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 Replies: 18 / Views: 2,082 |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
Yesterday I went to one of the many coin shows I go to every Month. This one is usually only about 20 to 30 dealers and usually never really what you would call crowded with customers. At most coin shows I've gone to there are always those that are selling coins to dealers as well as the buyers. I was sure with all the bad news about our economy that this show would be almost empty and I would be able to really get some good deals. No one was selling coins to dealers that I noticed. No great deals due to the crowds either. This turned out to be one of the most crowded coin shows I've been to in many years. I mean really crowded to the point of it became difficult to get through some aisles. And prices were really up there on coins too. Usually at this show dealers have a few chairs available for us older people. All were being used everywhere.
One dealer I normally buy from had practically no Lincoln Cents at all and I asked why. He said mostly sold out at the last show of those. Way to many people buying and few selling. So what about this poor economy? Don't coin collectors read the papers?
Maybe next month?
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Valued Member
United States
116 Posts |
I noticed the exact same - went to a small coin show (20 dealers) Saturday. Had a hard time even finding a parking space. Lot of people buying & noticed heavy interest in bulk low grade silver coins. What seems like a good sign - noticed a lot more than usual parents with children paying for coins their child had picked out. It was really crowded. At one point while I was looking thru a notebook I had two other people looking over my shoulder at the same time.
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Moderator
 United States
188161 Posts |
The last coin show I went to had a lot fewer people and dealers than it usually has. Of course, this was the week before the election, so maybe they were all at home glued to the their televisions that weekend?  Maybe with the ongoing financial uncertainty, a lot of people are starting to invest (more) in coins? |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
830 Posts |
We have two local coin shows per year. The last one in early October (the usual 100 tables or so) was nearly devoid of buyers. A few dealers complained that they hadn't made enough yet to cover their table costs. That's pretty bad.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
812 Posts |
I have often recommended to people that they NOT invest in coins ("buy them to collect, not as an investment; there are better options if you just want to invest"). It looks like I was giving lousy advise. Collector coins are one of the few things whose value hasn't tanked in the past 2 months.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2734 Posts |
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Bilbo: "I have often recommended to people that they NOT invest in coins." Collector coins with strong market demand usually work very well as a 'long-term' investment. http://www.us-coin-values-advisor.com/index.htmlAnother strong factor for gold/silver collector coins has been the recent supply shortages of American Eagle bullion coins. Many would-be buyers of American Eagle coins have bought gold and silver 'collector' coins instead. I watched a man buy over $30K worth of pre-'33 Gold coins at once, simply because the shop didn't have that many Gold Eagle bullion coins to sell to him! The current high premiums on bullion American eagles make gold/silver collector coins a tempting alternative. If $20 gets you a plain 2008 A.S.E. or a BU Morgan/Peace Dollar, why not buy the latter? If silver crashes, the old BU Dollar will always have some numismatic value, and if silver skyrockets, then both of those coins go up in value. Historically, a depression would reduce 'numismatic values', but they would come back strong the moment the economy recovers. Gold and silver bullion (historically) can stay steady or even rise during a depression. Bullion value and numismatic value = a perfect 'hedge' bet!  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
581 Posts |
Be careful of analyzing "herds". At the top of every page of this forum, it says: "What's in your pocket?" Were the people at the coin shows actually buying anything? I know I will hit any nearby coinshows - out of curiosity, but not to buy anything. If a bunch of people were looking for "low grade silver coins", I wouldn't count that as showing a strength in the numismatic market. And for everyone at a coin show "investing", there are 100 more people "investing" in painted State Quarters on HSN. Don't seek dietary guidance by observing what people buy at your local supermarket! Edited by Kabiye_Lady
11/18/2008 03:26 am
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Valued Member
United States
250 Posts |
Kabiye_Lady - Are you telling me that the painted State Quarters won't set me up for retirement? I must confess that I may be one of the few that has no clue where HSN even is on my cable channel lineup. Maybe I need to find this for pure 'entertainment' value. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2734 Posts |
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Kabiye_Lady: "Were the people at the coin shows actually buying anything?" Oh, heck yes, at the last coin show I was at, A.S.E.'s, silver bars and 'junk silver' bags were practically flying out the door, and one vendor sold 12 American Buffalo gold coins in 2 hours!  ( Oops, that's not what she meant when she said "anything"  ! )In the 'numismatic value' corner, I did witness a number of sales of Morgan dollars, all kinds from 'raw' to 'in 2×2' to Slabbed. I made several 'purely numismatic' purchases at the show, including an XF-40 1913-D Type 1 Buffalo nickel . I'm not too likely to find one of those in a roll , although I was practically walking on air when I found a full-date 1935 in Fine condition in a roll last week!  Tough to beat that for 5¢!  I don't want Kabiye_Lady thinking that I went to the show solely to buy BU Morgan/Peace Dollars as 'bullion' (even though I did buy some! ). Edited by DNA
11/18/2008 11:24 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
581 Posts |
Well, I happen to think that there will be bargains. The key phrase is "will be".
