Talk about supply & demand!

bosox

In dusting off my old collection I found I have a Belize KM #50 1976FM (Unc). Whoopee! Nice coin, worth $5.00 in my Krause. Mintage 759 coins. H'uh?

Philip

I assume that British Honduras is not popular among collectors right now

bosox

Ya think? )

lordmarcovan

Sure there ain't no decimal point there?

lordmarcovan

Wow. There isn't a decimal point there, and it doesn't seem to be a typo, because I see some others with mintages of one-thousand-something. Neat!

bosox

Nope. Go figure.

wallstreetman

What demand?

cladking

Note that the older coins from the same country list for hundreds or thousands
of dollars and have mintages which are many multiples of this. Where things like
this are seen in Krause it is many times just an underreporting of the value of the
more modern coins, but frequently the values are fairly close and it's a reflection
of the startling lack of demand for coins made since 1950. To a large extent it is
nearly impossible to gauge the rarity of these later coins because the demand is
so scant as to yield no information about availability. This also leaves the few peo-
ple who do collect these without information about supply and the ability to offer a
reasonable price. All the collector really knows is that he's never seen one and Krause
lists it for thirty cents. Sellers are reluctant to offer the coin at all if they are aware
of its scarcity and buyers simply don't see them offered for sale.

In the case of these specific coins the pricing makes a little more sense than it would
appear on the surface. The older coins were simply ignored at the time of issue and
had tremendous attrition rates. Those coins which did survive are almost only found
with extreme amounts of wear often being in far lower grades than most find to be col-
lectible. The newer coins for the main part didn't circulate at all and have much smaller
attrition rates. Collectors generally find these far less desirable so may not collect them
at all.

It should be noted that there are large numbers of collectors starting to collect coins
from the last half of the 20th century and some of the rarities and scarcer coins are
beginning to be identified. The greatest causes for this are probably the introduction
of the Euro which has people interested in the recently obsolete coins and the turn
of the century which reminds people that time inexoribly marches on.

tbirde56

Great explanation cladking! Now whether these 'sleepers' will eventually be recognized and desired within our lifetimes is another question.

cladking

Thank you Tbirde56.

There are many hundreds of modern world coins which are now listed for 100 times their
first edition prices by Krause. In most cases the demand for these is still quite limited but
the price is usually a reflection of what collectors are willing to pay. In some cases these
new prices seem more indicative of what Krause believes the demand is. There are some
relatively common moderns that they list for $50 or $100 now. It's entirely possible that
the demand is sufficient to support such prices but the demand remains mostly invisable at
least in this country.

It doesn't seem to be as much a question of will or when these coins become appreciated, so
much as it is will they ever become fully appreciated. Will the market always value older rarity
far more than newer rarity? There is no way to know the answer to this question, but the
possibility is that the newer coin could well be valued more than the older coin. This flies in
the face of the conventional wisdom but there are reasons it may actually happen. Most of
the newer collectors both here and throughout the world are younger people or people who
have formed their opinions on collectibles and coins more recently. These people don't see a
stigma to a coin being made from copper, nickel, or even aluminum. They have grown up with
such coins and they seem perfectly natural to them. The coins are actually available to look
through and form collections. They are either in circulation or have been recently demonetized
so they are widely available. In most cases circulated examples are so common still as to be
very inexpensive and even the better coins tend to be much cheaper than the more widely
studied and collected series. Obviously people might tire of collecting these and move on to
older series or an entirely new hobby before further price hikes are possible but these very in-
creases are likely to keep the interest level high.

No matter what coins you collect, it is an extremely dynamic and interesting time to be a collector.

farthing

Excellent posts cladking!

kuhli

<< <i>In dusting off my old collection I found I have a Belize KM #50 1976FM (Unc). Whoopee! Nice coin, worth $5.00 in my Krause. Mintage 759 coins. H'uh? >>



Can you say FRANKLIN MINT??

bosox

True, but still legal tender in Belize, as opposed to an Elvis "Viva Las Vegas" medal for $39.99.

rhound1977

Good read, very thought provoking......