Premiums for Coins

cherrypickincoin

I was flipping channels on the t.v. a bit earlier today and stumbled upon a Discovery channel documentary about Napoleon's march into Russia in 1812. On his way back from Russia after he learned of the Russians burning the city, many of his men died of starvation, disease, hypothermia, etc. in Vilnius. To cut a long story short, the documentary was about the excavation of the mass grave that was made for these men and many gold coins buried within the soil.

Would you pay a premium with the knowledge that these pieces had such a history about them? It's similar to the S.S. Central America pieces, great history that adds a premium to the coins. I suppose this is why we're collectors to begin with, the history of these great pieces!

I cannot find myself paying a premium for a coin that was held by a prominent collector with a pedigree on the label but I very well could pay a premium for a piece if someone could prove that Abraham Lincoln himself held it. There is definitely an allure, a mystery if you will, about every coin we encounter. Where it's been, who has held it, etc.

The question is, how much more do you pay for a coin that has such solid history as these Napoleon pieces, the S.S. Central America coins, Atocha, etc. How much would you pay for an otherwise common Morgan Dollar that was held by Theodore Roosevelt?

It's an interesting side of the market that can not be listed with a "value", I suppose. Any thoughts?

coiNuts

Package anything right and you can get the premium...................I think that knowing the history is very cool and adds much to the value, but the ad men just hype it up and bury people in the stuff...........it's sad really

291fifth

Buy the coin and not the hype!

nickel

i bid on the Eliasberg auction some years back for a common date indian head cent . bid about twice grey sheet , but didn't get it . if there is proof that Abraham Lincoln had an 1859 cent in his pocket , would i bid $400 dollars? you bet ! $4000 ? i couldn't afford it , but someone would .

if a sports star was selling coins from his pocket , i would not pay $25 for a 1992 quarter . if the quarter belonged to Donald Trump , here's my $25 . there would be a buyer for the sports stars coin .

we all have different " heroes " and varied amounts of extra cash