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When does a coin become "relevant"?
HJP
Posts: 423 ✭✭✭
Relevant in terms of:
grade?
mintage?
population?
What I'm trying to get at with this question is: Other than extreme rarities or extremely common coins / banknotes, when does the grade no longer matter vs. when does it matter the most?
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well there are a lot of reasons alter surface, is oneway and cleaned coins i can go on on..
A coin becomes relevant when it is spent.
A coin becomes relevant if I want it.
Like beauty, it's in the eye of the beholder. Maybe, even dependent on the situation?
See a slick, dateless Buffalo Nickel in a dealer case, and most collectors won't give it a second look. Completely irrelevant.
Get the same coin in change at the local 7-11, and it's a great thrill!
Relevancy is applied by the beholder of an object. An old coin has the most appeal to me when I can readily imagine it as an artifact of an important moment in history, or as a relic of an important nation/place/ruler/personage. After considering that, then preservation of the coin is further evaluated. After that, then I think of market factors. Market factors are not the first thought when totting-up "relevancy". But that is just my own modus operandi, and there are certainly others.
Wow, great insight into what matters!
1 reason - here we begin our quest-
What role does a coins grade have in your world of relevance?
Not that you asked me...But it depends! There is not one answer.
For me, a Bust Quarter in F-12 is a great coin for my collection....But a common date Walker in MS-65 works better for me.
For someone with more money, or higher goals....They might not get interested in a Bust Quarter until it gets to uncirculated....and they have no interest in a Walker unless it's 68.
Level of relevance changes for each level of collector.
When getting ready to pay for some major home improvements.
2 Dimes became relevant and paid for the whole job
When more than one person wants that coin.
It is a combination of factors, not one.
Most coins have attributes which result in a (very) low collector preference. The coin or series may be "popular" measured by the size of the collector base but most collectors only like it minimally or somewhat and buy it due to budget limitations. Some collectors seem to believe that some of these coins have good future financial prospects yet the preference overwhelmingly doesn't change.
In absolutely numbers though in low proportion, there are many actually rare coins (mostly non-US). Most of these coins have nothing to distinguish it to most collectors, so the rarity does mean much of anything.
Condition census coins seem to be in highest demand when it is one or near it and the immediate grade below it is (relatively) large.
A noticeable proportion of the collector base don't seem to be interested in coins that are too easy to buy but they also aren't interested in collecting something that is too hard. An active thread covers the Barber half. By my standards, it's a common series (much easier than any series I have collected) but it's not that common and feasible to complete for a meaningful number.
When I opened this thread I thought you were referring to when does a coin or series go from being common, everyday coins to relevant as a more collectible item. For example, for most of us today, an Ike dollar or Kennedy half doesn't seem that relevant because they circulated in our lifetime and were very common. As older collectors pass away, will the coins they grew up with become more relevant to future generations? I'm sure my grandfather would laugh that I find buffalo nickels relevant if he were alive today. He was born in 1913.
As coins are replaced with electronic means of payment, will they become more relevant to future generations as collectible items or will they totally lose interest because they never really used coins?
When it has a TrueView and is listed on CoinFacts
Fanboy...
You lost me
When no-one else has one.
But there are some players with the JN series who wouldn't know coin relevance if it ran up and bit them on the arse. lol
And here is a coin dated 1999 that has relevance........to me anyway.
The more qualities observed in a coin, the more desirable that coin becomes!
My Jefferson Nickel Collection
Relevance, in numismatics, is both personal and general perception. It is personal when considering appearance, grade and area of interest. It is general in the market when considering rarity, grade, price and pedigree. As in many things, relevance is an intangible until specifics are applied...item, person, desire/need. Cheers, RickO
The internet has already or will in the future decrease or totally eliminate the "relevance" of most coins.
I nominate @HJP as our board philosopher!
"Got a flaming heart, can't get my fill"