Harder And Harder To Find...

Don't overlook demographics. I " inherited" a large, valuable collection in 1972 and only recently became interested (I'm 45). I joined a coin club 10 years ago and never really got into it and the slide shows put me to sleep, so I quit. Now I find it fascinating...is it an age thing? If so, the ageing boomer population will have a huge effect on the hobby as they reach retirement and begin to spend time and money on it.

This hobby is not physically demanding like restoring old cars or building scale train layouts. It can be put away in a drawer and can give many hours of enjoyment without taking over half the basement and requiring constant physiotherapy. Again, this has a strong appeal to older hobbyists who enjoy having the full use of their limbs for other activities.

And the thirst for knowledge; we all have it but it evolves through life; in our 20's we have different interests than in our 60's. History is fascinating and coins ARE history. I can't believe how much world history knowledge I've picked up in recent months by studying and researching coins. Those little histories at the start of each country in Krause Catalogs are fun to read and it adds to your enjoyment and understanding of the coins.

This is a boomer hobby and it is going through an immense expansion. Good luck finding good coins!

I still see fine examples to purchase. They are everywhere. I think the cost of coins has risen. This is because the high end coins moved up. 'A rising tide, raises all boats.
As the high end moves up, all below move up. So when the 'deep cameo proof' doubles, the 'G4' doubles as well.
I also agree that the internet has united seller with buyer more effectively.

I've written about this and asked the same question over the past year or so. I basically only have an eye for nice circulated Type material, mainly 2-3-20 cent stuff. Other things too, on occasion. If I find something that has that great problem-free, original, VF+ circulated look, my eye goes right to it. Then I see if I think the coin is a value for how it's priced. That's how some of the many "unnecessary" coins have recently made their way into my possession in recent months. I can't NOT buy them. However, I've recently started to sell some of this stuff off. There's at least a couple of forum members here that are familiar with stuff I've sold and I'm selling (but not widely advertising).

I've been complaining that there hasn't been a lot of fresh material at my local shows for awhile. I have to admit, that at the last Colorado Springs show, there seemed like a lot of nice bust and seated material (lots of 1875-S 20-centers!) all over, but I was not in the buying mood at the time, nor had the patience to really look at all the stuff. Beyond that, there's been a dearth of this material. The problem is that the dealer sheets aren't really reflecting this. This means that the bids are still relatively low which in turn means they're not offering a lot for the nicer generic material. Hence, they won't have it to offer. Now, if you have some high end stuff to sell these dealers, that's a different story.

I think more people are selling their crappy coins because of the increases on price for certain series. So more of the junk is clogging the normal supply.

Most of my collection is foreign. For the mintage numbers, there is no relationship. I have a couple of which only thousands struck that are worth a little over melt. You cannot say the same for US.

Never could figure out why

.....

Lots of good points here from many folks.

Here's what I observe at the shop.

If a lower end piece walks in, even a fairly tough one, the boss will generally let my coworker and I have first shot at it and generally cheap.

I recently bought an 1864 Small Motto Two Cent Piece for $30. Like a problem free AG3. Bought it because TRUST was visible making it easy to identify. Greysheet bid is $110 in G4.
I already had nine of them but figured why not? I could turn it for $50 tomorrow if I wanted to.

NOW, had that coin been an XF40 totally different story. Doesn't matter if I work there. He'd want at least Greysheet ask if it's fairly close to retail which it is not.
If he offered it at $450 I might go for it. $550 I say no.

Enter the TPG. Now this coin will end up at NGC most likely. Comes back XF40 and it's most likely headed to ebay. I watched one in an old PCI holder recently graded XF45 and sure enough it went for over $600.

So you have the internet and TPGs hitting hard IMO. Information is easier to access and more people are "investing" whether or not they really have a clue.

Now Bonedigger you've known me for a while and I'm not big on slabs. However, many of my coins will end up that way simply because I want my wife to make better money if something happens to me.

If "investors" want to pay for that plastic when I'm gone I sincerely hope she sticks it to them every single day.