I'm noticing a lot of the modern stuff coming down in price by significant percentages. This is just starting. Of course, the holiday season and probably the inauguration in January are going to muddy the waters for awhile, but there will be serious bargains for those who have the cash in the next few months.
If people are 100% sure of their jobs and that they won't get reduced hours and that their spouse is in the same position, etc. etc., then fine, go ahead and buy that $400 coin. Personally, I would wait a bit. And once again, bullion is not "coin collecting" and this thread is entitled "The economy and coin collecting".
As Just Carl said in the original post: "Don't coin collectors read the papers?"
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Bedrock of the Community
 United States
20753 Posts |
Quote:
We have two local coin shows per year. The last one in early October (the usual 100 tables or so) was nearly devoid of buyers. A few dealers complained that they hadn't made enough yet to cover their table costs. That's pretty bad.
Now that is the kind of coin show I'd like to go to. I'd be running all over the place trying to make deals. Numismatically prices are based on demand regardless of any price guides. At a coin show with few buyers, I could chew down prices. At coin shows where there are so many customers, dealers just laugh if you attempt to chew them down. Not sure what's going on but some people just must have been waiting for this economy down trend to see if they too could get coins for reduced prices. After well over 60 years of coin collecting I've seen days when prices of coins leveled out but never down. So now I wonder what's making people what to spend more on coins. Dealers are sure happy. Two more weeks until our next coin show so maybe this one will not be so crowded. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2734 Posts |
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just carl "Don't coin collectors read the papers?" Well, if they've read the stock quotes in the papers since October, even 'numismatic value' coins are going to look like a much better place to spend your money than the stock market! Even if a full depression reduces numismatic values, you most likely would lose a lot less money with good numismatic coins than you would in that same situation with the stock market. Hot tip: Good Collectibles of any kind are looking better than stocks, to a lot of people! Go ahead and get that '59 Cadillac convertible and ride out the depression in style! Put some baseball cards, comic books and Hot Wheels in that big ol' trunk while you're out shopping, why not, they've all beat the Dow since 2000! I was getting decent deals on numismatic coins, not giveaways. I got the 1913-D T-1 XF-40 for $25, for instance (NGC says "$32" on their NumisMedia site). I also got a 1916-S Mercury dime in AU-58 for $30, and NumisMedia says "$37", so really that's a fair deal for both the seller and I.  Given that many collectible coins contain 90% gold or 90% silver, there is inevitably a crossover effect between 'bullion' and 'numismatic' values, particularly in lower grade and common date coins. Anyone wanting to collect a 'type set' of pre-1934 gold coins can't just ignore their bullion value (after all, they'll be paying accordingly!). Edited by DNA
11/19/2008 10:48 pm
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Rest in Peace
United States
2668 Posts |
A recent article in Car & Driver analyzed the capital appreciation you can achieve with various types of antique and collector cars. They do well.
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Valued Member
Singapore
104 Posts |
i haven't been to any coin show... I'm missing a lot, huh
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
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A recent article in Car & Driver analyzed the capital appreciation you can achieve with various types of antique and collector cars. They do well.
Only the people that write those articles make money. As a person with several old cars, just not true. And right now since 2 of my cars are convertibles and it is snowing out, guess what they are worth? And who is buying. Sort of like those TV programs on how you can make money buying and selling property. Yeah, right. Like so many people are buying houses now. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
Quote:
i haven't been to any coin show... I'm missing a lot, huh
No way to describe how much you can learn, how many people you meet, the deals you can make, how you can save money, things that are free, etc. Some coin shows are fantastic and yet others are just OK but still nothing like them. Actually all shows are fun and educational. Where I live we have gun shows, coin shows, camera shows, knife shows, cat shows, dog shows, computer shows, electronic shows, antique shows and on and on and on. When tired of them we have seveal zoos, numersous museums, aquariums, planatariums and on and on and on. At some coin shows you can get free magazines on coins. Some dealers have junk boxes of coins that you could possibly use and they are cheap. Once you get to know a dealer you could actually order certain coins from him and he'll go out looking for you. |
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Replies: 18 / Views: 2,082 |
Posted 11/17/2008 11:53 am
