Todays Coins To Invest In For 20-30 Yrs Down The Road

I agree with coppercoins, in that you just can't save coins out of circulation and expect much of a return.

My example is .. last year I bought a collection, paid over $12,000 for it. I was told that the collection
was put together prior to 1980, when the person I bought it from got it from his uncle that had passed away.
$3,200 of that collection I turned into the bank. That $3,200 consisted of Kennedy halfs, Ike dollars and older but well circulated currency. If that same money had been put into a CD, it would have easily been double and good chance it would be quadrupled

On the other hand if you were selective in putting away coins .. and guessed right .. there could be a chance you could come up with a nice profit .. It would be easy to see what you should have put away for the last 20 years .. much much harder to know what to do for the next 20.

To me there seems to be one area that has always done well.

That is in a coin series .. that have a large collector base, in the high grades.

I think you have to exclude coins that are sold from the mint. like proof and SMS coins.
While there are some in this category that do go up in value, it is more of a gamble
because there are just as many that go down in value.

The ones that go up the biggest percentage are business strike coins in grades MS 66 or better.
This applies to the popular series like Lincoln Cent, Jefferson nickels, Kennedy half dollars
and yes .. Washington quarters. New series like presidential and Sacagawea dollars are more of
a gamble but so far are selling at good prices in the higher grades.

The tricky part is to have good access to uncirculated coins when they first come available.
Like bank wrapped rolls. Then having the ability to pick out coins in the higher grade.
Most people (including me) find it hard to determine if a coin will grade MS 65 or MS 66
and higher. Now once you get coins like this, higher grade, they do sell higher, but not as often.
meaning there is a smaller collector base in high grade coins then there are in mid to low grade coins.
So you may have to sit on them much longer. The con here is,the price you have to pay to have a coin slabbed. The jump in price and population can make it a win or lose situation. You may need to get a
grade of MS 67 or MS 68 to get into a good value, but your coin comes back MS 66.

But then there is still ... no one knows what life will be like 20 years from now.

Any current circulation coins in top condition, that you know are scarce right now.

Really?

So let's forget the tens of millions of coins from the same issue that are packed away in unopened material that will be opened over the next 20+ years to find these "elusive" grades. It has happened time and time again that people "assumed" something was conditionally scarce, drove the market way up on them, just to cause an opening frenzy where droves of people bought and opened sets to cash-in on this sudden market incline. Of course they found all the hiding examples, had them graded, and quickly burst the temporary bubble in the market caused by this financially dangerous and very short sighted assumption.

If anyone can get their hands on them for less then twice melt value

Just my own humble little opinion - They would have done far better making these parks bullion coins as half-ounce 50c coins. I think the idea of pure silver 50c commemoratives seems to be skipping the thought process of those in power. I believe they would sell far better than a 5 oz. paperweight they are marketing as "coins".

Coppercoins: You can get a good idea of what is scarce by keeping up to pace by reading your favourite local coin periodical. Works for me!

Coins in mind, not Mint sets or Proof sets...

So you don't agree that demand for them will be very low? Or do you? I get that striking these things is going to be a mammoth chore, and I understand the self-imposed time limits (govermnment planning) they have in being able to legally produce these. But do you really think this is the only cause for a mere 30K production run?

By the way, thank you very much for your input. Your addition to this forum is something I have always valued.

Until people start looking for them and saving them high grade and variety circulation coins will always be the winner. Collectors have always preferred circulation issues for their collections and they've always sought the finest conditions. In the modern age this search is aided greatly by computers and grading companies. If you want an MS-66 1969 quarter all you have to do is go to ebay and see if you can find one. There's no legitimate reason to believe large numbers of these will ever show up because so few were made and virtually none saved.

Today there are numerous condition rarities that are interesting and could have huge gains. One must use both common sense and acquire some knowledge or he'll end up with more junk than gems. Why spend ten or twenty dollars a roll to set aside 2009 nickels when these are likely to be set aside in huge percentages. But gemmy 2007 nickels are likely pretty uncommon and were not heavily saved. Even the mint sets can't compete with them due to the different finish.

You need to get out and see what's available and then save the stuff that isn't. Generally "investing" in collectibles is not a good idea. If you want to do it then fine but remember collector demand is very fickle and unpredictable. There are many rare coins from ancient to modern that can be had for a very low price because they have so little demand. I believe it's the combination of low price and rarity that provide the best bet for saving coins. Many people believe that predicting demand correctly is more important and that some things don't change. I'm not convinced that there's anything that doesn't change. It's better to project trends and guess accordingly.

To each his own.