There are many ways to lose money in coins, and money can be lost no matter when you buy.
There was a British coin bust in the late 70's and early 80's, to go along with the pound tanking. Silver soared in the late 70s, then tanked in 1980. Metal detecting finds throughout the 80s and to today have made some excessively rare ancient and other old coins suddenly much more common.
However, all of these fluctuations would lead to a situation where a collection built at the wrong time could lose considerable value, but not become worthless.
The only way for the collection to have become worthless is if the items were severely misrepresented at the time of sale, are counterfeit, or sustained major damage while in storage over the last few decades.
Andy- you are correct. Some are worth a fraction after 50 years, others 10x or more.
Using mint errors as an example:
An Ike Dollar on a Philippine Piso blank would have been $2k in the early ‘70’s- today $1k. Thats 50% lower.
A proof Ike Dollar 3 piece clover was $5k back then. I sold a proof 3 piece Ike Dollar clover to Dr Berry 50 yrs ago for 5k. One recently sold in Heritage for $105k. Thats over 20x more!
And ofcourse the gold Indian Head Cent and $20 Liberty on a Large Cent blank that I sold in the 70’s that are worth 10x more.
mikebyers.com Dealer in Major Mint Errors, Die Trials & Patterns - Author of NLG Best World Coin Book World's Greatest Mint Errors - Publisher & Editor of minterrornews.com.
Comments
There are many ways to lose money in coins, and money can be lost no matter when you buy.
There was a British coin bust in the late 70's and early 80's, to go along with the pound tanking. Silver soared in the late 70s, then tanked in 1980. Metal detecting finds throughout the 80s and to today have made some excessively rare ancient and other old coins suddenly much more common.
However, all of these fluctuations would lead to a situation where a collection built at the wrong time could lose considerable value, but not become worthless.
The only way for the collection to have become worthless is if the items were severely misrepresented at the time of sale, are counterfeit, or sustained major damage while in storage over the last few decades.
I bought a 1909-O $5 Indian Gold in xf-au for $300
And I bought my 1st house for $23,500 in 1971
Mike
My Indians
Danco Set
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If you saved all that money until 12/12/80, and dumped it all into the Apple IPO, what would you have (Shares opened at $0.10)?
I am a newer collector (started April 2020), and I primarily focus on U.S. Half Cents and Type Coins. Early copper is my favorite.
It’s a nice concept but why fool around. Save $10k and invest in Amazon. Bezos siblings did and now each is worth $1B.
"I spent 50% of my money on alcohol, women, and gambling. The other half I wasted.
If you really wanted to make money in collectibles in the 1970's you would have purchased machine guns. Seriously.
Not easy to sell
Andy- you are correct. Some are worth a fraction after 50 years, others 10x or more.
Using mint errors as an example:
An Ike Dollar on a Philippine Piso blank would have been $2k in the early ‘70’s- today $1k. Thats 50% lower.
A proof Ike Dollar 3 piece clover was $5k back then. I sold a proof 3 piece Ike Dollar clover to Dr Berry 50 yrs ago for 5k. One recently sold in Heritage for $105k. Thats over 20x more!
And ofcourse the gold Indian Head Cent and $20 Liberty on a Large Cent blank that I sold in the 70’s that are worth 10x more.
https://mikebyers.com/1975catalog.html