When was the last time you saw an article about rare coins in the financial press?

MrEureka

It seems so odd to me that we get as little press as we do.

roadrunner

Most "rare" coins aren't rare.

But silver and gold are certainly at the media forefront.

roadrunner

tradedollarnut

Patience, grasshopper ... patience.

jhdfla

You can buy an ounce of gold and it's still the same ounce of gold when you go to sell it.

You can buy shares of AAPL, GE, or SGEN and the shares are the same when you go to sell them.

The gem 65 "investment grade" coin you buy today may or may not be a 65 when you go to sell it. Not all 65's are created equal. Wall Street hates uncertainty or so they say.

sumnom

<< <i>It seems so odd to me that we get as little press as we do. >>



Most of the world does not think coins as important or as interesting as we do. That is our lot in this world, I'm afraid.

Dentuck

That's an interesting question. There are articles about silver and gold --- discussed as commodities, of course. But then, from time to time you also see non-commodity investments, such as fine arts, antiques, horses, vintage cars, etc. Why not rare coins?

JCoin

<< <i>That's an interesting question. There are articles about silver and gold --- discussed as commodities, of course. But then, from time to time you also see non-commodity investments, such as fine arts, antiques, horses, vintage cars, etc. Why not rare coins? >>



I have thought alot about this aswell.

I think it has something to do with the fact that rare coins lack "bling" appeal; there is very little opportunity to show them off to non-collectors. Paintings and antiques you can display. Horses and cars are so visible. Fine wine you can serve at restaurants. Rare coins? Just lock them up in the SDB..... they only come out during coin shows where attendance is usually restricted to coin collectors...

mcarney1173

a lot of stuff about the Langboard case showed up in Philadelphia newspapers.

ricko

We see articles about coin robberies and occasionally about a 'seeded' coin during a large coin show. However, when it comes to public interest, coins rank between beanie babies and butterflies.... just does not 'sell' well. Of course, in a venue such as this, one would think the world revolves around numismatics... it does not. Coin collecting is a very small niche of human interest. Cheers, RickO

Steve27

No one cares about rare coins unless they're stolen, sell for millions of dollars, or are found in an treasure wreck. The financial press only cares about bullion.

bidask

there was a big one in the WSJ about a year and a half or so ago. John Albanese was quoted.

Teva

They get a lot of press when they crack the million dollar mark.
The 1943 copper that sold recently comes to mind.

RedTiger

Financial press? For a hobby? And a relatively small hobby in terms of dollar volume. Subtract bullion related coins as any coin that more than half its value is bullion (that's most gold coins and now many silver ones too) and the dollar volume is relatively small, maybe $2 to $5 billion a year in sales. That isn't even small potatoes in the financial world, more like bags of peanuts. How would someone justify more press for peanut sized markets?

Stock and bond markets are vast in comparison. For some perspective, one minor biotech startup that no one outside the industry has ever heard of, might be worth the same valuation as the entire annual sales of non-bullion coin sales. One mid-size company like Starbucks or Gap is 10x the size.

Remember, most collectors do about break even after holding for five or ten years on average collector coins, buying at retail and selling at wholesale. You really want to publicize the real world experience in the financial news? Because that's the reality for average collectors. Sure bullion has done well. Sure the top key dates have done well. A few high profile million dollar coins have done well. The average collector focusing on numismatic hasn't done well unless they stuck only to key date coins and ignored all the rest, or were in the top 10% of collectors in terms of performance. The collectors that were interviewed in the Huell Howser TV segment buys stuff they like and as I said is doing well if they break even after five years if buying non-bullion items at retail prices and then selling back to dealers. That's the average experience.

Staircoins

<< <i>That's the average experience. >>


Remember, also, that the few 'rare coin investment funds' that have been put together over the years have not worked out so well ...

Merril Lynch Athena Funds: Merrill to Pay Back Investors in Coin and Art Partnerships
... Bruce McNall.

Kidder Peabody's American Rare Coins Fund ... closed.

Shearson Lehman Hutton ... don't know what happened to their fund. Seems like it just went away.

Lakesammman

It's because coin collectors are dorks and nerds - not good press material.

Pistareen

Coins make the national press more often than a lot of other hobbies, but it's more often in the "oddly enough" category -- 2 minute rip n' reads instead of real news coverage.

"Golly Melba, some crazy man paid a million bucks for a little old penny a fella found behind his fridge!"

When will Halfsense post to this thread? He might be the only other guy here that's actually rip-n-read an article before!

coindeuce

If I reposted the recent article that comes to mind, it would likely spoil my chance at retaining first right of refusal for the coin

ColonelJessup

Other than the high-end outliers which have a life of their own, and even including them, I believe the key phrase would be "lack of fungibility". Picassos, Rembrandts and Renoirs may be exempt (ask Alan Bond about Van Gogh), but didn't some crap by Damien Hurst sell for more than the Farouk 1933 $20? Hurst is not very much in demand any more. And then "Oops, what about those Langbords".

TwoSides2aCoin

If we could convert a few WSJ writers, we'd stay in the loop.

CoinDogs

When coins sell for millions they may get an write up or two

Justlooking

Usually only when a "penny" sells for a million dollars. Or when a coin store gets knocked over. Oh, well. No news is good news.

bosco5041

As costly as coins are now maybe its good that the press does'nt write up coins. They would push the collector out of buying.Back in the 80's I beleive wallstreet got envolved in coins and they went up so much and then crashed and I don't think some of them have recovered yet.

PerryHall

<< <i>No one cares about rare coins unless they're stolen, sell for millions of dollars, or are found in an treasure wreck. The financial press only cares about bullion. >>



Well stated and I agree.

mrearlygold

<< <i>It seems so odd to me that we get as little press as we do. >>




Thank G-d

johnny9434

i remember something back in the early 70s about the 72 cent and the 69 cent. the government said they didnt make boo boo's and none existed. that tune changed right after.