What "reasonably" priced coin would be easiest to "CORNER?"

topstuf

I knew a guy who tried 20 cent pieces in the early 60's. Bought himself broke (almost) and didn't make a dent.

????????

Baley

well, if P is the price and Q is the quantity extant, it would cost P x Q to buy them all.
if Q is very large, no matter how low P is, you can't practically buy them all, even if you can afford it, it would take too long and where would you store them all? And then there's slow, profitable disposal, which I assume is the motive behind trying to corner a market.
If Q is more moderate or even small (i.e. the coin is very scarce or rare, making the above feasable) then P will be very high, not "reasonably priced" which I take to mean under $10,000.
I think you can hoard a coin but cornering a market is practically impossible.

UncleJoe

Pi$$ing Minuteman quarters!!!

Joe.

kranky

Someone could corner the market on a common date Seated Half without attracting too much attention... but who would notice? So few people collect by date anyway. Without a way to exploit it, there's no point.

I've been wondering what will happen to mint-sealed bags (not the ones the Mint markets to collectors) in the future, now that the mint only uses those huge multi-ton bags that you need a forklift to move. If I was going to try to corner a market in something, that's where I'd start. Storage is a big problem, but other than that you have a comparatively small cost over face, and twenty years from now people might find them very desirable. And there's the possible kicker that some varieties could come to light, which could make certain date/mint/denomination bags more interesting.

baccaruda

well, if P is the price and Q is the quantity extant, it would cost P x Q to buy them all.

not true, actually. After you buy the first coin, the quantity supplied becomes smaller (albeit very slightly) and the price goes up. Assuming at some point you would have access to them all (ie - the price is so high that the last guy finally sells who's had one given to him under similar circumstances as that watch in "Pulp Fiction") the price on the way back down would have the same dynamics. After you sold your first one, the price would go down (slightly) as the quantity supplied increased.

There would likely be demand-curve shifts to the right because people who sold likely had sentimental reasons for owning the coin and likely would not be interested in obtaining a new piece. Public knowledge of the series would wane and cause another shift. I can think of dozens and dozens of substitutes, causing yet another shift to demand. Finally, and most importantly, who would you find to buy for the same prices you obtained those last pieces for? Any artificial shortage is temporary in sustaining high prices.

In the end you're guaranteed to lose.

paigowjohnny

Proof "funny hair" Kennedy halves

Baley

barracuda, to corner a market, you don't have to buy every last one, just control most of them, maybe 70 or 80%, maybe as few as half. As you say, depends on a lot of things, and you're right about the supply/demand curves shifting as you accumulate, isn't that the point of the hoard? I think you're right, someone with access to that much capital would do a lot better in diversifying their holdings into several high quality aquisitions, rather than "putting all your eggs in one basket"

It is interesting, though, to think about owning something like "almost all of the 1797 half dollars" or "two rolls of 1802 half dimes"

Iwog

I would guess classic commemoratives are the best bet. An issue like the Spanish Trail or Hudson have a total mintage of 10,000 and everyone who collects commems will eventually need one for their set. A controlling interest would cost a few million dollars at least, but if the issue catches fire with speculation it might be a good investment. The Hudson is one of my favorite coins.

MrEureka

If I wanted to corner a market, I'd determine a sales strategy before buying the first coin. It's easy to corner a market for a rare coin if you don't care about selling them for a profit. (1913 V-Nix are an extreme example.)

I'd consider US Philippines and Puerto Rican coins. I might also take a crack at 1970-D Kennedys and (because they're low mintage and said to typically be of miserable quality) choice unc 2002-P Sacagaweas.

keets

this is a funny topic, not because it's stupid but because it's probably real in terms that most every collector indulges in the thought at one time or another. realistically, you'd have to be sneaky or quite wealthy to be able to do it and not take a bath. in todays environment, the best route might be with a high grade-low pop coin from a series that isn't in the limelight but still one that's popular with enough collectors to make the coins easy to find now and market later.

perhaps SLQ's would be a good choice.

al h.

kamehameha00

any coin that they made less than 100 of would be the EASIEST and coin that they made billions of would be the Hardest

TWQG

For a mere $6,000,000 one could attempt to buy all 6000 year 2000 $10 ringed bimetalic ciculation strikes. I imagine their price would heat up before you could get 10% of them purchased.

coinkat

certain Morgan Dollar VAMS. No collection is complete without certain ones...think about it.

supercoin

Some yet-to-be-released modern issue, because you can grab almost all of them before anyone realizes what's happening, and it only costs you retail pricing... the mint won't up the price on you when supply gets low.

