Is this the classical age of collecting?
DHeath
Posts: 8,472 ✭✭✭
Man these are gonna look lousy in 100 years.
Developing theory is what we are meant to do as academic researchers
and it sets us apart from practitioners and consultants. Gregor
and it sets us apart from practitioners and consultants. Gregor
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Comments
Neil
The last truely classic coin minted was the 1960 franklin half. I think that was the last circulating issue of a silver coin with a mintage under 10,000,000 pieces.
I wonder if the mint will ever issue circulating u.s. coinage again with mintages like that to stimulate the hobby, after all wasn't one of the reasons for the statehood quarter program to stimulate the hobby?
<< <i>yuk! i dropped a penny next to the toilet and left it there for a month, and it looks better then that quarter, the age of classic coins died when they took precious metals out of circulating coinage and started minting more than 10,000,000 coins a year.
The last truely classic coin minted was the 1960 franklin half. I think that was the last circulating issue of a silver coin with a mintage under 10,000,000 pieces.
I wonder if the mint will ever issue circulating u.s. coinage again with mintages like that to stimulate the hobby, after all wasn't one of the reasons for the statehood quarter program to stimulate the hobby? >>
Your Barber dime and quarter collections must look pretty silly with all those
holes in it for dates with over 10,000,000 mintage. You could just collect the
barbers by type and just have all three coins. Sounds pretty boring though. And
of course if you buy the collection in unc then you'll spend as much as you would
on a complete modern set of all circulating coins. In fact since each of the coins
you buy has to be under ten million mintage, make that two complete sets of cir-
culating moderns. Of course anyone with the cash can run out and just buy coins.
That can be a lot of fun too, no doubt. But some people like to assemble sets of
coins the old fashioned way; one coin at a time where ever they might be found.
You probably enjoy your collection as much as modern collectors but I always won-
der why modern collectors don't seem to have the time to blast other peoples'
collecting choices while you do!
Of course the large cent collectors will be disappointed to learn there poor base
metal imitations of real coins are uncollectable. There aren't even any one cent
gumball machines anymore so they can spend them without the shame of people
knowing they wasted their money on junk metal. They'll just have to take them to
the bank where they can meet up with your "yucky" cent.
This will stand the hobby on it's ear, but the upside is we'll all be able to enjoy real
collections like half a barber dime set.
'26-S nickels. While a 26-s nickel roll may not be the greatest thing to own and it is just
a very attractive base metal imitation of a real coin, it would be a valuable thing to own
today. Guess what! They never did it. Years later my father had contests with his friends
to see who could accumulate the most three legged nickels. You guessed it. He didn't save
any. Imagine if instead they had scoured bags and rolls of 26-S nickels to save out the most
attractive specimens. Imagine if instead of just spending the three legged coins he had
saved them and even those that his friends had found also. The 26-S would be much more
common today in high grade. The three legged would have little change in availability but
the reward could have been significant. These are coins that excited some people when they
were issued yet so few were saved that a gem 26-S goes for $50,000 now (A roll for two million).
How many people felt the same excitement for a 1969 quarter in 1969? Of the handful who did,
how many were likely to have been set aside. This is a coin that was made with an even lower
percentage of gems than a 26-S nickel. If there were any speculators who set these coins aside
then in all probability the coins they set aside were unattractive banged up coins from worn dies.
I say "if" because there is no evidence that these were set aside. They are rarely available on
the market and are generally assembled from mint sets when they are seen. Original rolls have
jumped up to $100 in the last couple years and no flood of these coins has reached the market.
Indeed, the rolls continue to be rarely seen, rarely offered, and rarely asked for.
If future collectors do desire clad coins and do desire attractive specimens then very few will exist
in Fine or better. While the coin is hardly scarce in MS-60, it's population drops off precipitously
in more attractive grades like MS-62. When one finally finds a VF coin in circulation it will normally
be an unattractive or damaged coin. Virtually every coin ever minted was eventually collected on
some scale. It seems most improbable that a US coin might be the first to break this rule.
Yes. This is the classical age of collecting. This may be the last time that rare coins are available
in pocket change. Though obviously, history has a strange way of repeating itself.
It sounds like this is one of the best collector driven markets ever, so I would have to say yes. And coins may be gone
in another 40 or 50 years.
We'll use our hands and hearts and if we must we'll use our heads.
<< <i>It sounds like this is one of the best collector driven markets ever >>
today's market is NOT collector driven. it is speculator-driven
K S