Is Modern Coinage Worth Collecting?

I agree with the statement about accomplishment and preservation. I remember finding that last clad Roosevelt dime to fill that last hole in the Dansco album. Yes, those clad dimes won't ever be worth much more than a dime, but it was an accomplishment to finish it and felt pretty good not having any more holes to fill....until the next year that is. Yes, I could sell all my modern coins for face and go buy a nice classic coin, but collecting US coins isn't just about classic coins, but also about modern coins.

"worth collecting" is up to the collector. I had decided decades ago to not collect clad coinage and only pulled silver coins and wheat cents from circulation. As for purchases I am an avid fan of commemoratives (both gold and silver), silver eagles, and silver proof sets. Most of these series are complete and I am on maintenance mode each year when new ones are produced. My collections in this matter seem worth it to me.

I collect for the enjoyment, not the return. All of my coins are modern, and none are older than seventy-seven years at this point. I am working back one year at a time on mint state sets, as well as keeping up with the mint, proof and silver proof sets as they come out each year. Fun is the purpose, not the false hope of making lots of money.

Only a few hundred people collect the highest grades now and I'm selling some for more that 20 or 50,000 times face value. I'm selling them ungraded for up to 5000 times face.

Second and third tier moderns aren't always a lot more available than the pop tops but there just isn't enough demand to have an effect on prices. Essentially what's happening is that the "just missed" coins being sent in for grading are sufficient to satisfy the demand for Gems.

If the demand ever materializes people are going to be amazed at prices for modern Gems. I believe this will even extend to nice circulated examples in high grade. Some coins. like '69 quarters, were very poorly made so XF and AU examples of well made coins will be highly sought after.

Up until 1965 coins were set aside every year and millions of people still collect them in BU and in circulation. But moderns weren't saved and weren't collected so there are very few examples set aside.

I've been wrong about this demand developing for half a century now but then I wonder how much longer I can continue to be wrong. I'm not selling because the price is high but because I'm old enough I might not be around to see it happen.

For profit, its unlikely that anyone can set aside non-error coins (BU, even proofs) to cash out for a significant profit in their own lifetime. Someday, yes, they will have value. One by one collections are just rolled and cashed out due to not being worth the trouble. One by one coins are cleaned or stored poorly or fingerprinted. Until one by one, only a few are left vs # of people that want one.

I am not getting any younger and the proof set from my birth year is hardly worth (consider inflation) much more than it was bought for in terms of real value. Apart from errors, nothing made since I was born is worth more than FV. Many coins I got from my parents are also not worth much over FV unless they have melt value. I have a tiny # of gems in my morgans/peace/random few others but most of what I have are pocket change finds. I have a full set of Jefferson nickels, all circulated and worth about a nickel each apart from the war silvers. It was fun to fill the books as a kid, but that fun is all that set will ever have contributed.

I'm going to make a pretty penny on them.

I believe I'm selling at a very bad time because prices are heading far higher but I'm getting to the age the coins should be sold or my heirs might spend them. These are very difficult to sell now because of the way these markets work. Selling then is as labor intensive as filling up the safety deposit boxes was in the first place.

There are a lot of US and world moderns that are grossly undervalued.