An ugly commem, perhaps, that won't attract much initial attention. Or one of the proof platinum issues.

roadrunner

Forget the common date seated half, there are just too many and they are scattered all over the world. Now a better date seated half would have a chance. You could probably buy up all the choice to gem uncs of many dates for under $50-100K. Typically you may be only talking about 3-6 pieces. In some cases only 1 or 2.

roadrunner

mbbiker

I'm thinking about doing this for one coin, one date but in my 2 years of searching i've never seen one so odd's of getting most of them probably won't happen in my life time.

morganbarber

I tend to agree that the chances of cornering the market on any widely produced coin is near to impossible. The coins I have been fantasizing about cornering the market on would be either the 13,14, or 15 P mint Barber halves. Assuming that you could pick one of these three dates, Ignore all of the specimens VG or worse and maybe a few of the highest grade MS, and you might be down to a workable number.

michael

true ms65 and higher seated dime 1878,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, a monster rare coin

for under 100k you could get them all!!

sincerely michael

concerning the below per pcgs

4 years ago there was only 1 ms67 pcgs and two ms 66 coins a month later one ms66 got upgraded to a ms67 then another three mont5hs later it got upgraded to a ms68 then a year after that the other ms66 got upgraded to an ms 67

now there are two ms 67 no ms66 and one ms68

and only 9 ms 65 pcgs



the first certified ms67 1878 dime is a totally monster lusterous thick siinned original white coin

i find it hard to believe that both the ms66 coins that are now ms67 and 68 respectively are better than the first original ms67 coin but i cant say for sure as i have not seen the new ms 67 and 68 but i have seen the first ms 67


the 1878 is for me the most undervalued greatest gem seated dime or at the very least one of the greatest legend obv dimes in existance in gem unc and higher and with this ms67 i have seen being monster lustre and totallyundipped and unmolested and thick skinned white it is a coin that should not exist and the highest order and degree and magnitude of rarity if there is a true monster sleeper underapprecaited coin it is this ms67 pcgs 1878 dime


MONSTA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1


i wonder who has that first ms67 coin....................lol


sincerely michael

morganbarber

(TTT) I have asked ARCO to comment on the Barber half dates I listed.

Steve27

I was going to sugest the 1913-S Barber Dime, the 1927-S SLQ, and the 1914 Barber Half; as these coins are relatively low in numbers and "reasonably" priced. However, the 1915 Barber Half may be a better choice since there aren't that many more that the 1914, but demand is significantly lower.

Dahlonega

Assuming about 9000 available Dahlonega coins it might be feasible to purchase them as they became available? Estimate approx. $40 M required or you could just buy the keys and one year types if you were on a budget. This would effectively tie up not only dates but sets and a whole mints' production. But isn't much of the fun of collecting sharing with others your interests/series? Nevertheless it seems 'doable'.

RYK

Please, Dahlonega, do not give anyone the idea!!! It is hard enough getting the key dates.

steviewonder

Dahlonega and RYK,
I seem to think, and have been told or hinted to by a dealer or two, that there are individuals out there trying to buy as many lower priced, problem free Dahlonega gold coins as they can. Your thoughts are definitely right on target.

Robgetty

I think that realistically, anything that a person could corner would
not have enough of a demand to make it worthwhile. The stuff with
mintages low enough either have a lot of people waiting for an example
to come out, and the prices will skyrocket too soon as you collect your
hoard; or no one cares about the coin anyways and even once you have
"cornered" the market there will still be no demand.

Blackhawk

The 1825 half cent is a likely candidate. The mintage was only 63,000 and you can buy pretty nice specimens for a bit over $50.00.

DMWJR

There is an easier way to "corner" the market. First, you have to be willing to play at $7,000-$15,000 per coin. Then you play the very top end of a series/date. You just buy them at the lowest price you can pay and still buy them. Assuming there are only about 10 in the grade range, and it is a popular "key" coin, there will be demand. You just keep buying them period, and mark them up. Now you have your own little hoard because the demand will come to you. I know one dealer who has been doing this with a specific year/date/grade that I have wanted for a while. There are seven out there, and he owned three at once, and has probably owned all seven at different times. After he gets it, you've got to pay the juice.

This is the modern day version of cornering the market. Any questions?

sinin1

I scratch my head and wonder why a person would want to corner anything?

Baley

maybe so they could then "promote" it and "make a killing"?