Explain To Me What Happened With The Hof Comm?

I agree- chasing labels isn't quite my cup of tea. I think the price jumped so high on the HOF coins simply because of the wide appeal, not only to coin collectors but also baseball fans, plus its the US mint's first curved coins. But yes, they are selling for more than I'd like to pay, too.

A big part of the initial price increases for the Baseball HOF coins was the result of the hype created by large dealers and the two largest grading services â€" PCGS and NGC. Yes, there was strong collector interest due to the subject matter, but a significant part of the demand was artificial hype.

If you compare the secondary market prices for many of the coins today with what they were in late-March, April and May you will find that they have retreated. A typical MS-69 silver dollar, for example, currently generally sells for $65 to $75 on ebay (often with free shipping) â€" back in April they were generally $120 and up. Prices for the gold coin have also retreated.

I believe the 2001 Buffalo SD had/has more "true" collector demand and will continue to outpace the HoF SD going forward.


Regarding the special inserts/labels, it's hard to say what the future holds for some of them. For many older/traditional collectors they carry very little meaning. They are avidly collected by many folks today, however, and may wind up being a lasting part of the hobby. I think the proliferation of the label varieties will lessen their collectability as there will simply be too many of them â€" they'll stop being "special" â€" but there might be some that always carry a premium.


One comment about the gold JFK...The premium placed on the ¾ ounce gold coin by the US Mint is actually quite reasonable (and much less than other world mints would charge). It is not a bullion coin and so is not priced as one. Its proof finish elevates it past bullion pieces and requires a numismatic premium. I haven't bought one, but I think the price point is what should be expected for such a piece.

Demand increases prices and "modern commem dollars" do not have the same demand...thus the price difference.

I won't get into the comic book/beanie baby/special coin label thing

Sirdizzy and Commems,
I did buy a silver HOF from the mint and the mint did get their, "seigniorage," = Their profit on making the coin.
Hope I'm using the meaning correct. Which is holly cow in my book.
Still a unique coin that will appeal to a number of collectors and non-collectors. Time will tell on the TPG's labeling. IMHO
I will not get mine graded, meaning less money for the TPG's.

@sirdizzy: I never followed the comic book market, but I was an observer to what happened to stamps, trading cards and Beanie Babies. Hype and over production doomed each of them. (Full disclosure: I have never purchased a Beanie Baby, but did look on with amusement when they were being hawked as a collectible "investment.")



Interesting comment. Isn't this always the case regardless of the item?

Please understand, I'm not an advocate of the special labels. I buy coins, not labels. But there are many different types of collectors out there, and a group of them definitely enjoy collecting special labels. Who knows were things will settle? Certainly not me!

If the Mint stops making coins available early at the shows then the labels go away. I'd suggest you fill out the survey on the US Mint website and tell them to stop offering the coins at shows like they did with the HOF and Kennedy coins and just have them on display.

I don't think its fair to allow a few lucky people the opportunity to get coins right there on spot while I have to wait months to receive my order. Let everybody who wants them be able to get them within the same time frame. Don't make the coins available to purchase locally until the first shipment has gone out.

Having lived through (and participated in) both the comic book and Beanie Baby crashes, I can say with nearly 100% certainty that coin collecting is heading the same way. My only hope is that when the inevitable crash comes it will only affect the value of graded coins with "special" (i.e., completely meaningless) labels and not hurt the hobby as a whole. Coins have been collected for hundreds of years, so I don't see the overall interest in the hobby disappearing anytime soon. And, especially with regards to classic coins, it's not like the available numbers are getting any larger.

But, yeah. There might very well come a day in the not so distant future when "first strike" and similar labels will add precisely ZERO to the value of a coin. And perhaps many of the more recent "collectibles" issued by the mint will end up being worth little if anything above melt value. I'd like to think that anything truly unique or historically significant (whether it be the HOF coins, the Gold Kennedy half dollars, the first Reverse Proof ASE, etc.) will remain valuable regardless of what happens to the hobby of collecting labels, but only time will tell.

I believe the mint uses the same mark-up table for all of their gold coins, so if you don't like their price on the Kennedy coins then you must also not like their prices on any gold coins.

The true value a TPC provides is the evaluation of the coin by a neutral party, so a buyer & seller can at least agree on something. The buyer might feel the coin should have graded lower & the seller might feel the coin should have graded higher, but the can agree a neutral party has given their opinion.
The "First / Early" portion of the label provides no true value, but does provide quite a bit of perceived value. . .because buyers have proven they will pay a significant premium to have those words on the label.