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How Much Is A Recent Rarity Worth?

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I'd say the low to mid thousands of dollars (or pounds), unless off-metal strikes are more popular than I think they are.

Is collecting decimals much less popular than collecting predecimals though? It's hard to say as this board is obviously focussed on the predecimal side of things.

Off-metal strikes are always popular with type collectors, but gold off-metal strikes (as opposed to gilt) appear to interest collectors who would otherwise ignore the issue. This seems especially true in the US where just about any gold coin commands a significant premium, apparently as a safe investment vehicle. Many gold coins are therefore, perhaps unfortunately, more the domain of investors than collectors.

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I had a unique lead pattern 1982 20p which was sent to the designer with RM letter dated Nov 1981. Based on that and the price it sold for, I don't think there is a chance of unique decimals raising much more than £1000 - £2000. The main reason is because the demand isn't there and nor are the collectors with the money, compared to the older material. The coins don't have any kind of almost mythical status like 1933 pennies and American rarities etc either, and possibly never will.

Maybe in a couple of generations that will be different, and there are always people that seem to be able to afford and gladly pay well over the odds! With the gold 50 pees though, err, they are unique, but there are 29 of the bloody things! 29 unique 50 pees, each with a design as quickly bodged together as the next.

The RM do produce very limited numbers of platinum crowns with mintage of sometimes just 150 pieces. They seem to 'sell' (assuming anyone actually buys them) for about £6400 each! Who on earth buys them? Seriously, where are the people that buy them? Anyone here ever bought one? Anyone know anyone that knows someone that has bought one? Perhaps they go to museums or into collections of super-rich people. Which is odd, because normally super-rich people are quite clever and would probably invest in platinum by buying it much closer to the bullion value.

It would interest me how many of the 150 they actually sell, as the mintages the RM quote are usually maximum mintages. The expensive ones like that are made on demand.

From experience, I find that the people that collect modern coins don't actually have any idea about coins and they don't usually have much money either. They have a subscription with the RM, they get them in the post and put them in drawer after looking at them once. Then they die and the coins get inherited by someone who contacts me, and I tell them that they are just worth the bullion value (which is often more than the pre 2000s coins cost because, luckily gold/silver has gone up quite a bit in that time), despite the fact that the original clueless purchaser paid 3x the then bullion value for them!

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It's a difficult thing to say what the demand is for anything esoteric. An off metal strike will appeal to many denomination collectors as would a coin struck on the wrong flan (an so possibly off-metal) for an error collector. My collection is built around diversity, so any off-metal strike is potentially collectable if only to avoid repetition. eg. if I needed to tick a box with an example of a unique 50p and also needed an example designed by someone that only appeared on that 50p, then an off metal strike would enable me to avoid two different examples of nominally the same design.

If you collect Soho mint pieces, then there are many examples struck in different metals. Similarly with the Taylor restrikes. Ticking the 'Double Florin' box enables me to acquire the gold 1868 piece as the example, leaving the currency piece as a type example. There are many reasons why one might want want to include the oddballs if your collection isn't restricted to currency only.

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I had a unique lead pattern 1982 20p which was sent to the designer with RM letter dated Nov 1981. Based on that and the price it sold for, I don't think there is a chance of unique decimals raising much more than £1000 - £2000. The main reason is because the demand isn't there and nor are the collectors with the money, compared to the older material. The coins don't have any kind of almost mythical status like 1933 pennies and American rarities etc either, and possibly never will.

Maybe in a couple of generations that will be different, and there are always people that seem to be able to afford and gladly pay well over the odds! With the gold 50 pees though, err, they are unique, but there are 29 of the bloody things! 29 unique 50 pees, each with a design as quickly bodged together as the next.

The RM do produce very limited numbers of platinum crowns with mintage of sometimes just 150 pieces. They seem to 'sell' (assuming anyone actually buys them) for about £6400 each! Who on earth buys them? Seriously, where are the people that buy them? Anyone here ever bought one? Anyone know anyone that knows someone that has bought one? Perhaps they go to museums or into collections of super-rich people. Which is odd, because normally super-rich people are quite clever and would probably invest in platinum by buying it much closer to the bullion value.

