Weigh In On This ! Collecting New Modern Coin Theories.....

SuperDave is the smartest person in the world (next to Dr. Phil !) I always take everything he says as 'intelligence needing to be soaked up by others'.
And, I guess, the only main point I want to bring up and evaluate is that there should be some future value (potentially really nice value) to collecting Ultra Moderns......from any aspect, espicially numismatically and all levels/degrees of collecting. Now, of course, those who have the "Classics" now and hand these down to children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren.....will really REALLY have something ! If your coins are already two hundred years old.......well...... one hundred years from now THEY'LL BE THREE HUNDRED YEARS OLD ! Of course that's GREAT ! I have a lot of Classics too, in fact "most of my collection" is overwhelmingly the old Classics and I will always continue to aquire them ! I love the classics ! But I just don't think it's such a bad thing to collect the Moderns for "future family" to have and enjoy (whether it's future value/numismatically/historical or whatever. For those who just buy and sell for the "here & now" and aren't interested in "100 years from now" when they're dead and gone......... I can understand a "zero interest" in Ultra Moderns. I just don't think they should be "shunned" or "looked down upon" as a "waste of money" and that kind of thing........ I think surely most would agree with these points (at least on that basis).

Its hard to say on modern stuff is worth collecting or not. Some dealers dont want it or will pay face for it like susan dollars, half dollars ,2 dollar bills. It seems mint sets and proof sets lose money sometimes like 1999 silver that jumped to over 350 to 400 dollars and went down to 250 on it.

Its seems the onley place to sell it is on ebay you have extra in collection since lots dealers dont want it after me calling them on phone. In last year I went nuts on collecting it and trying find anything I thought I could sell on ebay to make few dollars to try raise money to buy stuff like 1883 thru 1938 nickel sets, Mercury dimes, silver quarters , the old stuff you cant find from roll searching or stuff you cant buy for face value at banks.

The reason I try collect modern stuff is turn an profit where I can to buy the classic stuff or rolls of junk silver. Like last monlth I built 5 1964 thru 2001 half dollar sets complete at face value from bank boxes and I saved all 1982 or 1983 half dollars , extra junk silver coins I found from me going thru all coin boxes. I even bought brand new boxs full 2007 and 2008 pennys from banks to sell on ebay aslong with saving all 1959 thru 1981 junk copper pennys over last few monlths. I even building 13 sets of pennys and may build another 50 or 100 sets on pennys for ebay.

Like I need those moderns or stuff I can buy at banks at face value to turn an profit where I can finish my collection since that old stuff is very expensive and I would go broke if bought from dealers like the 1916d dime, 1931s , 1914d pennys or 1885 nickel, rolls 1932 thru 1964 silver quarters I need to finish my sets.

One last thing I think is waste of money to pay over face value on that new modern stuff unless its proof set or mint set or something. Example an au 1983 or 1982 half dollar for 10 bucks on ebay. Thats stupid since I found 80 bucks face on them after going thru 12 boxes of those . Its like spending 1500 dollars on buying all 1964 thru 2007 half dollars from coin dealers or ebay to build set that worth 700 complete fair market value if your luckey. Face value on intire set like 70 bucks if you look at it.

In those fedboxes I found tons unc 2000 or 1970 1990 something half dollars I dumped them bank into banks since there were so many of them . Rolls of them going for around face value on ebay is why I tossed them into banks. Dealers wanted 1.5 to 3 dollars each for on ebay or in there stores. If want another coin I will just buy another fedbox for it.

Sometimes that market is confusing like the 1997 d nickel rolls selling for 50 bucks. It not rare since they minted 466.6 million of them in 1997. Strange I can buy an 1958 nickel roll where they minted 18 million for less than 10 bucks or so. Whats so special about 1997 d nickel rolls and why ?

Chevrolet454ss

The modern stuff that will be valuable is the stuff that was either made in small numbers or survive in small numbers. The '97-D nickel is interesting but it's unlikely to be extremely valuable in the future. Most mint sets sell at a discount to the coins they contain. This allows dealers and collectors to cut them up at a little profit. The '97 mint set sells at a steep premium. When you cut this set you lose several dollars. This means very few of these are being destroyed resulting in difficulty of set assemblers to obtain the '97-D nickel which was set aside in tiny numbers. It's much cheaper to buy a roll for $50 then incur the loss cutting 50 mint sets.

But these million '97-D nickels still exist and will eventually be available. In the long run there will still be a million of these. Lest someone think a million is a lot you should remember that there are twice that number of '50-D nickels and these sell for 20x as much.

So the '97-D nickel isn't scarce but that doesn't mean that there aren't hundreds of other moderns that are. Anything you're likely to find in rolls or any other source isn't likely to be or become valuable (excluding very new coins). So if you find tons of AU '78-D half dollars then something will have to change in the future for these to become valuable. It's not impossible mind you. The mint could decide to recall and melt all these tomorrow for all I know but it might be wiser to wait to set them aside. Unc '78-D halfs are another matter. Nearly 50% of the '78 mint sets have been destroyed and many of these halfs from them are now AU in bank rolls. The demand for Kennedys has been strong recently and this date brings a stiff premium. About 20% of these remaining in mint sets are too low quality to sell as BU and many of these are simply unavailable for destruction. This means prices are increasing. By the same token though really nice '78-D half dollars were scarce even in 1978. Fewer than .02% of those issued to banks would have graded MS-66 and only about 1.5% of mint set coins. The bulk of the former are gone forever and many many of the latter have also "met their maker". You can find a real nice one of these if you go look in about 120 mint sets. Don't try ordering them from dealers hoping to get one because the odds are extremely poor. People who deal in these markets are well aware of the scarcity of such coins and few will be sent out to retail customers.

There are thousands of collectors for such coins now days. If a single collector needs 120 '78 mint sets you can imagine the total demand. Keep in mind that there are also thousands of quarter and dime collectors; thousands of Ike collectors and maybe tens of thousands of penny collectors.

Many people think this is a fluke; that there is nothing in moderns to attract collectors so the markets will falter. I don't believe this. These markets have been growing slowly and steadily for decades now. Collectors are a broad spectrum of the American public. It seems to me only logical, only human nature, and only natural that people would come to want to collect coins that we've been using for two generations now. I don't see the general interest in any of the moderns decreasing. Yeah, it's a safe bet that some areas can't maintain the level of interest they enjoy at the current time, but there should probably be more modern collectors as time goes on and more newbies become more immersed in coins.

I like moderns, have a few, enjoy having them, and expect a good return on investment as well.

I say to collect what YOU want to collect, modern or not. Future value is a concept for the investors to toy with, IMHO. I know that there are many collector/investor folks out there, and I have no idea how they look at future value or market conditions. I just know that I collect what I like, and some of my collecting passion is for some select moderns.

I've heard two different stories on the incused edge lettering of the presidential coins. Obviously the mint was having some QC & production issues in 2007 and some were released without the lettering. I've heard recent reports that the problems have been corrected and the lettering will continue, it is still on the 2008 issues. Personally, I've kept all 'plain edges' I've been able to get. They'll likely be high dollar items in the future.

In the future, I think some sets are going to be unpopular. Just like the 2 cent and 3 cent nickel. It's been several decades and they're STILL unpopular.

I'm guessing one of the big sets to fizzle in the next 30 years will be the Lincoln. Many of us started our collecting days with the Lincoln. Well, in 30 years, when they are no longer being minted, who is going to have the energy and staying power to collect the dozens and dozens of Lincolns to complete the set?

Same might go for the nickel, dime and quarter. Gee whiz, you gotta do a marathon just to complete them.

Just another view.