Hoarding the Keys? Cornering the market?
2ltdjorn
Posts: 2,329 ✭✭✭✭
Well I imagine know one here will admit that they are currently hoarding particular coins... But have you in the past heard of folks attempting to create a market in a particular coin by hoarding them?
One story I have heard was prior to the release of the 1903-O Morgans...
One story I have heard was prior to the release of the 1903-O Morgans...
WTB... errors, New Orleans gold, and circulated 20th key date coins!
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Very few US coins are actually rare or even scarce as dates/mm. Hoarding just makes them look scarce or rare.
be underrated in the higher circ grades, and started buying them anytime I came across one. After acquiring a small group,
either as more came on the market or whatever, I stopped. The same with the 1830 large cent....took me quite a while to find
a nice one in XF-AU for my date set, so I bought up a few of these. Now I see them fairly regularly.
I also rarely pass by a 21P walker in Fine or higher if the price is right - and these I think are still legitimately tough to find.
I was also at a major wholesaler's table last year when he announced he had just acquired his fiftieth 09SVD cent, giving him a
full roll. I have always thought this coin to be rather common, albeit a famous and popular coin.
There is also another way to look at this. If you really do start to control the market every piece you buy will cost more because you are drying up the supply. When it comes time to sell you had best not try to sell them all at once because flooding market will result in lower prices. It is kind of like moving an elephant in a row boat. The supply - demand function is fluid not static. Trying to hit a moving target can be very frustrating.
* there was a big-time hoard of 1844 dimes that was recently broken up. Perhaps one of the Seated dime fans can elaborate on the details.
* 1804 quarters were hoarded by someone until a few years ago. A flood of them appeared on the market at one point, keeping prices depressed.
* Various semi-key Seated coins are hoarded by individuals. Cornering the market on XF-AU coins may amount to buying up 100 examples (or even less). For many semi-key dates, prices are just in the $100-$400 range in XF-AU. Buying these up quietly forces prospective buyers to either settle for an unwanted lower grade coin, or pony up for a MS coin, which might cost $3000 instead of $300. As a result, many collectors are left without an example and the prices rise dramatically in the targeted grade range.
I think a lot of people imagine themselves making a killing by hoarding some rare coin and then holding the market hostage as they release them 1 by 1 for huge prices, buy a large luxury yacht and retire at age 41 in the tropics with a young Tahitian girl who wears a bra made of two seashells.
The reality is that most people who do try to hoard pick items that aren't that rare, they buy examples of the coins enthusiastically for a while, then realize that corning the market on some of this stuff is impossible and ridiculous and not that much fun and so they give up, but when they do give up they just unload everything all at once and take a huge bath trying to liquidate 100 of something at one time, which is no longer a hoard but a glut.
Coin Rarities Online
<< <i>I am hoarding wheat cents.....but so far it has not affected the market....
me to. problem is there worth more at melt right now
And YES, I'm holding the numismatic community hostage ! ! !
HH
1947-P & D; 1948-D; 1949-P & S; 1950-D & S; and 1952-S.
Any help locating any of these OBW rolls would be gratefully appreciated!
I know I was actively trying to stockpile all the better date quarters I could find from 1974-1988. The problem was more finding them than buying 'em.
No doubt there were people that hoarded a lot of better date quarters as they popped up (ie 42-0 sd, 47-0, 49-0, 51, 51-0, 52-0, 53 na, 60-s, 64-s, 66-s, 67-s,
70-cc, 71-cc, 71-s, 72-s to name a few of them). These dates rarely lasted on the market before they were scarfed up as they were always too cheap. I have to think there are
people out there that have a half a dozen to a dozen or more of some of these dates. One collector put together a hoard of 50-100 1870-cc halves....maybe 20% or more
of all extant. Anyone doing this prior to around 2000 has made out very well indeed. And to ensure you had plenty of opportunity to buy key dates, one could have
looked at all denominations from seated half dimes to dollars. But it appears to me the 30-35 year window to hoard and easily profit on these is gone. Personally, I once toyed
with the idea of hoarding all the known unc 1867-s seated quarters. Once I purchased the only gem it would have been a snap to get all the rest. But I let that opportunity slip by
when I allowed a fellow seated quarter collector to buy the Norweb 1867-s quarter uncontested. It sold for considerably less than what I would have paid for it as well. I also let the
Eliasberg MS64 go uncontested for a stupid cheap $4K or so. I could have profited quite handsomely speculating on those and the couple of other 62/63 coins that have come
since. I knew cornering the market would be easy but decided against doing it. I suspect there are others that have contemplated similar actions on key date pop tops and
have succeeded. 1872-s quarters were one date I considered hoarding in all grades. Had I carried that through over 30 yrs I probably would have been able to buy 20 or more
pieces. There would have been no downside in doing so with only 100-150 pieces in existence. It took the prices guides a long time to catch up to this date.
It can be done successfully but you have to maintain extraordinary discipline for a long time and maintain the highest level of discretion. Your friends (and dealers) also have to keep their mouths shut
Hoard the keys.
<< <i>Whenever this topic comes up, I respond as follows:
I think a lot of people imagine themselves making a killing by hoarding some rare coin and then holding the market hostage as they release them 1 by 1 for huge prices, buy a large luxury yacht and retire at age 41 in the tropics with a young Tahitian girl who wears a bra made of two seashells.
The reality is that most people who do try to hoard pick items that aren't that rare, they buy examples of the coins enthusiastically for a while, then realize that corning the market on some of this stuff is impossible and ridiculous and not that much fun and so they give up, but when they do give up they just unload everything all at once and take a huge bath trying to liquidate 100 of something at one time, which is no longer a hoard but a glut. >>
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