What caused the large price increase for classic head large cents between 2003 and 2005?

Longacre

I was taking a look at Coin Values Online under the Classic Head large cent category. For the EF-45 grade, I noticed that there was a rather dramatic jump in prices between 2003 and 2005. Does anyone know what occurred during this time period to account for this large increase? I have not checked other grades, so does anyone know if other grades of the Classic Head series were affected too?

dbldie55

I sold my Large Cent collection in 2003 and the prices then went up. Happens to everything I sell.

robertpr

<< <i>I sold my Large Cent collection in 2003 and the prices then went up. Happens to everything I sell. >>



Sweet. I'm going to start buying from you. What's your eBay name?

Julian

CW tried to factor in the sale of one collection by Heritage, that was a LCC dream, conservatively EAC graded.

The bottom line is that the prices were not sustainable for commercial coins.

Classic large cents are quite scarce and valuable in choice grades.

RichieURich

Julian, are you referring to the Rasmussen collection of large cents?

Russ

<< <i>What caused the large price increase for classic head large cents between 2003 and 2005? >>



Classic Head Cents between 2003 and 2005?

Russ, NCNE

RichieURich

<< <i>

<< <i>What caused the large price increase for classic head large cents between 2003 and 2005? >>



Classic Head Cents between 2003 and 2005?

Russ, NCNE >>



You know, Russ, modern crap TM.

Baley

I think they're up in all grades except scudzy; the coins are very scarce in the higher grades and downright rare with choice planchets

Throw up a post asking members to show their classic large cents in VF or better...

won't get many replies.

roadrunner

It was time to push the early bust coins in all problem free grades in all metals. I would imagine that the dealers helped this along.
One had to push something and these have always been value coins that didn't retreat in market slumps. You can be sure that
the collector base didn't double or triple overnight........unless you include dealers and specs that were now paying attention.

roadrunner

RichieURich

<< <i>It was time to push the early bust coins in all problem free grades in all metals. I would imagine that the dealers helped this along.
One had to push something and these have always been value coins that didn't retreat in market slumps. You can be sure that
the collector base didn't double or triple overnight........unless you include dealers and specs that were now paying attention.

roadrunner >>



Why wouldn't dealers instead push something they had a decent quantity of, instead of pushing coins that were tough to find? Couldn't it be that collectors and dealers realized that nice problem free Classic Head cents were difficult to find at then-existing prices? This drove demand up and prices increased as a result IMO.

Hoot

Reality hit. There was (and still is) a solid basis of collectors of large cents that were poised for the big sales that occurred in 2003-2005. There are very few examples of many of the coins in the series and there was enough money awaiting their sale that the competition was in-place before the sales got started. The big sales (Ramussen, Reiver) were well marketed wake-up calls, and brought the attention of established collectors and new collectors alike. Before these sales, small sales of large cents were inconsequential and gained little attention. So, the big sales turned heads around and brought in a new influx of copper collectors. Since supply could not possibly sustain the demand of the influx, prices rose sharply to better represent the thin market.

The early dates (1793-1814) are quite evidently rare. There are a fair number of rare varieties in the middle dates (1816-39), but fewer people collect these ardently. The petite and mature head cents of 1839-57 are much more common, but compared to a 1909-S VDB, they are rare as hen's teeth. Most collectors simply have not caught on to collecting the late dates, and very few copper collectors pursue them by variety (few people can attribute them properly as well). My work in attributing late dates has caused my interest to rise in them a fair bit. Still, they bear not the interest of the early dates.

Hoot