In his book, Coins and Collectors
savoyspecial
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Q. David Bowers recounts the meteoric rise in popularity of 20th century U.S. Commemoratives, as well as the subsequent crash. Should be required reading for everyone. My favorite illustration from that chapter is a cartoon that Mr. Bowers borrows from the August 1936 copy of The Numismatist. Can you guess why I decided to post this today?? 
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Looking for Top Pop Mercury Dime Varieties & High Grade Mercury Dime Toners.
<< <i>I don't get it, what's your point?
He's making the comparison between the 25 th Anniversary ASE set mania and the early commem coin mania. What he forgot to mention is that those early commems are worth many multiples of their issue price.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
Walter Breen spins the tale of Brutus and Cassius trying to conspire with Caesar to corner the commemorative denarius market in 44 BC. Caesar refused ... and you know how that ended for him!
See http://www.doubledimes.com for a free online reference for US twenty-cent pieces
perhaps their issue price (although a four-fold issue price, i.e. $2 for a half dollar commem, was at the time seen as obscene)
...but we are not talking about issue prices, we are talking secondary market that occurs just after initial distribution (or in this digital age, PRIOR to distribution)
an example i will cite is that by Dec, 1935 you would have to pay $6.00 for a Hudson Half dollar (a twelve fold increase above face for a coin minted earlier that year)
*oh yeah, unemployment was at 20.1% in 1935 by the way
i'm just pointing out that we have seen this before -- there is nothing new under the sun
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release date was planned for March 15th.....oh well....
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