How many collectors are there in the... US? world?
spoon
Posts: 2,798 ✭✭✭
Perhaps a dumb question on its face, but it seems to me a very important one. The answer can give clues of what to expect from the market. (Afterall numismatics as a hobby is an industry--effected by economic factors like all others.)
Stunned newbies ask, why are Dark coins so inexpensive? They ask the same when they see a Roman coin sell for $5. Of course, a lot of the answer to those questions is found in Supply, but a good deal of it is effected by Demand as well. That's just one example of why the number of collectors is an interesting and useful question.
So, with that intro, does anyone know of any projected census info for coin collectors globally? in the US? by other location or specialty field? I'm sure someone has made estimates on this question before. Perhaps the ANA has a guess on the number of US collectors?
Though I'm sure it's out there, I don't remember seeing it before! Anyone else know? Looking for as much info as possible, reliable or not.
Stunned newbies ask, why are Dark coins so inexpensive? They ask the same when they see a Roman coin sell for $5. Of course, a lot of the answer to those questions is found in Supply, but a good deal of it is effected by Demand as well. That's just one example of why the number of collectors is an interesting and useful question.
So, with that intro, does anyone know of any projected census info for coin collectors globally? in the US? by other location or specialty field? I'm sure someone has made estimates on this question before. Perhaps the ANA has a guess on the number of US collectors?
Though I'm sure it's out there, I don't remember seeing it before! Anyone else know? Looking for as much info as possible, reliable or not.
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Prices highly depend on supply and demand. But as we know, supply remains as it is, or more likely is decreasing and high grade coins are surely hard to find. Honestly, if you are to bring US standards such as mintage numbers and grading into the world market, there are too many examples where the value of such world coins are supposely valued a lot higher. The only difference is the saturation of demand in the market. There are just too much collectors in the US who thinks US coins are highly valuable. To make matters worse, there are bad rumors that overseas market are hoarding US coins too, which makes one wonder how many of such US coins are left in their own country.
I don't believe the number of collectors count in this case. It only takes one real rich collector to hoard all the rare coins and make the prices flucatate, like properties.
Suppose you compare the world's rarest coins, a US and a Russian one. A holy grail 1933 eagle was assumed to be the only unique coin left in the whole of US, to be sold at an auction in 2002 for more than 7 million, only to be found this year that there are 10 more of such coins. On the other hand, a rare Konstantine ruble which there are only a supposely mintage of only 5-7 was only auctioned off last year for slighty more than half a million. I honestly call that ruble a steal. A recent 1982 platinum trial Chinese panda coin, of mintage 5 was rumored to be sold for a million USD. I let you decide the conclusion for yourself. I believe there is some exaggeration figure there.
<< <i>To make matters worse, there are bad rumors that overseas market are hoarding US coins too, which makes one wonder how many of such US coins are left in their own country. >>
That was rather funny to hear as I myself sometimes have heard rumors saying that americans have begun taking greater interest in our own (european-scandinavian) coins thus the marketprice´s on thoose coins have increased.
Seriously, though, the prices have more to do with how many rich collectors there are, rather than just how many collectors there are generally.
When more money is chasing something, prices go up. Coins are no different than prime real estate or anything else.
To give you an example, Russian pieces in the last five years have been doing extremely well. Part of this dynamic has to do with the strength of the Russian economy and in particular high oil prices. I don't know if there are more collectors, overall, in Russia than there were 5 or 10 years ago, but since there are more rich collectors, so prices have gone up.
Polish coins, my area of specialty, is similar, though the reasons for the price increases are harder to determine.
The influence of the internet in this is quite real. I think we've seen more people casually entering the market, buying a piece here and there, and then getting more into the hobby.