Why not collect old US coin?
cladking
Posts: 28,702 ✭✭✭✭✭
There are probably dozens of good reasons that old US coins lack something
as a collectible or as an investment.
Does anyone want to get this thread rolling? Or is it just me?
as a collectible or as an investment.
Does anyone want to get this thread rolling? Or is it just me?
Tempus fugit.
0
Comments
-Daniel
-Aristotle
Dum loquimur fugerit invida aetas. Carpe diem quam minimum credula postero.
-Horace
<< <i>they're aren't worth as much as plastic!
Even the uncs have rubs.
Reasons not to collect old US coins:
1. They are not found in pocket change. You will actually have to buy (or steal) them.
2. They are unobtainable in MS-69 and MS-70.
3. They are more expensive to grade.
4. The designs are antiquated. Who the hell is Liberty, anyway?
5. They are targets for thieves because of their precious metal value. Most thieves will not steal Lincoln Memorial cents.
Sam, did I do you proud?
But really. Colonials are expensive in MS state and sometimes in less than MS state because of the rarity. Why would anyone in their right mind collect colonials unless they really are sick and/or want to never finish a complete COLLECTION? The only way to finish a collection is to be very wealthy or happen to inherit many, many, many coins!
CC
---------------------------------
"No Good Deed Goes Unpunished!"
"If it don't make $"
"It don't make cents""
Aerospace Structures Engineer
<< <i>They're not modern >>
There's no such thing as a perfect collectible. Even moderns don't have the dealers and the hype of the older coins.
<< <i>Why not collect old US coin?
Reasons not to collect old US coins:
1. They are not found in pocket change. You will actually have to buy (or steal) them.
2. They are unobtainable in MS-69 and MS-70.
3. They are more expensive to grade.
4. The designs are antiquated. Who the hell is Liberty, anyway?
5. They are targets for thieves because of their precious metal value. Most thieves will not steal Lincoln Memorial cents.
Sam, did I do you proud?
Yes. Most impressive.
like coins that were already 100 yrs old when we were born !
Link O Rama
---------------------------------
"No Good Deed Goes Unpunished!"
"If it don't make $"
"It don't make cents""
<< <i>All right... I'll bite...F117ASR. What is modern? I consider anything that is 1800+ modern! >>
Well, you blow us all out of the water with that definition
Aerospace Structures Engineer
---------------------------------
"No Good Deed Goes Unpunished!"
"If it don't make $"
"It don't make cents""
<< <i>All right... I'll bite...F117ASR. What is modern? I consider anything that is 1800+ modern! >>
I'd say "modern" as ~1950's on.
~g
I'd give you the world, just because...
Speak to me of loved ones, favorite places and things, loves lost and gained, tears shed for joy and sorrow, of when I see the sparkle in your eye ...
and the blackness when the dream dies, of lovers, fools, adventurers and kings while I sip my wine and contemplate the Chi.
6. Many are dirty.
7. You cannot buy them from the US Mint.
8. Even the shiny ones are really not (naturally) very shiny.
9. You cannot easily spend them, if you are desperate, without suspicion and question from a cashier.
10. If you do spend them, you will not come close to getting what you paid for them (usually).
Sam, how do you like these?
<< <i>Additional reasons not to collect old US coins:
6. Many are dirty.
7. You cannot buy them from the US Mint.
8. Even the shiny ones are really not (naturally) very shiny.
9. You cannot easily spend them, if you are desperate, without suspicion and question from a cashier.
10. If you do spend them, you will not come close to getting what you paid for them (usually).
Sam, how do you like these? >>
Another very nice batch!
To expand on #9 a little; none of them will work in vending machines except the liberty nickels and later nickels.
Please do not revive this again. I do not think I have another five reasons in me!
Beacuse people make fun of me for collecting old crap.
The freshest are being made today for your collection.
You are the first on the block with new coins.
All manner of old farts have old coins, and the coins take on the smell of previous owners... like used cars.
Old coins are stale.
New coins are "mint" and that is where the expression comes from.
<< <i>Another very nice batch!
Please do not revive this again. I do not think I have another five reasons in me! >>
Don't worry, I got enough to make it one of the longest on the coin forum.
...But, of course, I really like old coins (especially US) and would prefer to see this thread drop.
You can't get any PR70DCAM's
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since 8/1/6
Even in high circulated grades they can be far beyond the reach of even well-heeled collectors.
Why start a set of coins that can't be finished or can be finished only by buying some very unattractive coins?
It's curious that there may be hundreds of ways in which old coins just don't measure up as a collectible
but some people want to make up things about moderns that simply aren't true and then plaster it every-
where. Answering their silly statements does no good so it seems this thread may grow.
<< <i>Why not collect old US coin? >>
Because then you'd be limited to only one. That's hardly collecting.
Coins (plural), on the other hand...
