UK Verses USA Collecting Mindset Editorial

Great article and very interesting. I remember years back when certifying coins was just starting the local dealers were having fits. They were so used to grading the way they graded and felt that the certification process was going to hurt their local stores.
Maybe they were intimidated I don't know. But the certification process has done nothing but increase popularity in the hobby because even non-collectors are buying.
It's added a level of legitimacy to the profession that just didn't exist before. The coin dealers who were honest are still around. Those who aren't are gone.

What do you know, I must be British!

I don't know what to think about slabbing. It strikes me as something of a racket. The market has been cornered by a tiny handful of organisations who apparently have this reputation for being trustworthy. How do you know they can be trusted? Since the value of a coin can vary so dramatically with its grade, who's to say the whole process isn't corrupt?

On the other hand, I appreciate that a slabbed coin is at least certified as authentic. As a collector of British coins I would find that kind of reassurance welcome when it comes to more expensive purchases.

I think (?) that only goes so far. I believe some attempts have been made to slab ancients - but they come with NO guarantee of authenticity. I'm not sure how that translates to medieval or other hammered.

I don't own a single slab - but then I don't trade coins as commodities and a good number are hammered anyway. And I like my coins in a cabinet too so that's another factor. My hammered Indian rupees are probably too thick to slab comfortably as well.

Another factor is I like the tactility of coins - the history of who actually used them and what in history was going on when that was happening.

I can see some argument that says slabbing coins to increase confidence in the overall market will actually improve the market and add value somewhat offsetting the cost of the slabbing process, however at the end of the day the slabbing companies make a profit and somebody has to pay for it - which is back to the investment/pure enjoyment dichotomy. For very expensive coins (particularly gold) slabbing is a great way of minimizing accidental damage and general conserving for historical purposes though the bar as to what really should be slabbed seems to be set very low.

Investment has never been my goal in collecting. I still get more excited by finding a coin that I need from circulation than buyin a coin from the mint, a dealer, or another collection. With regards to slab coins, those would only be considered for key and some semi-key US coins since the risk of getting a fake is too much of risk.

Slabbing went from being good from endorsing too maybe gimmicks. Does is really matter if I have a first strike, early strike, etc....does any of that really matter? For example, go back in time, does it matter if you have a first strike 1909 S VBD or the last strike of the coin? For me, just having one would be good - slabbed or not.

I can't think of any reason to get a modern US coin or modern UK coinm slabbed.

What I have noticed being an American who has been living in the UK since 1998 is that in the US you can still find old coins in circulation while in the UK you can't because of the switch to decimal coins.

Some coins, especially the pound coins, really take a beating, so it is really a pain finding a good condition pound coin which is only a few years old. The upcoming change in the pound coin, will mean that the old style will be withdrawn from circulation.

In the US, cents, nickels, dimes, quarters (except for the S ones) are released for circulation each year. Sad that the Kennedy half and dollar coins don't circulate. Used to be a treat doing down to the bank many years ago to ask the teller for the new Kennedy half and Ike dollars each year.

In the UK, they decide not to release some coins for circulation in some years. The 2009 to 2011 - 50 pence coins with the Royal Shield is a recent example. I had a young persom who was getting interesting in starting to collect but stopped when they could not get the Royal Shield set for each year.

Another example is the change from being able to get the £5 coins at face value from the bank or post office to a cost of £13 plus postage. This puts people off from collecting these now.

The latest is the annoucement that the 2016 pound coins will not be released for circulation.

Ken

And hopefully it actually is. Remember back in November a group of fakes appeared that got past all four major services.

Yes, I was very disappointed. The old dollar coins feel so nice holding them in your hand while you were not sure if the replacement was a dollar or a quarter.

The reverse does not work that well on the smaller coin.

Many people were asking Susan who.

At least in the first year of issue of the SBA dollar, the banks had them. Don't recally getting the 1980 ones from the bank.

And when they were reissued in 1999. I was already in the UK.