Maybe we're in the midst of a renaissance in numismatics?

dan1ecu

Heritage members number 106+ thousand... It seems like they've been gaining a couple thousand members per week. When I joined about two years ago, there were roughly 40,000 members. Maybe this is the start of a Golden Age in coin collecting.

With more and more people collecting coins, it should be interesting to see what trends develop. With a large percentage of novices deciding what's in and out of vogue, we might be in for some wild (and irrational?) price swings. We shall see...

Dan

Shamika

Some would argue we are already in the middle of some wild and irrational pricing.

291fifth

I wouldn't place much stock in unaudited claims put out by any coin dealer. Get out in the market and try and SELL some of your coins for CASH. Then you'll see how the market really is. You will probably find it is much different than what you have been led to believe.

nepbrs44

<< <i>I wouldn't place much stock in unaudited claims put out by any coin dealer. Get out in the market and try and SELL some of your coins for CASH. Then you'll see how the market really is. You will probably find it is much different than what you have been led to believe. >>



Could not have said it better myself!

RYK

Get out in the market and try and SELL some of your coins for CASH. Then you'll see how the market really is.

Agree.

Heritage has me down for at least two memberships, and also has my wife as a member and she does not collect anything...well, maybe furniture. At any rate, she is not an active customer/member. Wonder how many phantom members there are in that 100,000+? The figure I would like to see is how many unique individuals bid on and purchased coins from Heritage in the last twelve months.

eagle7

291Fifth. What you just said is exactly why the Heritage Business model is so successful and is defintely the wave of the future. And that is simply this. Selling ones coins to upgrade or just to sell has always been the problem. There was absolutely no way around this problem before the advent of the internet and more to the point, the bullet and weekly internet auctions. This venue not only presents a way to buy coins, but to sell them. And not just for the dealer, but for the collector as well. Oh sure you have to wait about two and one half months to get your money, but you get the top price available for them, not thirty to fifty percent which brick and mortar dealers would pay for a coin. That is why they are so succesful. And those coins are not junk as some on this board would say. Only a minor few are really dogs as is the case even in dealers shelves. And now those can be returned. I have bought twenty to thirty k from them in those venues in the last two years and have only had to return two coins. Wake up, the computer age is here to stay, and it helps not only buyers but sellers as well!

cladking

There are millions of young new collectors around and those who stick around for
the long haul will be the backbone and the leadership of the hobby in twenty years.
Each generation of collectors defines its own goals and standards. It is very instruc-
tive to talk to these kids and try to get an idea of what they'll be interested in later.

It should be interesting judging by their current beliefs and interests.

They are not having a huge impact on the hobby at the current time.

kieferscoins

"It should be interesting judging by their current beliefs and interests."

Sample slabs will be the next big thing.

Cameron Kiefer

MrEureka

Sample slabs will be the next big thing.

Cameron - We're talking about a renaissance in numismatics; not its degradation, contamination, or ruination.

edsondl

I had thought that the market was beginning to pass. None of the Grocery or convenience stores around where I live carry numismatic magazines anymore ( atleast that I can find without asking) I take that to mean that the magazines take up shelf space and don't sell. The recent, significant bump in prices that dealers are asking will also stunt the market, imho.

-Dan

topstuf

You are absolutely right. I will not attend a show without a puffy shirt, a jerkin, and tights.

LAWMAN

I agree that we are in a period of wild and irrational pricing. And you know what that means!

KABOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!

mrearlygold

<< <i>I wouldn't place much stock in unaudited claims put out by any coin dealer. Get out in the market and try and SELL some of your coins for CASH. Then you'll see how the market really is. You will probably find it is much different than what you have been led to believe. >>



Yes do that.

And first of all if it's more than a certain amount of "CASH" it would by law have to be reported to the government. You'll pay for that.

Second, I am trying to buy back many of the coins I sold my customers in the last 12 months at more than 50% profit to them ( for the most part), and non of them are below 25% more than what they paid me. That's within the last 12 months.

One of my customers whose wife bandied him from pillar to post for his "investing" just under 100K with me in the last couple of years finally had enough of that and consigned the coins to auction ( ANR ) where they realized $208.018 We are now taking that money and much more and going into another area of better coins for the purposes selling at a profit.

If you're not buying junk from a junkman, you're well pleased. If you are then you have nobody to blame but yourself.

One of the many reasons why this is such a great market, is the ease of obtaining information ( one of many reasons). Further, more and more people are insisting on quality and building sets and the like which is putting a strain on what quality becomes available.

It's a great time to be in this business whether you are a dealer, collector or investor. Buy good material from dealers who know good material and who have the ability to supply it on a consistent basis. You'll be happy you did.

TP

291fifth

My comment about getting out in the market and trying to sell for CASH seems to have riled some of the dealer members of this board. I wonder why? That, in the end, is what we will all have to do. I also think that collectors need to be very careful about reading things into auction results. Just how do you know what really sold and to whom. Wouldn't it be a good idea for the auction firms to reveal which lots they have an ownership interest in? It's long past the time for full financial disclosure in numismatics.

eagle7

I dont know about anyone else but I dont care who has an interest in, or who owns any coin I buy at auction as long as I do my proper homework and dont pay too much money for it. That is my part of the deal. I can accomplish that mission just fine.

mrearlygold

291fifth why don't you put a profile up so we can all know who you are?

You know, some "disclosure"?

TP

ohbaby

It's long past the time for full financial disclosure in numismatics.

Come on, you know if we had that most of the coin dealers would go under!


A boom in numismatics? Credit the internet and ebay which have provided what was sorely lacking, information and liquidity. I always hear about new collectors brought into the hobby via the state quarters but people like that buy shiny coins and have no clue as to slabs. They buy over priced moderns, raw, not type. A few will stray but people dont go from buying $10-$20 coins to buying $5,000-$20,000 in a few months or a couple of years.

The rise in prices can be attributed in part by dealers buying for inventory and the registry mania [I fell victim a while back but am better now].

I say enjoy the ride but don't be fooled, it can end at any time w/o warning.

cladking

<< <i>


A boom in numismatics? Credit the internet and ebay which have provided what was sorely lacking, information and liquidity. I always hear about new collectors brought into the hobby via the state quarters but people like that buy shiny coins and have no clue as to slabs. They buy over priced moderns, raw, not type. A few will stray but people dont go from buying $10-$20 coins to buying $5,000-$20,000 in a few months or a couple of years.

The rise in prices can be attributed in part by dealers buying for inventory and the registry mania [I fell victim a while back but am better now].

I say enjoy the ride but don't be fooled, it can end at any time w/o warning. >>



There are lots of newbies who have already progressed to advanced collectors in many different
areas, but for the main part newbies are still seeking coins from circulation and learning about the
hobby and the coins in circulation. The boom is being fueled by the newbies to a small extent, but
to a much greater extent it is the returning collectors who are driving up prices with their voracious
appetitites for the coins they collected as children but couldn't afford.

None of us can see the future but if more than a few of the newbies go on to collect moderns then
these "over-priced moderns" you see will go far higher than they are at now. Rare moderns bring
tiny fractions of the prices an equivalent classic brings simply because the demand isn't there.

It's tough to predict whether this will ever come to pass, but keep in mind that these are the coins
which many of the newbies are collecting and these are the coins that are they own which are be-
coming more "over-priced" all the time. One has to suspect that at least a few of them will be drawn
to the moderns for this, if no other, reason.