Should we be putting raw circulated sets away for future generations?

tydye

When I was a kid (and even now) enjoyed putting together circulated sets. Mostly because it was all I could afford at the time. Now with silver rising most dealers purchase such sets they do not even bother to try to resell such sets to the collector community. Even VG/Fine Barbers and AG Seated coins are heading straight to the smelter near me.

llafoe

I think it's healthy for the hobby... the melting of old silver/gold coins that is.

lordmarcovan

I kind of agree that a little attrition can be healthy for the hobby. Over time, as the supply of this sort of lower-end material shrinks due to melting, the demand's got nowhere to go but up.

tydye

<< <i>I think it's healthy for the hobby... the melting of old silver/gold coins that is.
>>



So you would sell a cool 100+ year old coin for just under melt and then buy it back in the form of a brand new ASE at a $3 premium over melt. I guess that s healthy for the dealers and US mint. But not for beginning collectors

llafoe

I buy and sell junk silver locally... yes, I sell 150 year old junk silver (it's up to the buyer if it gets melted). I pick the high value coins and sell the rest. The only reason I buy ASEs is to sell them as junk silver.

Edited to add: My volume isn't going to affect beginning or expert collectors.

tydye

I kind of do the same thing you do with the silver. At first I thought it was good to get rid of some of the more common stuff. But after a 3-4 run I see less and less of it being offered back to the collectors. It all gets shipped out. Now that I have seeing older coins in the mix it has me wondering how much will be left. 2 dealers I know do not even sell back to the public anymore they only take in. And while our volumes may be small there is probably 1000s more like us.

DBSTrader2

I'd love to get a crack at any Morgans & Peace $'s anyone's planning on selling for melt before they do, so that I can try to fill a few holes in my collection without breaking the bank!

Anyone so inclined can feel free to PM me for my needs list and a great big "thank you".

- - Dave

johnny9434

why not. i wish i put more aside for myself for the hobby 30 years ago.

questor54

One of the best things a coin collector can do it to make sure all low grade and problem coins are destroyed. It helps the hobby if we have a smaller population of higher quality material to collect. Think of it as Darwinism applied to coins.

Of course, all 1844 dimes should be destroyed. I despise them.

LindeDad

We need more culling of the culls.
Just because it's old does not mean it's collectable. Just because they made 86,730,000 1921 Morgan dollars does not mean they all have to be saved for collectors.

tahoe98

...it would be interesting if the dates and mm's were recorded JUST before melting. this would certainly change the

remaining numbers. i know this isn't possible but sure would be enlightening and surely would surprise many of us.

InYHWHWeTrust

That is how I got started back in the hobby in 2003 (after about 25 year hiatus) and how my core emergency silver stash got started. If I'm going to look at 90%, might as well be in a folder rather than rolls, but now I have both. I guess it would be alittle harder to sell the ones in sets if times got tough, but that's OK. Future generations may not appreciate them as sets; maybe some will. Keep it balanced, fun and sock some away.

InYHWHWeTrust

<< <i>... Even VG/Fine Barbers...are heading straight to the smelter near me. >>










If that occurs nationally, then the VGs and Fs will see increases like the VF-XFs, as I believe there are potentially more VG-F collectors, than VF-XF.

JRocco

Some of us are