Investing In The Future - Canadian Coins Or Bills

I might be a bit biased but I am going to say silver and gold will have some value

1907H large cent in AU and better condition
1925 small cent in EF and better condition
1938 silver dollar in mint state condition
Any pre-1967 specimen coins
Nickel dollars in MS-65 or better (last of the voyageur dollars, and being sucked into the alloy recovery program)

1935 or older bills in Au or better,

First of all, get something that you will enjoy in the interim. I recently bought a graded Canadian 1948 Silver Dollar that I needed for my collection. For the same price I could have bought a one ounce gold coin. Ten years from now the gold coin might be worth 25%-50% more or 25%-50% less. Who knows. The coin I bought likely won't have changed much in price based on past performance but I will enjoy it more than the single gold coin sitting in a drawer. I am not saying that gold is not a good investment, just that it is more volatile than a coin with a decent track record.

I did not buy my coin with my kids in mind nor as an investment, but it should be easy to sell down the road and not fluctuate too much in price. I am not saying you should buy 1948 silver dollars, it is just an example.

Someone might disagree with the following statement, but I think it is better to buy a $1000 coin well chosen rather than ten $100 lesser quality coins (or buy one $100 coin instead of ten $10 coins, whatever your budget is).

The better quality coin if chosen properly will retain its value better and will be easier for your posterity to dispose of than 10 poor coins. Many dealers have many average quality coins and won't pay a bunch for more duplicates they are already having trouble selling. A sought after, not too common item will interest them more as they will have potential buyers.

Interesting thread so far. When you say, children thanking you, I assume you are looking for some kind of capital appreciation, instead of some large pot of money that is worth the same as when you started.

For example, if you purchased $100k of the X for X series, it will likely be worth $100k in 20 years. I am sure your children would be very happy with the $100k, but it would not have a very good return.

If you are doing this as a hobby and hoping for some kind of appreciation, I would be looking at high grade vicki quarters and half's. They have relatively low mintages and coins were actually circulated. In addition, some of rarer coins/grades mentioned above could appreciate nicely. I really like the 1858 20 cent (my favorite coin) and recently purchased a MS63 1938 Silver Dollar, so I hope SPP is right.

If you are doing this purely for a return, you are probably better off getting into a different asset class, coins require a lot of knowledge and time to do well. From a cost benefit standpoint, you would probably be better off with something different. I have been happy with my return, as this is a hobby, but if I was factoring in time spent, this would be tough to justify from a return on investment standpoint. I am happy that I really enjoy coins.

Some of the Newfoundland coins have really low mintages. The 1876 silver 5c and the 1880 half dollar had mintages of 20,000. Even if Newfoundland doesn't become the "hot new thing" it is hard to believe these coins won't be rising in value.

I sadly tend to agree with the declining market as older collectors leave the hobby faster than new ones enter the hobby coupled with the Greater Depression grinding on.

The only people I see entering are more silver stackers that got interested via junk silver. That is good for some liquidity on the low end of the market, but does nothing for the high end of the market.

@ TomSwift - New (semi-young) collector here..and indeed interested in the newer coins, mint state. Not sure if its a trend, but surely more affordable.