TV Hype About "Early Release", "Black Label" Etc

I hope I don't make any enemies b/c to me the fun of the hobby is what a persons' personal preferences are. So if someone likes to collect different color labels - all the more power to them. I am sure they make some nice eye candy when put together.

As I see the picture (note this is opinion) the TPGs can get tons of identical ASEs, but can only sell so many of them. So their marketing departments came up with a sales trick: since they can't change the actual coin to make a marketing ploy, they changed what they had control of... the label. They knew they could create a market out of thin air (well... and ink).

As far as investment potential, I personally do not think these will ever keep their value b/c as time goes on, more and more "ideas" of labels come out. So future generations might become overwhelmed with different ways of paying for the exact same same coin. The outlay of cash it would take them to get one of everything in the series - while actually only paying for different colored ink - may just sound a future death knell for extra value being assigned to different labels. If the labels themselves were made of substances with inherent value, then the story might be different.


edited for syntax/grammar error

I agree Earle42, I don't mean to knock what anyone enjoys collecting. After all, isn't that why we do what we do. I am sure I collect plenty of things that others wouldn't.

Actually, the Mint *should* give them a cease and desist.

"First Strike" (along with "Last Strike") is a technical term used in Westpoint for samples in their vaults. They do *not* release these to the public. :-)

But yeah, the blue Kool Aid is just as nutritious as the red Kool Aid, and where I won't ding you too hard if you like Kool Aid... you won't see *me* drinking that stuff. :-)

Agreed.

I personally dont care about the first strike part of it but do like some of the labels a lot so will pay a tad more if I have too.

For example the State Quarters and the flag labels. I love the flag labels for them and think they add a very nice aspect to the presentation so Ill only get those for my set, but if all it said was first strike on a regular label I couldnt care less

This is what a hobby is... what we personally like.

If a person values something more than the money they spend for it... then it is their money to spend.




Eye candy is a good thing for those who want it. I am guilty of putting hard earned cash into buying glass insulators. I have had people call me nuts for giving good money for a hunk of glass. They have an incredible history behind them, but unlike coins, they have no inherent value in their composition.

I am sadly aware that eventually I may end up with a total loss in the money I put out for them. But each morning I see the sun rising behind an incredible "stained glass" window of historic gems, I am not looking to calculate the dollar values. And the amazement of the spectacle, joined with the thought of the history behind them, is worth a lot more to me than dollar value.

The TPG's do not sell coins.

Most of the multiple labels came from outside submitters wanting ways of selling multiple specimens of the same coin. Convince people a different label means it is a different kind of coin or that there is something "special" about this one so you should buy this one too. And once the special label idea caught on, it seems like every bulk submitter wants his own special label.

@Conder Thanks for that clarification. Its true they do not sell the coins. But by offering different labels, they make more money off of those who send in their coins to obtain the variety of offered labels.

@basebal


Well, at present they do

But if the hobby disappears (not about to at present), of course the market value would disappear. The highest price paid for an insulator (in the entire hobby) is at least over the 50K mark. But even if I had that kind of money I do not believe I would put it into a piece of glass.