Hypothetical - destroying all but one pattern....

ANACONDA

If there were say, 7 known of a particular pattern, and you quietly bought up all 7 (assume that is possible), and you destroyed six of them, wouldn't that make the last one extremely valuable, more valuable than the sum of the values of the six that were destroyed?

ER

<< <i>If there were say, 7 known of a particular pattern, and you quietly bought up all 7 (assume that is possible), and you destroyed six of them, wouldn't that make the last one extremely valuable, more valuable than the sum of the values of the six that were destroyed? >>


No, not if no one wants to buy that last one, after learning that you've destroyed the others.

DickyBetz

I dont think so.

Plus people wouldnt believe that you destroyed them.

Leiana

Didn't Uncle Scrooge try to do this with a Barber quarter in a comic book?

-Amanda

MrEureka

No. That's why you don't see people destroying coins.

MrSpud

I think Scrooge McDuck tried to something similar and then lost the one

ANACONDA

Plus people wouldnt believe that you destroyed them.

You could always have witnesses or video their destruction.

(By the way, I am in no way advocating the destruction of any patterns or any coins for that matter. It's just a hypothetical question.)

JLW

The key word here is "quietly" folks. First, I'd say the last known would in fact be more valuable, and second, I need to catch up on my Donald Duck comics!
Joe
P.S. Hi Adrian, superb coins acquired lately!

ANACONDA

Thanks, Joe.

curly

Didn't the Hunt brothers try a similar version of that idea with silver back in the late 70s?

DickyBetz

<< <i>Didn't the Hunt brothers try a similar version of that idea with silver back in the late 70s? >>



I dont think they destroyed it, just bought A LOT quietly and waited for the demand to come when there was a shortage. Then they sold it all screwing over millions of people.

ColonialCoinUnion

There was an episode of Mission Impossible where some guy destroyed 1 of 2 known stamps of some obscure type in exactly the scenario your described.

I don't remember how it turned out, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that he was caught and the problem resolved when, fortunately, when of the impossible mission team looked a lot like a ruler of some bana-republic, wore a rubber mask and trained themselves to speak with a goofy accent.

ANACONDA

There actually was a scenario where only two stamps existed and owned by the same person who destroyed one of them.

The name of the stamp had the word "magenta" in it.

ANACONDA

Here's a link to the destroyed stamp story:

Destroyed stamp story.

Lakesammman

Only if you could destroy the pop reports too.

TheRegulator

My bet would be that the last remaining piece would gain quite a bit of notoriety and many collectors would be filled with disgust by the owner's actions. There might be less desire to own a piece that became unique by such circumstances. That's how I would look at it.

IGWT

Making a coin unique -- and essentially uncollectible -- can actually decrease demand.

Ricke

Well, Microsoft did that - only instead of pattern coins, they were small start up competitors...

so, I guess you could, but then you will have the coin confiscated by the FBI, split into smaller portions and redistributed among those you purchased the other 7 examples from in order to restore market harmony.

Peaceman

Destroying a part of history just for a buck.... I think hoarding would be better than destroying....

numonebuyer

I think if you had all seven (as indicated in your opening line), the best thing to do would be to write a book on the pattern with incredible pictures and detail. Once the book had been out for a year or two, sell one or two to different collectors and then see what happens.