Do you notice people using the phrases "investment grade" or "investment quality&quot

Myqqy

It seems like I see it constantly now on ebay, and I think it's pretty irritating....

Coinhusker1

It's the Ebay sleazeball term du 'jour, since the term "PQ" has been thoroughly run into the ground.

fc

i hear it on radio commercials daily since gold has ran up.

jdsinva

I don't know, I seem to notice it more here on the CU US Coin Forum. It makes me wonder if we're talking coins or stocks when I read stuff like that.

RBinTex

It would be nice if the SEC prosecuted one of the people using that term and got a lot of publicity doing it.

BillJones

“Investment grade” was a phrase we heard a lot back in the late 1980s. The theory was that high grade coins for “investors” and lower grade coins were for collectors. The gulf in price between the two was usually staggering.

The point that the mentally challenged could not grasp until they had lost their underwear was that coins, which were priced beyond the means or interests of most collectors, were pure speculation items.

What is a collector coin good for other than to please its owner in some difficult to define way? Unlike stocks and bonds, coins do not pay dividends or interest. Their capital appreciation is dependent upon collector demand in the long run, and investor speculation in the short run. Investors have no interest in the collector aspect of the hobby other than the possibility to collectors might run up prices. When their investment seems to have run its course, or when they decide to do some profit taking, they sell. And if a coin has been priced beyond the means of most collectors or beyond the levels that collectors think something is worth, the only buyers are other speculators or “investors” who pretty much fit the definition of “the bigger fool theory.”

In the 1980s the investors stopped playing with each other and the market collapsed. If you see another appearance of this bifurcated market (coins for investors and coins for collectors) make sure you are out of the investor segment of the coin market. If you are still in it when the correction comes, you will lose much of what you have “invested.”

JrGMan2004

And I find it funny that people harp on the Modern collectors that buy them thinking they are good investments, when you have classics dealers hyping their coins as investments

AgMe

High grade (for that particular series) TPG coins are routinely called "investment quality" classics or ultramoderns, because they are bought by investors and investment organizations (and by a small number of collectors, usually with deep pockets).

Anything XF (with available AU+ pop counts) and below are the "collector grade", because most collectors are in the <$100 USD category.

...its funny how (typically) MS60-63 are called dogs... No room in the middle!

... then again, we call bank wrapped stacks of cash "bricks"; "honey hand me 3 bricks so I can pay the man."

~g

VamGuy

<< <i>It seems like I see it constantly now on ebay, and I think it's pretty irritating.... >>

You won't find a better example than this one... worst of all, every coin is raw and overgraded by 2-4 points.

291fifth

Maybe "World class, investment grade, PQ coins" will be next.

curly

amen to what BillJones said. This hobby is no place to bet your future on.