Any noticeable effect on collectable world coin prices due to metals surge?
JoesMaName
Posts: 1,071 ✭✭✭
Sure, the price of a coin that had most of it's value tied to its bullion content will go up. But I'm curious about the effect on non bullion collectable or negligibly so. For example, are there bargains to be had in old Australian, British or Canadian pennies? Or the nickel issues of 1920s Italy? I'm curious if anyone's noticed any trends (for good or ill) due to the current general preoccupation with bullion?
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I don't believe there is enough data to demonstrate your question, but if there are any, it's likely to still be higher premium NCLT.
In US coinage going by the TPG populations, Morgan dollars, generic pre-1933 gold, and maybe Peace dollars are bought as "investment" substitutes. There aren't any world coins that I'm aware of with a similar profile, even if relatively common but nowhere near this common. If there is one, I'd guess it is the Sovereign.
So you have't noticed any general trends up or down for any type of (non-PM) world coins? There is the "High tide raises all ships" school of thought, I'll have to spend some time on ebay bargain hunting - or bemoaning the lack there of. If everything is going up, could just be inflation.
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I’ve seen attention shift, not an increase in rare coin prices though. Rather than “the tide raises all ships” it’s “put attention where everyone else is.” It detracts from the rare coins rather than increasing awareness of them. That’s ok, at least for me, less competition at the moment. That’ll change eventually, but right now it seems like buying stuff is easier, I’ll take it.
I'm BACK!!! Used to be Billet7 on the old forum.
I have seen an impact on common Byzantine gold.
The following Heraclius solidus is an example. 7th Century Byzantine gold issues had a fineness of 97 percentage. Current melt value at $4300 is $590. Coin cost me $504 including Heritage buyers premium in December 2018.
Fast forward to August 2025 and similar Heraclius solidus issues sold for notably more.
NGC Ch AU 5/4, sold for $1,080 including the buyers premium.
NGC AU 5/2 grafitto sold for $840 including the buyers premium.
https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/gold/liberty-head-2-1-gold-major-sets/liberty-head-2-1-gold-basic-set-circulation-strikes-1840-1907-cac/alltimeset/268163
March of Time - 27 Centuries in Gold
https://coins.www.collectors-society.com/WCM/CoinCustomSetView.aspx?s=36590
I'd be really surprised if buyers of a Byzantine Solidus are thinking in this context when deciding how much to pay, not with any regularity.
You're only going to receive anecdotal responses, not any actually useful examples. The data is virtually never readily accessible and practically in every instance, there aren't and won't be enough transactions to conclude one way or the other. It's random noise if the reason for your thread is financially driven.
I guessed (that's what it is) world NCLT because this is the only likely coinage where there are both a sufficient number of transactions (if you can find enough sales to make the evaluation meaningful) and the buyers are buying it for financial reasons due to the increasing spot price.
In practically every instance, any positive correlation is going to be mostly coincidence, except where the premium was already (very) low.
I am thinking in that context as I am ready to buy any and all full weight 7th Century Byzantine Solidi for $600 or less at today's spot price of around $4,300. They are just not available at that price any longer.
https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/gold/liberty-head-2-1-gold-major-sets/liberty-head-2-1-gold-basic-set-circulation-strikes-1840-1907-cac/alltimeset/268163
March of Time - 27 Centuries in Gold
https://coins.www.collectors-society.com/WCM/CoinCustomSetView.aspx?s=36590
Small sample size but I did a local show in November and I sold a lot of foreign silver coins. I had 6 double red boxes from many countries and those were busy all day. Many folks stated that they were just priced out on US stuff and the fact that they could get a lot of "better" coins for closer to silver value pushed them to the dark side.
Looking back, maybe I was too cheap, lol!
I'm always reluctant to revalue my collection due to PM price ups and downs, of course if I were selling!
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I was hoping to hear about people snatching up inexpensive late 19th and early 20th century, MS - AU base metal coins... I did look on ebay and results are all over the place. There were some deals had in recent sold auctions but they were the usual one offs, nothing that rises above the level of background noise enough to declare a trend.
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You might get lucky with show dealers who haven't repriced their inventory for whatever reason.
I live in the US, but keep some of my inventory in Mexico for the shows I do there, and it's tough to keep repricing stuff before every show. Some of the old prices are less than melt if I don't reprice them.
I had to repackage every coin in those 5 double row boxes in preparation for the shop we opened. I hadn't bothered even pricing any of the coins and still won't until someone asks just due to the price increase in silver. I did have a buyer go thru Mexican coinage from the mid-late 1900's yesterday and picked out some nice, mostly unc stuff. Bought a couple silver pieces but that was just because he didn't have any.
We are new and our inventory isn't vast but in the first two months open, we have a solid handful of regulars that are into world coinage so I'm encouraged by that.