How Hard Have The Great Lakes Series Tanked? Look At This

Buy what you like. If you aren't in a hurry wait and see the prices. Very few coins appreciate over time.

Everyone knows very few coins appreciate over time. But it's disconcerting to know that something you bought just a year or two ago drops 50% or more in value.

You would think it would at least maintain its value with perhaps a small drop in price.

Some great points have been made here on this thread my friends.

Let me first state that I am not bringing up these recent auctions to make anyone feel bad, nor to tell them how to collect, nor to take away from the beauty of these coins, and I am not trying to dissuade anyone from collecting coins.

I just, as someone else said, its concerning when you see items you purchase in your hobby get cut down by 50-60%. I mean that doesn't seem like a hobby you want to sink a lot of money into.

Now we could say boating is an expensive hobby as an example, especially if you have one of those big boats where you have dock fees, winter fees, etc etc. That gets pretty expensive quick. But once you have the boat, thats it.

With coins, it just is a steady trend down for now and the trend isn't changing. I really feel the biggest drawback to buying coins right now is the depressed PM market. the prices are much too high and after the impulse buyers are gone, there arent enough buyers to absorb all those coins. When the impulse buyers are done buying, the next set of collectors cannot rationalize high priced NCLT coins when compared to a dropping PM market and thats why we keep getting these sliding secondary market prices.


That brings me to the second point many of you have mentioned here. RCM along with other world mints, both government and private, are minting way too many coins at too high of numbers. To me even mintage numbers of 3,000 are much to high for a coin. They must trim these numbers down to a 1,000 or less.

I do believe "somewhat" in the buy what you like camp. However, I believe you buy what you like but slowly because lets face it, right now, the NCLT market is really depressed.

Again my friends, please dont get me wrong. SilverDon's complete set in the box is very nice and well done. The coins display well and I really like what the mint has done. What bothers me tho is the pricing, I dont see the value. BTW, I really am stalking this Lake Michigan coin... I am constantly looking to get one at a big mark down.

Sure, most coins dont appreciate in value, I think we all get that. However, seeing they are made out of a commodity, one that isn't "cheap" and consider an asset all over the world, one should expect it too retain and accrue in value.

AFter all, as PM prices starting rising years ago, what happened to all those coins that were NCLT? They climbed in price. Premiums were attached. Now that PM prices have been stuck in a downtrend for a while, I feel the public has walked away from coin collecting. The day of holding a coin made out of silver or gold and just buying from the mint and watching it rise are done.

Those that are left are us, the coin community who has either been collecting for decades or recently entering the hobby because we like the coins whether because of the themes, history or ideas attached to the coins. Sadly tho, mints around the world are making way too many coins despite seeing that demand has clearly dropped.

I still plan on collecting and am, albeit VERY slowly. Many of you, my fellow canadian collectors know I have a huge interest in Somalian elephant coins and other elephant issued coins and well, I have really slowed down in buying just those and a few of the others. I recently bought a elephant coins I have been waiting on close to 3 years!! Which I might add, I have watched that coin slide in price for 3 straight years.

I still have a wish list for RCM coins that I want, including this Great Lakes Lake Michigan coin.


To end this on a positive note, I do feel that once PM prices at least stabilize and mints world over adjust their prices and stop the huge amount of supply, NCLT coins should also find some footing and the mark downs wont be so extreme on the secondary market.

I would imagine that it is hard to keep old inventory of NCLT as a retailer.
You want some sort of turnover to inventory, what portion do
you keep from the early 2000's, or even from last year, or 2012.

Yup7676, you are completely right about waiting to purchase.
That set was appealing to me as I lived on Lake Superior for
a spell and it was enamelled with special bathymetric depth
and all, I was hooked and subscribed. In retrospect, I should
be collecting them now. But if it sold out quickly, I would be
out of luck. Monday morning quarterback sort of thing.
So many sets have tanked, GITD Dinos, OCanada, Go7, 7 Sacred
Teachings, Cartoons, Superheros, etc. I have not purchased
much NCLT lately after seeing the sales. Too many coins.
Maybe because the raw materials are so cheap.

You are all missing the point as to the real reason these issues drop in price. If a coin with a mintage of 10,000 is sold for $100 from the mint, and 10,000 collectors each buy one coin, the price will increase as any additional purchases MUST come from the hands of someone who actually wanted the coin at the issue price. Now take the same coin, sell 2,000 to collectors and 8,000 to dealers, flippers, and speculators, and you have a large part of the issue available to buy at any time. Sure, most will be listed on ebay for $125 - $500 each, depending upon the greed and certification luck the owners have, but some will be reduced in price until market equilibrium is reached. Once that happens, others follow to get what they can out of their 'investment' while they still can.

The number 2 reason is that the lower priced coins that you see are those that are left when the high grade coins have been pulled and slabbed, giving the first buyers their profit and allowing them to dump the inferior pieces for below cost WITHOUT losing money.

It would still depend on the demand for the coin even if was offered only to collectors. Even at 2000 coins there is no guarantee it will sell out if it is an unpopular coin.

It is a poor business model just to sell to collectors. Very few products go directly to customers. Practically every product goes through distributors and wholesalers. You try to gain more revenue by expanding markets. By trying to sell to many people as possible.

As for your second reason, very few NCLT coins are slabbed so I don't think that play any factor in lowered coin prices.

Problem is oversupply and lack of demand. They continue to sell out of mintages because Canada Post buys most of it.

Remember, there are A LOT of people holding $45 silver maples and eagles, and they have no interest in spending $149.99 on a coin commemorating a leaf, a wolf or a cartoon character.

For most people, $150 is a week's worth of groceries. If they were to buy it and sell it down the line somewhere for let's say $80 on ebay ... well, take out all the fees and you are left with $60.

Oversupply, poor returns on investment, lack of demand, high cost of issue, depreciating silver prices, economy in recession, lack of investment interest from funds/firms ... the list goes on.

The RCM is not a TSX listed company but a fat crown corporation operating a silver and gold ETF which is TSX listed.