Yesterday's FT - Investment in coins

[Accumulator 52]

Not that most of us think of our collections in anything like purely investment terms, but interesting nevertheless.

Financial Times

[1949threepence 3,366]

Not that most of us think of our collections in anything like purely investment terms, but interesting nevertheless.

Financial Times

It was interesting, yes. Inevitably, collectors will think more and more in investment terms given the recent steep rise in coin values.

[Peckris 579]

Not that most of us think of our collections in anything like purely investment terms, but interesting nevertheless.

Financial Times

It was interesting, yes. Inevitably, collectors will think more and more in investment terms given the recent steep rise in coin values.

Yes, interesting, but I couldn't help think of the three times previous we have "been here before" - once in the late 60s with all those "investment opportunities" involving mint-sealed bags of 1967 pennies etc, then in the mid-70s when inflation sent investors flocking towards alternative forms, and then again in the early 80s with that silver fiasco and all those auction highs for rare coins.

I can't help feel that, like property prices, the "eBay phenomenon" (i.e. prices craze) won't last forever, and that it's always best to enjoy our collections, while at the same time trying to avoid paying top dollar during a rising market. Remember the long stagnation from the mid-80s to the late 90s?

Edited February 12, 2011 by Peckris

[1949threepence 3,366]

Not that most of us think of our collections in anything like purely investment terms, but interesting nevertheless.

Financial Times

It was interesting, yes. Inevitably, collectors will think more and more in investment terms given the recent steep rise in coin values.

Yes, interesting, but I couldn't help think of the three times previous we have "been here before" - once in the late 60s with all those "investment opportunities" involving mint-sealed bags of 1967 pennies etc, then in the mid-70s when inflation sent investors flocking towards alternative forms, and then again in the early 80s with that silver fiasco and all those auction highs for rare coins.

I can't help feel that, like property prices, the "eBay phenomenon" (i.e. prices craze) won't last forever, and that it's always best to enjoy our collections, while at the same time trying to avoid paying top dollar during a rising market. Remember the long stagnation from the mid-80s to the late 90s?

That's what worries me, assembling my bun collection at possibly the height of a coin bull market. Not that it dissuades me from buying ~ in the slightest. So it can't worry me that much

Edited February 12, 2011 by 1949threepence

[Peckris 579]

Not that most of us think of our collections in anything like purely investment terms, but interesting nevertheless.

Financial Times

It was interesting, yes. Inevitably, collectors will think more and more in investment terms given the recent steep rise in coin values.

Yes, interesting, but I couldn't help think of the three times previous we have "been here before" - once in the late 60s with all those "investment opportunities" involving mint-sealed bags of 1967 pennies etc, then in the mid-70s when inflation sent investors flocking towards alternative forms, and then again in the early 80s with that silver fiasco and all those auction highs for rare coins.

I can't help feel that, like property prices, the "eBay phenomenon" (i.e. prices craze) won't last forever, and that it's always best to enjoy our collections, while at the same time trying to avoid paying top dollar during a rising market. Remember the long stagnation from the mid-80s to the late 90s?

That's what worries me, assembling my bun collection at possibly the height of a coin bull market. Not that it dissuades me from buying ~ in the slightest. So it can't worry me that much

That's the spirit!

[Gary D 76]

Not that most of us think of our collections in anything like purely investment terms, but interesting nevertheless.

Financial Times

It was interesting, yes. Inevitably, collectors will think more and more in investment terms given the recent steep rise in coin values.

Yes, interesting, but I couldn't help think of the three times previous we have "been here before" - once in the late 60s with all those "investment opportunities" involving mint-sealed bags of 1967 pennies etc, then in the mid-70s when inflation sent investors flocking towards alternative forms, and then again in the early 80s with that silver fiasco and all those auction highs for rare coins.

I can't help feel that, like property prices, the "eBay phenomenon" (i.e. prices craze) won't last forever, and that it's always best to enjoy our collections, while at the same time trying to avoid paying top dollar during a rising market. Remember the long stagnation from the mid-80s to the late 90s?

A couple of years ago I bought a maundy set from the State from I beleive a widow selling off her late husbands investment portfolio. With the set a document arrived giving it's investment valuation from when it was purchased. I think it was for about just over $400, I paid just over $100 for the set on ebay. Coins as an investment, not for the faint hearted.

Gary D