Interesting article on collecting Ancients

JCMhouston

Have a look at the Coins Weekly article. They discuss the entry of some high powered middle east money into the market. Seems good because new collectors are good for the market, however the downside is that with essentially unlimited money he is bidding up many coins to 10 times their estimates and driving other collectors out of the market.

Linky

bronzemat

It is annoying when there is one person who has unlimited funds to acquire anything they want, like the above article. Thankfully though I can never afford coins like these kind of people buy anyways.

worldcoinguy

"Today he is also well known at numismatic auctions. But he is not very popular among collectors. Many of them are so annoyed that they consider quitting collecting. They lost pleasure in preparing diligently an auction – since anyway they leave empty-handed every time. Of course this is an unpleasant situation because the smaller becomes the coin collector’s basis of people, the more susceptible to crisis become the prizes."


I selfishly hope he stays away from the germans states. Somebody like that indeed takes the wind out of a collector's sails.

Hussulo

Interesting article. Thanks for the link.

I wonder if the sheik chooses his own coins to buy or if he has advisor's. I also wonder if it is a collection of love or purely an investment.

WillieBoyd2

King Farouk

Of course, we know what happened to him.

STLNATS

Interesting article and comments. I’d like to offer a different perspective. First, the estimate cited in the article seems ridiculously low for a coin that fetched 30k SFr in 1974 - nearly 40 years ago! - so maybe the sheik just paid 2-3 times a realistic estimate. And, there was at least one serious underbidder here as well so it was always going to fetch a bundle. Maybe I'm getting more philosophical, but I’ve collected for a long time and such it’s ever been and such it ever will be.

I do think that the collector with a long term outlook, who buys books, actually reads them (an important caveat lost on some folks I've known) and buys intelligently and patiently will always have access to opportunities not available to the plunger. Also, in the words of Dirty Harry, “a man’s gotta know his limitations” so defining one’s collecting goal realistically is important. If you want to pursue high end coins featured in international auctions, uh…bring lots and lots of money. Especially if the $ is weak. I’d love to collect multiple thalers comprehensively but realistically have been comfortable only buying a couple, preferring instead other areas (e.g., papal states, folles of RIC VI) which I find no less satisfying and can compete for financially. Over time, an acquaintence of modest means put together an interesting collection of non-western ancients on a real shoestring. An intelligent and compelling collection that would be hard to replicate for multipes of what he spent.

If you really want brutal, try bidding for some “hot” US National Banknotes against several very, very wealthy collectors currently active in the market. I’ve got a hole or two in my collection because they are vacuuming up all of the early rare material. Yeah, it’s frustrating when the price of the note you "need" approaches a new midsized car, but they’re not going to be denied so you take your best shot, adjust and reach for the stuff really important to you.

Sorry to preach/rant…

MacCrimmon

Actually, 30k CHF in mid-1974 only equated to ~ $10,500. So, given the listed price, the return comes to 7.16% annualized.

A quick calc. shows the DJI returning 7.6% over that time frame, not including reinvesting divvys.


Oh yeah, IMO, Sheik al-Thani will be even richer in the next several years as crude keeps flying higher.