Why Did The Classic Commemorative Market Crash?

The market seems healthy enough compared to where it could be.

In the 1980s, the US mint started churning out annual commemoratives again, after taking a break since the 50s. Then they just. Kept. Going. A lot of collectors probably got burnt out when a couple dozen commemoratives turned into a hundred. Then enter the bullion coins, releasing proof and business strike, silver and clad, etc etc. It's daunting for a new collector, and the old collectors who already had all the classics are dying off and leaving the coins to inheritors who are selling to overwhelmed new collectors who can't drop $250 on a classic commemorative because they have so many modern commems to collect as well.

In the late 1980's there was a large influx of investor money into the coin market. In addition 3rd party grading was becoming popular. Graded classic commemoratives were targeted by these investors who saw them as sound investments (they were precious metal, a simple series compared to other U.S. series, and available in high grades). Eventually, the prices rose so high that collector interest decreased and the market crashed. Concerning the market today, I believe that the series is undervalued. Due to the limited mintages/distributions, an increase in collector demand could cause sharp price increases. If you've been looking at lots of commemoratives, you'll have noticed that many display ugly brown and splotchy toning and some have been poorly dipped. Finding natural, attractively toned coins or blast white coins with nice luster and strike is highly recommended. There will always be some demand for these nice coins.

Have you noticed that collecting coins is a very expensive hobby? Ever since the investors went into the markets during times of high inflation prices reflect people looking for hedges against inflation. If you collect just for fun be ready to just look at your money as having been spent for fun. I think the classic commemoratives are really beautiful but I would not buy anything over a few hundred bucks that was not slabbed and graded. The new commemoratives are just about worth the metal they are made out of and not much more in my eyes. Modern commemoratives should all be silver or gold (mainly silver) with maybe a 20% premium, but instead they have 100% premium which just kills it for me. If I ever do decide to collect commemoratives they will be the classic ones or maybe modern silver dollar types. I feel so badly burned by the 2016 gold commemorative for the 1916 dates I will never buy that sort of coin again. As far as I know neither the SLQ or LWH gold coins have all been sold. That really surprised me since those are some of the most beautiful coins of 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. It seems the artistic value of coins really hit a high note in early 20th century and has been going downhill ever since.