Coins VS Cards VS Stamps... Hobby outlook.

JERO

Without getting into a pointless pissing battle that wastes all of our time, I was just wondering what we as collectors think the market is going to be for Cards vs Coins vs Stamps.

Now i'll go first. I do cards, know jack about stamps and coins. I think the card market for vintage will always be strong and is the best for future appreciation and challenges in collecting. Now I would suspect that Coins are suffering a similar fate, with newer stuff being worth face value atleast, where most post 78 stuff with cards is worthless. Old vintage coins I would imagine are in demand, but for new stuff? what is the year line for 99% of newer coins being uncollectible for financial appreciation? With cards its pretty much in the 70s depending on whom you ask. As for stamps, I'm not sure, but it really seems to me to be dying out. I don't hear anything about stamp shows, know only my grandfather as a collector of stamps, and like coins they are always atleat worth face value if not postmarked.

got any decent opinions...anyone?

JERO

JERO

I realize now that by saying that most cards after 78 are worthless, i'm excluding any of the SP 1/1, other special parallells and autographed cards. Obviously none of these 1/1 or autographed cards are going to be thrown into a box and "discovered" by anyone...ever. Thus these are speculative cards (that will never be in any condition less than NM) among lottery-player investors, and are excluded from my generalization in the opening post.

JERO

DeutscherGeist

Silver and gold coins of any year or country are always hot commodities that are at least worth their precious metal prices. Silver has doubled since the 1980's and gold has had a steady climb.

The copper nickel coins of recent years are junk with few exceptions. Coins made out of silver and gold have inherent value, but stamps and baseball cards do not.

WarHoundR69

Stamps do have an intrinsic value that trading cards will never have ie mailing. I have plastered a package with 2 & 3 cent stamps (30's & 40's era) to mail a package. Try that with your Bo Jackson Rookie Cards.

DeutscherGeist

I see your point warhound. What you say is true for the USA. I have stamps from the 30's and 40's as well, in MINT condition (unused), but they have no intrinsic value since they are from Germany. They stopped using the Reichsmark along time ago. The German Mark is not used any more either. Its all just Euros now. Too many currency changes. The USA has been fortunate enough to have a stable government over all these years.

joeyuk

I do not think there is a year per se that modern coins are uncollectable. High grade exampels even from 2004 get good money. There is a thread in the pcgs registry forum of a pcgs ms-69 cent the just sold for $1,600. This coin is near perfect. Coins are graded on a scale of 1-70. A price like this is not that unusual. It is speculation as much as anything else that not many more of that quality will be found. If they are the price could drop like a rock.
Older coins can be more rare newer ones condition rare. Which by no means is it rare but just rare in the top grades. And like anything else supply and demand set the price. You can have only 3 of a particular coin made and if there are only 2 people who want it the price will be low. 5 more people get interested and you have a bidding war. Joe

fsjeter

IMO coins will always be more lucrative than cards and maybe stamps as well. I don't know much about stamps so I can't say for sure. Although I haven't had any coins graded, it is my understanding that this is extremely expensive compared to card grading. There are some similiarities between the two. There is a distinct relationship between value and scarcity ("print run" in cards and "strike" in coins) in both hobbies. The lower the print run (or strike) the higher the value (for the most part). Course, this is only my opinion.

Scott

mudflap02

Fee Schedule for PCGS:


Show $100
Walkthrough $100
Express Special $50
Regular $30
U.S. Coins Economy (Non-Gold) $18
Modern U.S. or World coins (1965 to present) $14
World Rarities $75
World $40
World Economy $18
Mint Errors $40
Special Issues (Colonials, Fractional Gold) $40


Not cheap - i bet they would love one of our $5 specials!

joeyuk

Don't forget you get 4 free regular submissions per year if you join collectors club as well as 1 quarterly free submission in the area pcgs picks. This quarter is years that are prime numbers.

I have a box with a couple hundred "special" cards (inserts, autographed, star first year cards etc) as well as about 400 comics some autographed many #1's but I would expect the coins to have more long term value.


