Numismatic Forum

Numismatic Offerings Forum

by Robert G. Duncan

August 2001

I believe my experiences over 42 years in various fields of collectibles has given me a unique perspective. This perspective may be employed to make comparisons and contrasts which you may find both interesting and useful. I can draw from a background of buying and selling Lincoln and Indian cents throughout the 1960s, through doing the same with pre-Victorian British and Commonwealth and historical European and Ancient Roman coins by mail order, as well as antique photography and general ephemera at shows since the 60s to, most recently, developing a broad stock of U.S. currency. Each month I will present here some of my thoughts on events and trends in these fields.

Please feel free to comment on any of my remarks via email, and let me know if it would be ok for me to reproduce your comments here. In that way we can have an interactive forum from which we can all share the benefits of our knowledge and ideas.

Note also that you can read an editorial on the commercial operations of the U.S.Mint which I wrote in March and which appeared in April in the coin hobby standard publication Coin World.

The State Quarters and the State of Collectibles

The collecting of U.S. coins has been given an historically gigantic boost by the state quarter program and the introduction of a new dollar coin. It has been estimated that the number of coin collectors in the country has risen from under three million to as many as sixty million!

While it is debatable how many of the new collectors are going beyond saving at least one of each of the new quarters and the dollar coin, no one disputes the increased business coin and paper money dealers have experienced since 1999. Until last month the rise in both business activity and prices in these areas had usually been both steady and sometimes dramatic. For example, the 1988 U.S. mint set has doubled in price from $5 to $10 in just one year! I know because I was fortunate enough to buy several last summer for $3 each when they were still retailing for $5.

Usually in the summer, collectibles activity slows somewhat as collectors and dealers take advantage of summer travel, recreational and vacation opportunities. In both 1999 and 2000 however the summers apparently saw little decrease in buying coins and currency.

So far this summer, coin business activity is reported to be significantly lower, perhaps returning to the cycle that prevailed before 1999. This may also be a result of the increased sophistication, if not sating, of new collectors, many of the most originally enthusiastic and committed of whom no doubt have developed their collecting interests and knowledge to the point where they may be more restrained and discriminating than in those first months and years of discovery and exploration.

The constant harping by national media about "recession," reaching the very same group whose outlook directly affects the actual economic picture (the operant term is "self-fulfilling prophecy"), has also contributed to encouraging a relatively limited, if not pessimistic view of current spending and future values. There has been increasing concern about the effects of our news sources being owned by a small number of highly self-interested large business enterprises, but in this case the phenonenon of pessimism seems to contradict the assumed profit motives of the media outlets' parent companies, since the effect of warning and reporting about seeming incidences of economic decline would predictably be to discourage the consumer from making purchases.

However my experiences in collectibles suggests that most collectors pay little heed to predictions or even realities of economic ups and downs. Their ardor in acquiring items of interest seems generally strong enough to override all external braking effects - except their own immediate capacities to be active collectors. So I remain optimistic about the coming months in particular and at least the next decade in general. I think we are just seeing the beginning of a long and impressive climb of interest in U.S. historical artifacts and cultural creations which will continue to distinguish this country in a significant way, and provide enormous enjoyment and satisfaction to most everyone involved.

Next Month: Collecting U.S. Type Coins



	Numismatic Offerings Forum by Robert G. Duncan August 2001 I believe my experiences over 42 years in various fields of collectibles has given me a unique perspective. This perspective may be employed to make comparisons and contrasts which you may find both interesting and useful. I can draw from a background of buying and selling Lincoln and Indian cents throughout the 1960s, through doing the same with pre-Victorian British and Commonwealth and historical European and Ancient Roman coins by mail order, as well as antique photography and general ephemera at shows since the 60s to, most recently, developing a broad stock of U.S. currency. Each month I will present here some of my thoughts on events and trends in these fields. Please feel free to comment on any of my remarks via email, and let me know if it would be ok for me to reproduce your comments here. In that way we can have an interactive forum from which we can all share the benefits of our knowledge and ideas. Note also that you can read an editorial on the commercial operations of the U.S.Mint which I wrote in March and which appeared in April in the coin hobby standard publication Coin World. The State Quarters and the State of Collectibles The collecting of U.S. coins has been given an historically gigantic boost by the state quarter program and the introduction of a new dollar coin. It has been estimated that the number of coin collectors in the country has risen from under three million to as many as sixty million! While it is debatable how many of the new collectors are going beyond saving at least one of each of the new quarters and the dollar coin, no one disputes the increased business coin and paper money dealers have experienced since 1999. Until last month the rise in both business activity and prices in these areas had usually been both steady and sometimes dramatic. For example, the 1988 U.S. mint set has doubled in price from $5 to $10 in just one year! I know because I was fortunate enough to buy several last summer for $3 each when they were still retailing for $5. Usually in the summer, collectibles activity slows somewhat as collectors and dealers take advantage of summer travel, recreational and vacation opportunities. In both 1999 and 2000 however the summers apparently saw little decrease in buying coins and currency. So far this summer, coin business activity is reported to be significantly lower, perhaps returning to the cycle that prevailed before 1999. This may also be a result of the increased sophistication, if not sating, of new collectors, many of the most originally enthusiastic and committed of whom no doubt have developed their collecting interests and knowledge to the point where they may be more restrained and discriminating than in those first months and years of discovery and exploration. The constant harping by national media about "recession," reaching the very same group whose outlook directly affects the actual economic picture (the operant term is "self-fulfilling prophecy"), has also contributed to encouraging a relatively limited, if not pessimistic view of current spending and future values. There has been increasing concern about the effects of our news sources being owned by a small number of highly self-interested large business enterprises, but in this case the phenonenon of pessimism seems to contradict the assumed profit motives of the media outlets' parent companies, since the effect of warning and reporting about seeming incidences of economic decline would predictably be to discourage the consumer from making purchases. However my experiences in collectibles suggests that most collectors pay little heed to predictions or even realities of economic ups and downs. Their ardor in acquiring items of interest seems generally strong enough to override all external braking effects - except their own immediate capacities to be active collectors. So I remain optimistic about the coming months in particular and at least the next decade in general. I think we are just seeing the beginning of a long and impressive climb of interest in U.S. historical artifacts and cultural creations which will continue to distinguish this country in a significant way, and provide enormous enjoyment and satisfaction to most everyone involved. Next Month: Collecting U.S. Type Coins