It would interest me how many of the 150 they actually sell, as the mintages the RM quote are usually maximum mintages. The expensive ones like that are made on demand.

From experience, I find that the people that collect modern coins don't actually have any idea about coins and they don't usually have much money either. They have a subscription with the RM, they get them in the post and put them in drawer after looking at them once. Then they die and the coins get inherited by someone who contacts me, and I tell them that they are just worth the bullion value (which is often more than the pre 2000s coins cost because, luckily gold/silver has gone up quite a bit in that time), despite the fact that the original clueless purchaser paid 3x the then bullion value for them!

Yes, my father-in-law, who isn't a coin collector bought a platinum entente cordiale coin for about £2500.back in 2004. He also bought a whole load of gold sets and sovereign sets over a 3 year period, all of which he very very generously donated to my collection. I still have them, albeit stored in the bank. As far as numbers go, all I can say is that mine is number 205, so they must have sold (or perhaps only struck) at least this many.

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It is strange that people buy this.

I would much rather have a bit of G11 furniture and use it.

I have my g11 holster pistol....bought from a coin fair....love it.

My father gave me his stamp albums before he died they meant a lot to him.I have no interest :(

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It is strange that people buy this.

I would much rather have a bit of G11 furniture and use it.

I have my g11 holster pistol....bought from a coin fair....love it.

My father gave me his stamp albums before he died they meant a lot to him.I have no interest :(

Quite. Wifey wanted a clock. For not much more than the price of something fancy from John Lewis she got one from the late 1800s. Took a bit of tweaking, but it keeps good time now. And no batteries to run out!

But I guess everyone is different and some like old, some ultra-modern. If the RM products encourage a few people to collect coins seriously (of whatever denomination and dates of production) it's a good thing.

But I still have no idea what a gold 50p would go for. On the day it could be bullion value or thousands over. Neither would really surprise me. Though, assuming she got one too, I do hope the family of nine-year-old Florence Jackson never part with theirs!

http://www.royalmint.com/shop/london_2012_50p_sports_collection_athletics

Edited by TomGoodheart

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There will be one for sale in the next London Coins Auction.

Description "Fifty Pence 2012 Olympics velodrome cyclists Gold Piedfort 31 grams S 4961 one of only 2 minted the other in the Royal Mint Museum so this the only example available to commerce, proof or prooflke Unc with some contact marks. Seldom does an opportunity arise to aquire a coin of such low mintage, and thus must have a fantastic investment potential." Estimate £1.5k to £3k.

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There will be one for sale in the next London Coins Auction.

Description "Fifty Pence 2012 Olympics velodrome cyclists Gold Piedfort 31 grams S 4961 one of only 2 minted the other in the Royal Mint Museum so this the only example available to commerce, proof or prooflke Unc with some contact marks. Seldom does an opportunity arise to aquire a coin of such low mintage, and thus must have a fantastic investment potential." Estimate £1.5k to £3k.

"investment potential" suggests it will go up in price. Personally I just can't get that excited about modern coins, so it'll be interesting to see if it does ...

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I'm always amazed at how many olympic torches have appeared on eBay. Hundreds of them. Personally I'd hang on to something like that, but I suppose needs must! On that basis, I'm sure some of these 50p's will appear over time. Just a guess… £5k? Then again, get it slabbed MS70 and sell it as unique through Heritage to a US investor/collector, probably for £20k+!

One went for 5k and one went for 6k and so Accumulator guessed correctly. (But it is not a coin I would ever want to collect).

It is interesting that they have changed the original auction description from "Fifty Pence 2012 Olympics velodrome cyclists Gold Piedfort 31 grams S 4961 one of only 2 minted the other in the Royal Mint Museum so this the only example available to commerce, proof or prooflke Unc with some contact marks. Seldom does an opportunity arise to aquire a coin of such low mintage, and thus must have a fantastic investment potential."

to "Fifty Pence 2012 Olympics velodrome cyclists Gold Piedfort 31 grams S 4961 one of only 2 minted the other in the Royal Mint Museum so this the only example available to commerce, proof or prooflike Unc with some contact marks. Seldom does an opportunity arise to acquire a coin of such low mintage, so perhaps a fantastic investment potential."

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