What areas concern you the most for the future of the coin industry?
Cameo CC
Posts: 663 ✭
As one looks over the overall coin industry, what areas concern you the most for the future health of the coin industry.
Here are two for me:
1 - The standards on reserve pricing - TeleTrade compared to ebay
2 - The potential conflict of interest between dealers and grading services.
What are your opinions?
Todd
Here are two for me:
1 - The standards on reserve pricing - TeleTrade compared to ebay
2 - The potential conflict of interest between dealers and grading services.
What are your opinions?
Todd
Todd Abbey
800.954.0270
800.954.0270
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Comments
FOR SALE Items
1. People collecting state quarters that then buy something they see on T.V. When they realize how badly they've been had...I'm worried it made have a long-lasting negative impact on the hobby. I can already see the articles in the newspapers from non-collecting columnists about how people have been had.
2. The registry game for modern coins. Just about all prices in this hobby run in large cycles. Many of these collectors are newbies...what will be the reaction when these coins cycle down? Will we lose a lot of newbies that might have moved on to other areas of the hobby? This is not a criticism of modern collecting....I said all series run in cycles.
A continuing influx of new collectors to the hobby.
Coin prices staying steady and not falling out like the stock market.
Pennies make dollars, and dollars make slabs!
....inflation must be kicking in again this dollar says spend by Dec. 31 2004!
Erik
2. Counterfeits
3. Collusion
Of course, none of those are new.
Unfortunately, a lot of new collectors will have only Ebay as a source, and they will get badly burned and not only leave the hobby, but bad-mouth it to everyone. Educational material is easy to find once you are better connected (ANA member, establishing a relationship with a trusted dealer, seminars at coin shows). Yet there are many people who don't even know such opportunities exist, and they are buying raw crap or coins in third-tier slabs until the moment of truth when they find out how much money they have flushed down the toilet.
Grading services, you should be doing a better job in working to reach those people. They are the ones who will become the next generation of your customers. You should be making educational videos and selling them on ebay for a buck plus shipping and giving copies to the big ebay dealers to include with the first order from a customer for a coin that costs $100 or more.
I don't understand your comment about Teletrade/ebay reverse pricing.
New collectors, please educate yourself before spending money on coins; there are people who believe that using numismatic knowledge to rip the naïve is what this hobby is all about.
Reserve Prices for Auction Houses
Todd
800.954.0270
Todd
800.954.0270
FOR SALE Items
The fact that too many people will call this thing of ours (la cose nostra) a "coin industry" instead of what it really is: a "coin hobby".
2. Maintaining a set of ethical standards and holding dealers/collectors accountable when those standards aren't followed. The six part thread related to an incident of whizzing and how it should be handled illustrated to me that there is work to be done in this area.
PARTICIPANTS,
whether they be
casual collectors that grow into dedicated numismatists,
both wholesale & retail dealers,
hoarders,
investors & speculators,
telemarketers & TV sales (not my favorites, unless they are ethical),
organizations (ANA, ANS, PNG, etc.),
museums.
Long may they grow!!
I firmly believe in numismatics as the world's greatest hobby, but recognize that this is a luxury and without collectors, we can all spend/melt our collections/inventories.
eBaystore
Unethical behavior from some of those "in power" is rampant.
A hobbiest will not be rewarded unless he/she has no concern for these matters.
Dealer/investors will/should see plainly, these discrepancies.
Next question: What can be done?
With those "in power" enjoying the little attention from government agencies, being those who can affect change, there probably will be little positive changes.
Unrealistic expectations of value.
Inflated prices for common coins that can not be sustained.
Lack of education of collectors in the foundations of Numismatics.
When prices rise rapidly, they have a tendancy to fall rapidly.
When prices fall rapidly, eveyone gets upset and starts pointing fingers.
We don't need government intervention, we don't need more internal protections or anything else. A little more pro consumer stance from eBay would be nice for everyone, i think.
People who are hell bent on getting into coins before they know what they are doing are bound to take a bath. It's the same with art, cars, jewellry, real estate, marriage and many other things.
