You know, I really don't care if any of you want to pay ludicrous prices for modern "condition rarities" if you have the money and want to buy them, go ahead. It means nothing to me. I don't understand the prices of real estate in the Bay area either, but I don't feel compelled to tell everyone buying a house there that they are paying too much and houses are a lot cheaper in North Dakota. I will only note the main difference between moderns and classics, and that is there is much lower probability of finding, let's say an original mint bag of seated dollars that will all grade MS-67 or 68, than there is of finding a mint bag of 1954 wheat cents that might all grade that high. If that happens, the only place for the value of high-grade moderns to go is down, as supply increases and demand remains constant. But most modern collectors know this risk (or should know it), and if they still choose to pay high prices, so be it. It's not my, or any other classic collectors' responsibility to protect modern collectors from paying what we think is too much for a coin. Keep in mind, these comments relate to modern non-commem. coins, as these are the coins with the largest mintage available. Obviously there is a better likelihood of finding more high-grade coins among the 742,576,000 South Carolina quarters minted in Philadelphia, than there is among the 15,697 1996 Olympic High Jump silver dollars minted in Denver. But Ironically enough, the high grade quarters are probably getting higher prices than the olympic dollar. That's why I tend to like the modern commems as I think they are overlooked and underappreciated.
PS-The silver dollar only contains about $3.50 in silver at current prices.
Just bought a Yellowstone from by BST board. Bought my Buffalo there to. Other than the Statue of Liberty, most of these commems are boring. I wanted the Yellowstone because I live just north. It is the "park" I go to if I want to spend the day in the park. Ironic that if features a geyser (probably Old Faithful), and a bison. The time I wanted to see Old Faithful at night during the winter(about the only scenario I have not seen it), our group finally gave up the trip because of all the bison in the road. Being in a car and passing one of these is fine, being out in the open on a sled and having one get upset would be entirely different.
I do think you will find these gaining in popularity as time goes on. Not all, but many.
Edited for my spelling.
Collector and Researcher of Liberty Head Nickels. ANA LM-6053
<< <i>The little discussion is due to the fact that most are ugly, have no history, are politically motivated, and not collected by most real coin collectors. >>
Welcome, BSqr! For all the purported lack of discussion of modern commems on this forum, it looks like your thread has just made up for a lot of lost time. If not a reflection of interest in modern commems per se, at least it shows there is great depth of feeling amongst our members on this topic. I, for one, as the owner of the "Pittsburgh Collector" Modern Commem Sets, am delighted by this discussion. I would like to point out the irony of gmarguli's statement (quoted above) about these coins: the very same thing probably would have been said about the classic commems along about 1939 if this forum had existed then. Yet can anyone today claim that "real coin collectors" don't collect classic commemoratives?
There is one point with which I agree: Unless you are highly risk-tolerant and can afford to lose your shirt, I advise against paying the exhorbitant prices currently being asked for some of the MS70/PR70's. I can't predict where prices are going any more accurately than anyone else, but I will be very surprised if these price levels will be sustained in the long run. Of course, owning a few myself, I would be delighted if they did . . . .
wow, the Pittsburgh Collector set. I'm impressed. I've got a reg set of gold proofs going and recently broke into the top 20. May I ask how long it took you to put that set together. I mean did you acquire the coins as the were issued or after the fact? Also, were you in a position to be able to acquire 70s initially or did you buy lower grades then upgrade over time. Thanks in advance.
Bsqr, sorry for the delay in answering your question, but this is the first chance I've had to check the Boards since last evening. I will PM you over the weekend when I get a chance. Thanks for the compliment on my set!
Comments
PS-The silver dollar only contains about $3.50 in silver at current prices.
I do think you will find these gaining in popularity as time goes on. Not all, but many.
Edited for my spelling.
Geyser?? Oops, guess I better stop calling it the Brocolli Commem.
<< <i>The little discussion is due to the fact that most are ugly, have no history, are politically motivated, and not collected by most real coin collectors. >>
Welcome, BSqr! For all the purported lack of discussion of modern commems on this forum, it looks like your thread has just made up for a lot of lost time. If not a reflection of interest in modern commems per se, at least it shows there is great depth of feeling amongst our members on this topic. I, for one, as the owner of the "Pittsburgh Collector" Modern Commem Sets, am delighted by this discussion. I would like to point out the irony of gmarguli's statement (quoted above) about these coins: the very same thing probably would have been said about the classic commems along about 1939 if this forum had existed then. Yet can anyone today claim that "real coin collectors" don't collect classic commemoratives?
There is one point with which I agree: Unless you are highly risk-tolerant and can afford to lose your shirt, I advise against paying the exhorbitant prices currently being asked for some of the MS70/PR70's. I can't predict where prices are going any more accurately than anyone else, but I will be very surprised if these price levels will be sustained in the long run. Of course, owning a few myself, I would be delighted if they did . . . .
Dell
We'll use our hands and hearts and if we must we'll use our heads.
Dell