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Pillar of the Community
United States
597 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2273 Posts |
What really separates classics from moderns is a series of laws starting in the fall of 1964 that completely changed collector behavior. The first froze the 1964 date in perpetuity. The government came to believe the coin shortage was being caused by coin collectors but they were really just a scape goat. The cause of the shortage was that silver prices were soaring and inflation was picking up. There was even a law proposed by Bible of Utah that would have outlawed coin collecting.
But these measures proved unnecessary since the coinage act of 1965 debased the currency and then froze the 1965 dat in perpetuity. The mint did everything it could to discourage saving of coins including the discontinuance of both mint and proof sets and the elimination of all mint marks.
People had been saving millions of coins each year and they stopped. It is this which really separates classics from moderns. Between 1932 and 1964 anything is available in unc. After 1964 availability tends to be very spotty and even well saved coins are much less common than 1964 issues.
Time don't fly, it bounds and leaps.
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Moderator
 United States
189767 Posts |
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darn I guess old 1775 isn't a classic yet Well, since that is not a US Mint issued coin, my rules cannot apply to it.  |
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Valued Member
United States
163 Posts |
Quote:
What really separates classics from moderns is a series of laws starting in the fall of 1964 that completely changed collector behavior. The first froze the 1964 date in perpetuity. The government came to believe the coin shortage was being caused by coin collectors but they were really just a scape goat. The cause of the shortage was that silver prices were soaring and inflation was picking up. There was even a law proposed by Bible of Utah that would have outlawed coin collecting.
But these measures proved unnecessary since the coinage act of 1965 debased the currency and then froze the 1965 dat in perpetuity. The mint did everything it could to discourage saving of coins including the discontinuance of both mint and proof sets and the elimination of all mint marks.
People had been saving millions of coins each year and they stopped. It is this which really separates classics from moderns. Between 1932 and 1964 anything is available in unc. After 1964 availability tends to be very spotty and even well saved coins are much less common than 1964 issues. Yeah wasn't that stupid...instead of simply debasing the coins like they were going to do anyway I guess the government thought it was worth losing all the money they were going to get on Seigniorage over the harebrained idea that collectors could put a dent in the massive amount of coins produced. Edited by jarwulf
05/24/2011 6:04 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3077 Posts |
just thinking about today's moderns= tomorrows classics
if by some chance we have to change our currency because we go bankrupt and return to a gold/silver standard then we may have classics ,clads and then moderns
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New Member
United States
42 Posts |
My modern coins spreadsheet goes back to 1958 for cents, 1938 for nickels, 1946 for dimes, and 1999 for quarters (only because I don't colect them prior to the statehood series. I guess that pretty much puts me in line with jbuck, except for counting lincoln wheats as classics. In taking a broader view, the real person/ fake person line makes perfect sense.
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Moderator
United States
14463 Posts |
my opinion only: I consider modern as coins that are current produced with same obv and rev. and consider classic as coins that with major difference in obj or rev, or are no longer produced. IMO - commemoratives become classic when they are no longer produced. For me: modern coins = Native American dollars, Presidential dollars, Kennedy Halfs, ATB Quarters, Statehood quarters(maybe), Roosevelt dimes, Jefferson nickels 2006 +, Lincoln Shield Cents classic coin = everything else Edited by Fuzzy317
05/25/2011 03:06 am
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Valued Member
United States
417 Posts |
My grandson thinks the 09 - 11 pennies are classics. One because they are different and two because by the time he gets to be my age ( I am 52, he is 10 ) they will be really old and they may not have pennies then. He has been saving rolls of them from from our penny sorting.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1817 Posts |
If we go with the allegorical depictions as a guide, then ALL of the bullion coins issued since 1986 are classics, except the monstrously huge 5 oz ATB pucks... It used to be that the modern period started in 1934, when roll collecting started to take off, despite the Great Depression. Many dealers would stock and price singles back to '34 as a rule back in the 80s & 90s. Anything before that was considered a classic and priced individually. |
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Moderator
United States
189767 Posts |
The dividing line is not static. For example, where was it after the first world war? Were the recently retired Barber coins classic or modern? I do not see there ever being a consensus. My division works for me today because it happens to support how the forums are categorized and I do not collect bullion (save for the one AES in my 7070). If and when we get new faces for our coins, I am sure many will want to move the line up.  |
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Moderator
Australia
16868 Posts |
This division of circulation coinage into "classic" and "modern" is a purely American phenomenon, caused by the relative stability of the US dollar.
America, Canada and Switzerland are the only three countries where such a concept can even theoretically apply, because these are the only countries in which coins designed before WWII are still being used in circulation. Everywhere else has had war, inflation or some other cause of currency reform that causes a natural division between "old" and "new" coins.
Here in Australia, for instance, we don't have "classics" and "moderns" - we have "predecimals" and "decimals", with 1966 the sharp cutoff date, when the Australian pound was replaced by the Australian dollar.
I suspect the current American divisions of "classic" and "modern" will remain unchanged, until the US dollar is replaced by something else, at which time all of the dollar-series coins will probably be re-labelled "classic".
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4897 Posts |
Great perspective SAP! Always enjoy your input. Seems the Australian education system puts a higher emphasis on understanding the world around you. We can, in the US, become very insulated against world history. IMHO of course.
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Moderator
United States
14463 Posts |
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amida17
Great perspective SAP! Always enjoy your input. Seems the Australian education system puts a higher emphasis on understanding the world around you. We can, in the US, become very insulated against world history. IMHO of course.  schools in the US teach history mostly in dates, but we tend to gloss over why/how and the results after.  |
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Valued Member
 United States
284 Posts |
Would the line between modern and classic move? Or, would we simply add more lines? For example, comic books always three distinct eras. Some would say four. Those four would be Platinum, Golden, Siver, and Bronze. Those ages correspond to specific spans of years. As more years pass and add on to the comic book world, other ages get added. Now a Copper or Modern age is being bantered around. It will probably take some time for the nomenclature to stick but it will.
So, for coins, could we simple have classic, modern, and the post-modern? Maybe neo-modern? I don't know.
-- Boris
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Moderator
United States
189767 Posts |
I would label the Shield Cents, Statehood/Territorial/DC/AtB Quarters, Post-Westward Journey Nickels, and Presidential/Sacagawea/Native American Dollars as "Ultra-modern" coins.
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Replies: 23 / Views: 3,807 |
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Posted 05/24/2011 5:35 pm
