Posted 02/12/2010 08:56 am
In the end, you and I decide what a coin is worth with the size of the checks we choose to write. That's all. Dealers can ask whatever they want; publishers can publish lists until their ink turns blue, and it still boils down to demand.
Not only, "How many people want those coins?" but, "How badly do they want them?"
Knowledge is king. If every collector was wise to grading and valuation of the coins they buy, and disciplined enough to be patient and wait for the right coin, the bottom would drop out of the market. But we're not; we want it, and we want it now. We're willing to outbid someone to get it.
ebay is the great equalizer of numismatics. Staggering numbers of collectible coins appear there every day, some sold by people who are just as clueless as those bidding on them. Others, sharklike, cruise the waters placidly until prey appears and then strike with blinding speed, leaving nothing in their wake to show anything happened. I derive great pleasure from cruising those waters.
Of course, even though zeewool is exactly correct in considering ebay a major arbiter of coin pricing, the range of relative numismatic skills represented there lends an air of unreality to the scene. Is someone willing to pay $1000 for an obvious fake 1909-S VDB deserving of being a market-maker? Is the guy offering a VF 1921 Morgan in an MS67 GEC slab, calling it a "Key Date," contributing anything meaningful to the record?
Like any other field of endeavor, numismatics rewards participants based on their level of hard work and commitment. Unlike most other hobbies, one plays numismatics in an intellectual minefield populated by charlatans, the ignorant and the price list publishers. Each have their uses, as long as you hold them by the scruff of the neck so they can't bite you.
Not only, "How many people want those coins?" but, "How badly do they want them?"
Knowledge is king. If every collector was wise to grading and valuation of the coins they buy, and disciplined enough to be patient and wait for the right coin, the bottom would drop out of the market. But we're not; we want it, and we want it now. We're willing to outbid someone to get it.
ebay is the great equalizer of numismatics. Staggering numbers of collectible coins appear there every day, some sold by people who are just as clueless as those bidding on them. Others, sharklike, cruise the waters placidly until prey appears and then strike with blinding speed, leaving nothing in their wake to show anything happened. I derive great pleasure from cruising those waters.
Of course, even though zeewool is exactly correct in considering ebay a major arbiter of coin pricing, the range of relative numismatic skills represented there lends an air of unreality to the scene. Is someone willing to pay $1000 for an obvious fake 1909-S VDB deserving of being a market-maker? Is the guy offering a VF 1921 Morgan in an MS67 GEC slab, calling it a "Key Date," contributing anything meaningful to the record?
Like any other field of endeavor, numismatics rewards participants based on their level of hard work and commitment. Unlike most other hobbies, one plays numismatics in an intellectual minefield populated by charlatans, the ignorant and the price list publishers. Each have their uses, as long as you hold them by the scruff of the neck so they can't bite you.
Dave, you are an absolute scream.