The comic/card/coin dealer who lured me from cards to coins says never trade gold for cardboard.

Knopfler

If you're talking profit and loss, cards may not be the best. But owning a coin or stamp is never going to bring back any childhood memories of diving catches (Amos Otis), inside the park home runs (Willie Wilson), strikeouts with the bases loaded (Dan Quisenberry), or three run home runs into the upper deck of Yankee Stadium off Goose in the ALCS.

joeyuk

But when I look at a 1792(might be 93) half disme and think those were made from Martha Washington's good silver. Or any coin from that era and think these coins were in someones pocket perhaps when talk of a revolution was still just talk. How about a Carson City silver dollar that could have purchased a drink in a western saloon. That is history. A bit more then recapturing ones own youth.

ajw

<< <i>But when I look at a 1792(might be 93) half disme and think those were made from Martha Washington's good silver. Or any coin from that era and think these coins were in someones pocket perhaps when talk of a revolution was still just talk. How about a Carson City silver dollar that could have purchased a drink in a western saloon. That is history. A bit more then recapturing ones own youth. >>



That's a cool way to think about your coins. How about sharing some scans and a bit of history for the pieces (even if it's hypothetical "coulda happened" history).

mudflap02

ABSOLUTELY! I am completely puzzled by the complete coin grading process - how about enlightening some of us? It seems a little more complicated that the card grading process. I would love to see what separates a good coin from a bad one.

goodriddance189

people still collect stamps? that's soooo 6th grade

mudflap02

show me the money

joeyuk

Ofcourse alot is hypothetical cudda happened history because the coins were there in day to day life just as you could have some change in your pocket right now. It is in seeing the circulation on the coin that tells you a story or lets you paint the picture.
I did find the story on Marthas tabelware in Walter Breens Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and colonial coins. I'll scan some text tomorrow. Also some scans of other colonial coins but the colonial stuff is what I am facinated about. Not what I can afford to collect. I collect more modern coins such as Ikes and Kennedy's in high grade and have a cent collection going back to the 20's.
If your interest is sincere I would be more then happy to talk on this subject as much as you like. And when were done perhaps someone can explain to me the best way to liquidate my son's raw ball cards. He's getting into electric guitars and such and that is not cheap.
Joe

pandrews

i would love to see scans of some cool coins, with explanations of what makes the particular coin collectable..

mudflap02

Joe Yuk-

I can promise you that the interest is sincere. Post a thread on the card forums titled "Coins and how to grade them", and we will do the same on the coin forums.

And to think that we were about to rumble yesterday.

ajw

Joe Yuk, the interest is very sincere. I'm probably not going to start collecting coins, but I'd love to hear about the hobby, how it works, how it doesn't, where the hot and cold spots are and whatever else you'd like to share. We're all collectors at heart...even if we look for different stuff. (This is why I love watching the Antiques Roadshow, and why I'd guess most people here do as well)

basketballcollector

I said in the early 1990's that grading screwed up the coin hobby and it will do the same to the card hobby. Maybe I'm right, maybe not ????

joeyuk

I think alot of people felt this way in the beginning.Now I think the more reputable grading companies have established from the "wannabe"grading companies and have allowed new collectors to enter the marketplace with some confidence in their purchases. There are many people who have lost much money purchasing raw coins which were improperly cleaned, counterfeit or grossly overgraded. Many never found out till many years later when they went to sell and realized their fortune was worthless.

tripoli

Unlike most cards, coins have to be seen under magnification to determine it's grade. There is also some subjectivity due to eye appeal and the effects of toning to coins. Here are some samples of high grade coins. Also, just like cards, there are some grading companies that have ruined their reputations with their liberal grading.

tripoli

Here's another beauty. I've recently sold my collection because I figured the demographics are shifting because we are at the tail end of the baby boomer generation(big spenders), and today's kids collect video games and ipods instead of coins.

tripoli

And the coin grading scale is out of 70, not 10 or 100. And unlike GEM Mint 10's in vintage sport cards, a MS70 coin is virtually non-existant in Canadian coinage....

one more sample