Options
To the modern coin collector - thank you
DeliaBug
Posts: 881 ✭
From those of us who like uncirculated coins from the last few hundred years. Thanks for putting them aside and saving them when they came out, when they were pretty, unloved, and freshly minted.
0
Comments
Just ran across this and thought it was an interesting topic for modern collectors.
I'll mention / thank William Strickland for the Lord St. Oswald coins.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Strickland_(farmer)
Who are some other modern collectors responsible for some of our classic rarities?
The hoarders..
HANDS DOWN:
The Economites (https://www.pcgs.com/news/a-history-of-major-us-hoards/) especially: Half Dollars, Capped Bust (1807-1836) about 110,000 pieces
Also - late 19th century into the 20th: The NYC Subway hoard (https://www.littletoncoin.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Display|10001|29555|-1||LearnNav|Learning-From-the-New-York-Subway-Hoard.html)
ANA 50 year/Life Member (now "Emeritus")
You're welcome.
But the shame of it is there just weren't enough people saving moderns after 1964. Rare coins are rare and with so few people looking most were lost to circulation and attrition. Of course we couldn't save everything and had to try to predict what future collectors would want. How many 1963 Indian mint sets were appropriate to save and how many rolls of 1981-P quarters with nice surfaces?
A lot of moderns (post-1964) will barely exist at all because nobody saved them.
In retrospect it's easy to see I made some mistakes but it will be decades until the markets sorts everything out.
what happened to the OP
I don't think moderns will EVER be rare........there are too many of them!
how many different types of reverses of the 1965 quarter do you have? How many PL '65 quarters? How many cameo frosted SMS? How many apparently proof 1965 quarters? How many silver '65 quarters do you have? The list of rare moderns is very long and the number people set aside is very low. Many rare moderns won't even exist in Uncirculated condition and some rare moderns are just regular issues that look nice. Try just finding an '84 cent in nice chBU with attractive surfaces.
How's your 1982-NMM dime? Is it fully struck with peripheral letters rounded at the top and very clean or does it just look like another clad coin run off in the multi-millions? How's you 1975 No-S dime. or your silver '65's?
The first clad is a 1964 quarter but I'm sure you don't have that.
Most moderns are rare and Gem sets are a tough collection with or without all the varieties. World moderns are even tougher because most world coins in those days are in the US and US collectors don't like world moderns either. This is why some Russian mint sets from the '70's to '90's are worth hundreds or even thousands of dollars.
For those who participate in the hobby as collectors who do not focus on making a profit on the coins they acquire and who are concerned more with finding and acquiring high quality coins at prices that do not require large dollars US and World moderns fit the bill.
It is satisfying to one's collecting ego to acquire a keeper and to actually enjoy owning same. Couple that with knowing that other collectors would not be able to easily (if ever) assemble a collection like the one you have assembled.
Today I am looking at 1965-1967 SMS sets that are my best. I got back into the hobby in 1998 as an adult and started looking for these coins then. Almost 19 years later and the results of my hunting for these coins has resulted in 15 coins which are eye popping with frosted devices and mirrored fields.
Toss in some MS clads that I have had since I started collecting as a YN in the 60's and 70's; and toss in some interesting modern world coins. Doing so provides hobby enjoyment on a daily basis.
Add to that classic US coins, both circulated and MS from the 18th century to 1964 and the hobby enjoyment only grows.
The toss in currency, hobby literature, coin photography, medals, hobby accessories, coin shops, coins shows, the internet and so on. The hobby enjoyment grows even more.
Toss in interacting with others in the hobby, including here on the forums and the hobby grows even more.
To top it off, when you decide to get out of the hobby you can sell your holdings and convert it to cash, many times for more than what your purchase price was.
Fun hobby to play in as a collector if you do not focus only on $.
@SanctionII ....Well stated... I am in total agreement. As a collector, I find immense pleasure in coins. So many here are dealers (small or large) and the focus is on profit. Nothing wrong with that, it is business and I wish those involved all the success possible. However, from my perspective (very similar to yours) finding coins and building a collection is where I derive my entertainment. Sure, there is monetary value. There is also monetary value in my firearms collection... I do not sell those either. Life is good....Cheers, RickO
A few of us oddballs out here think MS67 Kennedys (71-2000), and MS66 or better Ikes (non-silver), are beautiful, rare and profitable! Doing my best to preserve some for future collectors.
I'm pretty confident that a set of clad dimes, quarters or halves (take your pick) in high grade with genuinely nice eye-appeal would be a fairly tough set to acquire at this juncture. Maybe even extremely tough.
I knew it would happen.
You can thank the old time dealers. They put away rolls of coins at face value to sell in future years. That practice eventually morphed into BU roll market, which was a big deal in the first half of the 1960s.