What have been the best eras for numismatics?
logger7
Posts: 8,647 ✭✭✭✭✭
Have there been "golden ages" of numismatics when the interest in collecting was stronger across more of the population?
Also I heard there was a golden age in ebay sales around 1999. How good was business then?
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This is one of the greatest times for numismatics.
I sold coins on eBay in 1999 and I sell coins on eBay in 2023.
My sales are so much better now in 2023 than in 1999. Much safer as well.
Lots of money out there buying eye appealing collectables.
The internet changed the game for the better.
Digital coin photography opened up the whole world.
The 1950's into the early 1960's.
That's when collectors went completely bonkers over the 1950-D Nickel and the 1960 Small Date Lincoln Cent.
I'll also throw in the hoopla about the 1955 Doubled Die and rest my case.
Pete
Being "older than dirt", I have never enjoyed the hobby like I did in the 60's and 70's. I learned so much so fast and all due to the myriad of "coin shows" up and down I-81 from Harrisonburg, VA to Bristol, TN. While I mostly concentrated between Roanoke, VA and Bristol, TN we would occasionally travel further a few times a year. These shows were nearly every weekend and I went many times with barely enough gas money to make the trips. But so worth every mile. Just to hold the coins and see them raw(no grading companies then). Listening to all the veterans tell the tales of mint problems; die strike pressures when going from screw to steam. I was like a 4 year old at a clown contest. My best friend and I must have made hundreds of trips, luckily gasoline was $.20 to $.25 cents a gallon and I had a 63 Morris Minor. Dang, I get goose pimples just remembering the mustard stains on all the dealers shirts. lol A dealer in Kingsport, TN named Mr. Miller helped me immensely, as did Mel at Mel's Stamp and Coin in Johnson City, TN and a little lady in Kingsport, TN who owned the only coin shop in town at that time.
Jim
When a man who is honestly mistaken hears the truth, he will either quit being mistaken or cease to be honest....Abraham Lincoln
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.....Mark Twain
The golden age would be the 1950s and 1960s, when one had silver in their pocket change and modern gadgetry had yet to be the bane of our existence. That being said, each point in time is what you make of it. I am collecting today, and this is the point in time I have been stationed, for better or for worse. I continue to enjoy the hobby, and stay out of the hype.
Always the time AFTER I sell. The worst times are when I should sell but hang on another day and the market tanks.
USAF (Ret) 1974 - 1994 - The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries. Remembering RickO, a brother in arms.
1970's
Without a doubt.
1972 prices:
And youngsters could find coins out of circulation.
Oh, I suppose the era after WWII was pretty good in terms of mass participation.
Today is pretty great though. There is more information at our fingertips than even before, and actual liquidity of valuable coins is probably better than at any time in history. We also have an improved (yet still imperfect) desire to preserve and protect the coins we collect.
Late 1950's until May of 1964. This was when the general public was heavily involved. I think COIN WORLD's circulation hit close to 189,000 at one point. This was the age when circulated sets of jefferson Nickels, among other things, were widely collected.
The 10-year period of 1907 to 1916 when there were a lot of changes for the better in all of our coinage.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
Great trip thru memory lane. It makes us all feel a bit younger. Gas stations giving out glasses?
Just left with one question given "being older than dirt". You might be the only one who can answer this question?
How old is dirt?
I'd vote the 1960's, as 90% silver slowly disappeared from circulation. What magical time!
Dave
Absolutely. That's how I completed my Rosie Dimes and Jeff Nickels.
Pete
Well, dirt is pretty old Feeling old as dirt can be relative to the load we all carry 😁 As far as the best time. I can’t speak to that specifically but I’m living now and doing pretty dang well. I’m thinking here and now is what I’ve got ( as mentioned above) and the amount of knowledge available, the ability to buy and sell, the shrinking of the unknown would tend to indicate…. Now 🤠
The ole gas station gave “ Blue Chip” stamps and the grocery store gave S & H green stamps.
🎶 shout shout, let it all out 🎶
Evidently younger than 75.
Jim
When a man who is honestly mistaken hears the truth, he will either quit being mistaken or cease to be honest....Abraham Lincoln
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.....Mark Twain
Often forgotten was the invention and huge popularity of coin boards starting in 1935 which saw the birth of coin collecting across all socioeconomic populations. No longer was numismatics the domain of the wealthy. Despite the ravages of the Great Depression, coin boards provided a family friendly way to have fun without costing anything other than an initial $0.25 per board investment. Eventually a demand for rarities began to form (1909-S VDB, 1914-D, etc) and young collectors were hooked.
The early 1960's, when Silver Dollars were being released from government vaults and silver coins were still in circulation. Those were the days.
I didn't get into the hobby until the late 90s when a lot of coins were a lot cheaper than they are now, whereas others have stayed around the same (gem late date Walkers). From what I could see around 1999 the hobby had settled into reliable metrics. Good to hear the old stories before grading. Also I did nothing on ebay until 2012 as I was turned off by the wild west aspect 20 plus years ago and heard people used to do great.
These are the good old days.
I agree with most of the above posts. Being able to get BU 80 year old and even key date Morgans for face value from banks in the early 1960's was quite a thrill. Back in 1962 not many people could afford to get more then a few silver dollars at a time.
Another great era began was when the State quarters (Starting in 1999) lured lots of people into coin collecting. I remember a bag of $1000 AU (yes AU) Delaware state quarters selling for $5000! Today you are lucky if you can get anything over face value for BU rolls of state quarters.
We are currently in a great era of collecting right now as the covid lock downs have helped to get even more collectors into the hobby. Just about everything is liquid now. Who knows how long it will hold up. It may last for many more years or simply collapse any day now.
I'm not old enough to remember the 60's, being born right at the very tail end of that decade. I didn't start collecting until the early 80's and back then in was all raw coins for me. The old cardboard 2x2 holders and lots of albums. I remember working odd jobs to make money, and dad would drive me to the local coin shop about once a month.
For me, that was a "golden age". I wish I had kept a few from back then, but I eventually sold off my small meager collection to help finance my first car. I got back to collecting seriously in the late 2000's. (2007) and have been collecting since, with a couple of pauses. Numismatics has been the one constant hobby that I have maintained pretty much my whole life.
Third Party Graders changed the game drastically for the better, and wide spread use of the Internet has made it even more interesting and exciting. No longer do we have to depend on our local brick on mortar shops to define our collection. We can do commerce with any number of dealers across the nation.
I would conclude that THIS period in time, is indeed a Golden Age for numismatics.
Dwayne F. Sessom
Ebay ID: V-Nickel-Coins
Coin collecting is thriving now as never before. The internet provides many venues, from auctions to dealers, to collectors on social media. There are more collectors and the market is vibrant in almost all sectors. The golden era is now.... Cheers, RickO
The amount of information available today is just amazing, more so than any time in the past.
One can come to this forum and get an expert opinion in any area of numismatics almost instantly.