Also, there seems to be dues that simply have to be paid....some people, though, never learning their lesson and paying the same dues, year after year.
adrian
2. What will be the next "money sucking" craze ?? We had the BU rolls of years gone by....now it looks like toned coins are the craze.
3. When will the registries become meaningless ??
4. If you do all the reading and educating you should do before buying your first coin, you'd probably never get to the point where you can buy one. In this hobby, it seems, no matter how careful or well read you are...at some time you're gonna get burned to some degree...and that's too bad in a pastime which is so focused on a monetary result.
I disagree. I think new collectors don't have any idea at all that they need to educate themselves. That's why we need to educate them!
So you have a new collector who sees some huckster on a shopping channel pushing a slabbed common date Morgan at 3x the going rate. "Gee, it IS a beautiful coin! Big, silver, historical. And professionally graded, too! Grade is important, according to the guy on TV. That makes sense, better quality is worth more. $100 doesn't sound like a lot of money for that." Now the new collector goes to ebay and finds Brand X slabs for a fraction of the price of the TV huckster. What a bargain! He's saving a ton of money! After all, they are professionally graded, since they are in plastic holders like the TV guy's.
Now you tell me how that new collector is supposed to know all slabbed coins aren't alike. He never heard of collecting coins before he saw the TV huckster. He sees that he can get the same coins a lot cheaper on ebay (at least that's what he thinks). Unlike art, cars, jewelry and real estate, the average guy has no clue that there's a reason to be concerned. The TV guy told him that the coins are professionally graded so he feels at ease.
He doesn't understand grade rarity, difference in slabbing service standards, or that coins aren't readily resellable at the price you paid. He's had no exposure to the hobby at all. He has no idea that there are coin shows or coin clubs. Those are the people we should be trying to educate.
New collectors, please educate yourself before spending money on coins; there are people who believe that using numismatic knowledge to rip the naïve is what this hobby is all about.
Yep, on TV the coin vault is the WORST - they are so scary, although it is fun to watch for 2 minutes at a time.
What if someone could offer actual value on TV?
New collectors, please educate yourself before spending money on coins; there are people who believe that using numismatic knowledge to rip the naïve is what this hobby is all about.
top down. If the highest points on the coin are gray or have a different texture then
the coin is circulated. You can spot these high points on any coin by just tipping it un-
til you see them. Most of grading is just experience so you'll need to look at a lot of them
to get a good feel for it. In unc coins you mainly are looking for a nice full strike, absence
of scratches, and full luster. Surfaces on these coins can be deceptive from unusual stor-
age conditions or intent by those who would try to enhance their value. This can eliminate
much of the value of an unc coin, so you'll just need to learn what the surfaces are supposed
to look like. They vary much more by metallic composition than anything else so this isn't so
daunting a task as it may seem now. Circ coins are graded primarily on the amount of detail
remaining. If you do buy slabs, stick with reputable grading companies.
Don't be afraid to ask questions. Keep it simple till you feel a little more comfortable and be
sure to sell a coin once in a while so you know what your REAL costs are.
Click "profile" at the very top of the page, in that line under "Navigation," next to "customize. Scroll down when the page comes up, and click on the circle that "enable"s personal messages.
And I second the welcome!
I'd like the ANA to set and highlight a meaningful code of ethics like other organizations do, and have dealers (and perhaps others) apply for an "ANA Seal of Approval" based on their compliance with that Code, which they could/would prominently display.
The application process would require references and some type of structured application review by the ANA, and a hearing mechanism by which they would consider complaints and withdraw the "Seal."
This is a common practice, and is done precisely to give the consumer confidence in the product/merchant.
Here's a warning parable for coin collectors...
On the other hand, the over reliance of collectors on those same grading services. Collectors must still learn how to grade and appreciate coins for what they are, regardless of their slab. Love the coins, forget the holders.
The industry would turn on its head without the grading services, back to the old days of collecting the coins. Maybe that would not be so terrible, but I'm afraid too many of the current collectors have forgotten what it is like or never knew in the first place.