickO
3 cent silvers have never been a popular series. It has nothing to do with aging.
My son's song should be "back to the future" he's discovered vinyl😄 Brought 500 of em,hey they're worth 10,000 but I only paid two, glad I got in early.🙂 Man. 1. Brother fantasy coin collection 2. One son old school records 3. Giving away my hot rod so we can go to the drags.
Man it's the new golden age wait until I introduce him to a technology like the 8 track...
Back to the gun board. Someone got a Bartlett 50, no way that's fooling anyone. That's not a pear not even 50 of em IMO.
To top it off some jar heads didn't like "hamburger hill" a movie I can relate to. Oh that's not real they say. Is any we listed real if you lived them? Good point one says. I listed why I believe since the man saved me once and debatable on at least 3 others with list, I can relate in my own little way.
Getting my kids living on $500 a month and a $5000 dollar VISA after two years scared me more than those. That's someone god trusted to me, don't screw that up. I don't own them just a mintor. Lots of hunting and fishing there🤣
Working the sea , sesismic , jack up, semi that's real I pointed out with a list. This is a hobby hunting for me with CCW as real. Want to talk about real? I was on th Ocean Odyssey the sister ship to the ocean ranger, that's real.
This is a good short movie, that's real the rest is a hobby. I think they get it, we'll see field trip to Jim Davis gun museum, I love the Gatling gun😜 As well as the nooses they hang gangester with on display. That will give you pause.
Edit: ps if you did your job right they will be living their childhoods. Man I woke up to Johnny Cash every Saturday morning, I love me some Johnny that's real good that is😇
I’m guessing even YNs are less interested in some very small coins.
Of course Lincoln cents are very popular but those are large compared to some coins!
You got the readers digest version. With all due respect, those that served your the MAN (Or woman).🎊👍🏼
If it’s early bust, me likey. Though they all are somewhat larger then their more modern counterparts. I’m grateful that I’m able to see details fairly well without my loupe.
I don’t think that age has anything to do with it. When I was dealer, I had a number of customers who would not touch gold dollars or half dimes because they were too small. No amount of convincing would work on them. None of these collectors were all that old.
The "oddball" denominations are either among or the least preferred among all US classics and have been since inception to my knowledge; 2c, 3CN, 3CS and 20C. However, given the outsized US collector base, the series are only relatively "over looked". Still plenty of type set collectors and there is definitely demand for the rare and even moderately scarce coins even in average circulated grades going by the prices.
The Lincoln cent is a series with a very strong collector preference. This is evident in the prices and the TPG population counts. The prices are high - higher or much higher than scarcer or far scarcer coins - even though the coins are very common. Other series with large collector bases but a much lower price level are probably not actually preferred. It appears to be more of a budget limitation.
How about the old seated/ barber proof? Rare🙄 With many around 600. I had to adopt a few. I've owned the same coins at least 3 times trading with bro.
All those tiny coins are too hard to see.
I love silver times and have a few examples, but never heavily got into them since I did not believe I could complete a set on my budget. Although I am contemplating looking further into them in the near future.
Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value. Zero. Voltaire. Ebay coinbowlllc
The "lack of interest" may be due to the technology platform used by younger folks to buy/ trade and sell coins. Not their age... Instagram and other social platforms are where a lot of coins are trading hands off the radar so to speak. Meaning not ebay or coin shows.. or coin shops..
_Here we go with the 'aging collector base' myth again.... The collector base has always been aging.... that is reality. _
+1.
When I attended my first coin shows over 50 years ago, the "big coins" were always the most popular with the lower denominations receiving much less attention. The more things change, the more they remain the same.
Member ANA, SPMC, SCNA, FUN, CONECA
Tiny coins are just not as much fun to look at, IMO. It's not like I haven't tried to get into them -- objectively speaking, my three gold dollars are among the best coins I've ever owned, and for a few years I got to own this little thing of beauty --
-- a coin way out of my league, basically -- but long story short, they just don't spin my propeller that much when I look at them.
It's kind of like in fly fishing -- there are times when only an itty-bitty size 20, 22, or 24 will catch fish, but times like that I just do something else.