Leo
The more qualities observed in a coin, the more desirable that coin becomes!
My Jefferson Nickel Collection
Oh wait, what am I saying?
you away from mistakes. While this may be great to establish a quick way out of a position
this is of little benefit to a real collector and adds 20% or more to the cost of making a collection.
He gets 20cent coins, Flying Eagle Cents, two-cent pieces, very old silver quarters, etc. So if you know someone in that kind of buisness, HMMMM.
By the way I've been looking for any old US coins with a BC after the date.
Collecting old coins is an ego game to see who can get the rarest date listed on the holder.
Because young US coins are so much easier to find. Just go to the bank. Because young US coins will retain their investment value better; it's hard to imagin them dropping below the investment of face value. Because you can finger print young US coins and not care. Because you can spend young US coins and not care.
David
Total Junk!
My Web Sites
<< <i>By the way I've been looking for any old US coins with a BC after the date. >>
At least this one is not in all caps, been one of those days.
<< <i>I have seen many old coins that were extremely damaged by wear. Enough so that detail is actually missing from them!
! >>
Wear!!! Is that a kind of damage? What's left after the detail is gone?
we are talking aboujt someone putting a few dollar common coin available brand new by the hundred or thousands and putting it in a piece of plastic with a tag that makes it worth hundreds if not thousands of dollars
break the coin out of its holder and it is worth a few dollars again with little demand
this is creating something for nothing just because people buy it does not make you whole
it makes you a leech
Many old coin collectors are doing everything they can to damage the modern markets in the mistaken belief
that these coins siphon money from their favorite coins. Ironically moderns are the sole breeding ground for
the newbies they'll need to buy their collections in the next twenty years. It's hard to say if they're driving
people away or not but there's little doubt that honey attracts more flies than vinegar.
Speaking of vinegar it was sometimes used to clean old coins.
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.
<< <i>at least the question is limited to collecting old US Coin...
These things don't apply to moderns. Even if the bashers could successfully drive away
every single newbie there would still be enough of a market to support many of the mod-
erns. This isn't true for the classics. Without some younger blood there will be a critical
mass of collections coming on the market that can't be absorbed by a continually aging
base.
This won't happen. The bashers won't win and this thread will sink.
...And posts can still be edited until they are archived.
<< <i>For Goose3:
Collecting old coins is an ego game to see who can get the rarest date listed on the holder. >>
Except for those few who throw the holder away so they can read what some old guys imprinted on the edge--- just like they do now with PR 69 2003 quarters.
<< <i>Teletrade, et al, is the secondary market with the help of the TPGs, with the US Mint being the primary market.
I won't bash modern collectors but worry for them. I believe some mint state issues, as in the past, might turn to be tomorrow's classics. I cannot believe that the Mint medallions marketed as silver and gold eagles, modern commemoratives and proof sets, anything that was never practical as legal tender in commerce, will prove to have a longterm significant market to support prices. Further, if you have to split hairs among grades 68 through 70, things have gotten to a ridiculous level in discriminating perfection.
I hope folks who collect state quarters and all of these things truly enjoy that aspect of the hobby. Please don't expect there to be a big profit from doing so down the line.
That said, one could easily charge the same for Morgan and Peace dollars, produced through pork barrel politics with no intention of serious entrance into channels of commerce. Today they are arguably the most avidly collected of US coins. Some were used in the west primarily. But overwhelmingly they sat around in bags waiting for the next major melt. Until the 1970s, the market for them was pretty darn fickle too except for some outstanding dates. So you never really know for sure. >>
I'll not bash classic collectors but worry for them. I believe some old coins, like the current ones, might remain collectible. I can't believe that clandestine mint medallions like 1804 dollars or '13 nickels, And the other contrived classic rarities like cal gold and D mint coins that weren't made in Denver and such things which were never or rarely used in commerce will prove to have a long term significant market to support prices. Further, if you want to split hair to tell different dates, mint marks, or varieties things have gotten to a ridiculous level in splitting hairs.
I hope folks who collect crusty bustys and all of these things truly enjoy that aspect of the hobby. Please don't expect profits down the road as aging collectors are not replaced by newbies.
That said, one could easily charge the same for Morgan and Peace dollars, produced through pork barrel politics with no intention of serious entrance into channels of commerce. Today they are arguably the most avidly collected of US coins. Curiously they sat so long in warehouses that they are effectively newer than many of the moderns. This might increase their popularity. Until the '70's the market for them was quiet and many of them crashed spectacularly when the roll and bag market collapsed. So you never really know.
Yeah why do I collect this old crap anyway... new Eisenhowers and Kennedys are much prettier, have lower mintages, have more history, have a better collector base, no two are exactly alike, very hard to find in uncirculated and proof condition, are made on the most modern equipment, and come from the Mint fully protected in plastic untouched by human hands.