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 Replies: 16 / Views: 2,659 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3342 Posts |
Over the past year, the coins I collect have disappeared from the market. When they show up at all they're 50-100% higher in price than they were. Case in point is the 1795 VF details cleaned flowing hair dollar I bought a year ago for $3500. There are plenty of these available but equivalent quality coins now trade at $6000-7000.
I reviewed several similar coins yesterday using PCGS price trends
and saw the same thing for all of them. Over the past year prices have increased just as steeply. IMO it's a stay-at-home Covid effect.
Will the prices collapse? I doubt it. That would require a flooding of the market with scarce desirable coins, followed by heavy price cutting. "Two minutes ago I would have sold my chances for a tired dime." Fred Astaire
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3848 Posts |
People blame everything on covid...
Coin shortage
Unavailability of select items
No toilet paper
I think at one point it will settle, but not at the price it once was. Similar to a stock. If it explodes and shoots straight up, it can't hold its momentum forever, so it'll dip and settle at a lower price.
Suffering from bust half fever. Want to learn how to attribute early half dollars by die variety? Click Here: http://goccf.com/t/434955Shoot me a PM if you are looking to sell bust halves. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
19109 Posts |
Same for the trading card market--sports cards, Pokemon cards, etc.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
823 Posts |
I agree, I don't know why but coins are disappearing or are extremely high in price.
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Rest in Peace
United States
18456 Posts |
But then again , everything is high in price right now.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4680 Posts |
This is true Tony. I've seen a steady increase in prices in just about everything. Heck, our favorite dog food just went up $4 (10%) a bag seemingly overnight!
You could say Covid is to blame, and it is to an extent, but ultimately in a collectors market, people are to blame. The two work symbiotically, or parasitically depending on how you look at it and what side of the coin your on.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4233 Posts |
People are buying and not selling. Bank interest rates are in the toilet so you might as well buy something tangible to enjoy, that might retain some value. That's mainly why I've purchased coins over the past couple years; it's disposable income and putting it in the bank is useless. Same thing with real estate, used cars, etc. I don't think COVID had much impact on the coin market specifically.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1316 Posts |
I don't think they are scarcer, populations haven't changed. But demands are certainly very different and suppliers are responding. Do you feel that turnovers rates at the new prices are similar to before? Or they are asking higher and prospective buyers are letting them sit their longer waiting for a price drop?
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Bedrock of the Community
United Kingdom
17879 Posts |
I think the fact that lots of people have been spending more time at home, and those with disposable income have found it difficult or inadvisable to travel, has made many people spend more on their hobbies.
My brother sells model railway items online and noticed a huge increase in demand during lockdown.
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
3342 Posts |
Coins are small things that are desirable and of value, which people can enjoy at home. There may be a lot of new collectors, or old collectors who became more serious. I search for low population coins which I prize for their scarcity rather than their condition. Up until a year ago I had no problem finding them, but then they started appearing less frequently. When I was outbid for a badly damaged 1866-S half eagle, and saw it show up on ebay a week later at 50% over the auction price, I realized that other people were jumping into an area which had seen very little interest previously. At about the same time dealer inventories of similar coins dried up too. For a while I could find a few at Collector's Corner and Northern Nevada, but these have all disappeared and there has been no replenishment. The five figure rarities are still abundant, but the collector-priced coins are gone. "Two minutes ago I would have sold my chances for a tired dime." Fred Astaire
Edited by thq
03/06/2022 11:11 pm
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
697 Posts |
I think the following GENERALIZATIONS play a key role:
1. Not too long ago, most collectors bought their coins from their local coin shops and/or from dealers at coin shows or online.
2. Up until then, it was mainly dealers buying coins at the major auctions. As such, as a Collector I had very little competition buying quality coins at auction at real good pricing, since dealers would often not pay what I was willing to pay as a Collector, since they needed room to mark it up so they could profit selling those coins at fair prices to other collectors.
3. Nowadays, I find the auction competition a lot tougher, as I believe a LOT more collectors are participating in auctions as a result of being forced to utilize this source for the past two years due to Covid! This is what is driving prices higher - COLLECTOR combined with dealer demand at auctions!
Steve
A day without fine wine and working on your coin collection is like a day without sunshine! My collecting "Pride & Joy" is my PCGS Registry Dansco 7070 Set: https://www.PCGS.com/setregistry/ty...edset/213996 |
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Moderator
 Australia
16805 Posts |
I think COVID is certainly to "blame". While lots of people all over the world did it tough during the various lockdowns and closures, many other people still had plenty of income - yet were unable to spend that income on their customary pursuits (overseas holidays, dining out, concerts etc). So they suddenly had a lot of extra cash. Plus, the huge upsurge in work-from-home meant people could bid on and monitor auctions "while working".
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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Valued Member
United States
416 Posts |
I think it's not so much Covid, nor just coins, but everything I keep an eye on price-wise is way up. Baseball cards, vintage sports cars, houses (anywhere), anything "cool". I think it's the massive amount of new money creation and we are finally seeing real inflation. Too much money chasing too few things of value, and what looks like a giant increase in prices is actually nothing more than a loss of value of the dollar.
There's (famously) inflation on regular stuff too, but at the upper end where all the wealth is accumulating, it's looking even more 'hyper'.
Edited by TimNH
03/07/2022 11:29 am
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Moderator
United States
187446 Posts |
I believe COVID is affecting this as much as it has affected everything else the past two years, whether directly or indirectly.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3342 Posts |
Thanks for all the thoughts. I'll start paying attention to Great Collections auctions even if I don't bid. This is where many of the coins I'm looking for enter the market, and it'll give me an idea of their popularity by number of bids and the price level. A cursory look today showed a few of them, but because they're scarce (most below 100 PCGS population) they arrive at a trickle anyway.
"Two minutes ago I would have sold my chances for a tired dime." Fred Astaire
Edited by thq
03/07/2022 4:27 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1613 Posts |
Remember the COVID relief checks? I spent mine on coins that I needed as I have been employed the entire time. Apparently so did alot of others, along with remodeling/building which shot the price of lumber up. I would comment "there goes a load of gold" every time a log truck rolled down the interstate.
ANA member - PAN Member - BCCS Member There are no problems only solutions - the late, great John Lennon
Edited by Ballyhoo
03/08/2022 11:31 pm
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Replies: 16 / Views: 2,659 |
Posted 03/06/2022 12:54 pm
