Top Graded/ Low Pop Coins in a Market of Their Own

Typetone

I used to think about a year ago that the prices of highest graded low pop coins were getting ridiculous. However, now I have come to believe that their is a group of wealthy collectors who will pay fantastic amounts of money to acquire these pieces. Most of us think it is all absurd. However, the fact is that most of us are not in this league. These collectors want the best and are willing to pay. For some of these people, 10K, 20K, 100k is nothing. What is new is that we are just seeing these folks enter the market now, in significant numbers. Scream as we want, the fact is that low pops are rare, rare, rare. Since most of us do not have them to sell, we can't say the price is too high. The demand for the few available pieces creates a very high equilibrium price. We often offer the opinion, that these collectors will never get their money out. Do you think these guys care? Well if enough don't care, they may well get their money back and more when the next zillionare comes buying.

I recently bought some nice toned raw proof Jeffs for about double what I think I can sell them for. However, the amount I paid for me was pocket change. Get it?, for these guys 20K or 50K is pocket change. So just enjoy the show. I suspect many of us are bitter, because we ae getting locked out of these coins. Well, we will have to get over it for now, because the giants are now that market. The rest of us can buy one grade down at 95% discounts, and still get great collections.

Greg

lincolnSence

you mean coin collecting just got expensive enough for the rich to want to play?

TheNumish

I guess it's their money and they can do whatever they want with it. It just grates on my natural sensibilities how much some of these coins bring. A 1956 Nickel in PCGS MS-67 FS, pop 1, sold at FUN for about $4,000. A 1956 Jefferson in MS-66FS is worth under $100. Hold the coins side to side and the difference is neglible. Call me crazy but I want to be the guy that grades the coin and sells it for $4,000 and keep a MS-66 for my collection. But then again if I was a multi zillionaire I might think different.

joejeweler

Still a far cry from the willingness of some to pay 50 or 150 MILLION for a painting by the old "masters". Even Pablo Picasso's bring big bucks, and i hate most of his later works!

Now a monster stoned low pop "masterpiece" classic coin........cheap by the same standards, and especially for those with some dough!
Time has a way of leveling the playing field. I bet some felt Louis Eliasberg was crazy for buying up the Clapp accumulation of coins! Must have been a rediculous offer at the time! Anyone think Mr. Eliasberg goofed? Thought not.........
Joe T

Zerbe

Any Zillionaires reading this thread, please check out my Registry Sets, at the link below. Most, if not all my sets, contain POP 1 coins.
I will only sell complete sets though. I need a long vacation, so make your best offer and I will seriously consider it.
Even though I love my coins, if somebody wants to unload huge sums of cash for them, then I am all ears.
Sorry Greg, for using this thread as an advertisement, but the really "CRAZY MONEY" seem to be for relatively "newer coins". If these high rollers would migrate into "Classics", then it would make an awfull lot of people happy.
I do find it a little irritating that I own, for example, a 1898 PCGS Barber Half in PR68 DCAM ( POP 1 ) which is over a hundred years old, and is worth less than that 1963 Penny. Hopefully, the person who bought that penny will expand into older coinage.
I guess my point is that some coin series are so underrated, and need a person like the 1963 penny buyer to discover them and "GO WILD WITH THE CASH".

DAM

Although I don't own many modern low pop coins that would qualify for "Crazy Money", I do have a few "pop 1" and "tied for finest known" coins (pre - 1920) I would be willing to add to a zillionaire's collection.

I'm not looking to get rich off of a 1 or 2 coin sale. But to get the negotations started, an offer making me "almost rich" would be acceptable.

Typetone

Zerbe and DAM:

I doubt the zillionares are on this board with maybe one of two exceptions. Just try the next Heritage auction with a nice reserve. That's where the zilliionares seem to play. Zerbe, another post is talking about the high prices being paid for matte proof Lincolns. Wouldn't we both consider those classics. And Zerbe, I'm not a zillionare, but if you want to sell one of your 20th century proof Morgans, just let me know!!!

Lincoln Sense:

You might be correct. One of the problems with coins as an investment is that it is hard to put a serious amount of money to work in the market. If you want to invest $5 to $10 million at a crack that would have been hard. Now however, it might be getting feasible. You might to able to spend $250K to $500K, on a finest graded Matte proof Lincoln set. If the coins are available, you can start to interest these folks. We all view collecting as a hobby, and don't see the logic of what is going on. But for the large investors, the ability to place large amounts of money is necessary for them to play. Look, as collectors we can still play one or two grades down from finest and get great collections, and operate in our market. We are not however, in the market with the guys paying the huge money for low pops.

Greg

As an aside, I am an institutional/high net worth equity portfolio manager. Our firm routinely puts amounts like $100 million in and out of the stock market in a matter of an hour or two. For that class of customer, I fully understand the need to be able to commit large sums quickly. Collectibles are becoming a reasonable investment for some for a small % of their funds. If you are used to buying impressionis paintings for several million plus at a crack then these kinds of prices for coins are very reasonable and in fact required. We may not agree that coins should be an investment. However, many do, and they are driving the high end at least for now. If they lose interest and the high-end market crashes, that doesn't really affect us. In fact, it may give us some chances to get deals in the next trough.

keets

Hold the coins side to side and the difference is neglible

ah, how telling a statement this is. for it acknowledges that there is a difference in appearance between the grades of MS66FS and MS67FS. negligible as it may be, we can still agree that it IS. what gets us all in the squirrel cage is the dollar amount another collector is willing to pay.

i set my sights on coins and arrive at a price i am willing to pay. it seems illogical to level angst at another collector who does the same thing, the lone exception being that his greater means allows him to set a higher price on his allowable limit. this is all borne out when two or more high stakes players go at it and one wins. at our local coin clubs, we have a thing called the "Clayton law of bidding" which is named after a member. it reads-------if i bid high enough, i always win!!!

one of the best strategies for collecting that i know of is to buy at the grade just before the price sky-rockets. in the case before the court, that would be a really fine 1956 Jefferson in PCGS MS66FS--PQ. funny thing about that coin in that grade; they don't surface very often. so that puts the big price tag for the next higher grade a little more in perspective. if the undergrade is relatively scarce, the chance of the uppergrade increasing is slim.

one thing i've learned, when i judge the other guy by how his actions affect me, he usually ends up being a jerk.

al h.