Spink Stops Coin Dealing......

[VickySilver]

Well, not sure if we will see a flood, but you sure are right about lack of material at coin fairs and ebay being really poor pickings for quite some while now. Collectors have to change strategies, but precious few options in any case. Interesting times...

[davidrj]

Well, not sure if we will see a flood, but you sure are right about lack of material at coin fairs and ebay being really poor pickings for quite some while now. Collectors have to change strategies, but precious few options in any case. Interesting times...

Bun penny upgrades getting too expensive for me - why I've changed focus to French copper and bronze - still bargains to find (especially if you buy outside France) - low mintages - tons of varieties to discover and find - catalogues such as Le Franc and Droulers tons better than Spink - plus it challenges by O level French (taken way back in 1961)

[jaggy]

Yes. It feels as if it used to be a chain. (Or a pyramid or whatever ..) where people collected a few coins off ebay, saw that dealers had nicer examples and bought a few. Then a coin with provenance turned up at an auction and they maybe push the boat out .. funding their purchase from coins of perfectly acceptable mid-range collectable condition that they sold on or back to the dealers?

Nowadays it's as if auction houses expect unknown buyers to pop up and buy half of Lockett's finest coins. And for all I know, maybe that is what's been happening. But that causes two problems in that it leaves nothing for the collector who wishes to gradually improve their collection. And I can't help but think that anyone that buys heavily into 'prestige' coins with no background interest, could just as easily dump it all and turn to wines or classic cars or whatever the next investible turns out to be at the drop of a hat ..

Though of course, all the sorts of coins that used to be in the Circular can't have just disappeared .. they must be somewhere ..

Just a couple of thoughts here. Stock market risk and low interest rates have pushed some investors towards coins and other 'investibles'. So there is a bit of a bubble which might burst when interest rates start to move up again and/or/if we see a sustained multi-year bull market.

But, the advent of the internet has allowed auction houses to widen their market worldwide. Online and real time bidding means more buyers chasing coins. That will also push prices up. Can't comment too much about ebay as I have never used it but, I imagine, that will add to the phenomenon. And I don't see this aspect of buying and selling coins going away. It will mitigate any bubble bursting if/when it happens.

However, I cannot help feeling that the higher end of the market is more investing than collecting. It might be a strategic mistake to abandon the middle ground as that, I think, is where most collectors are and where the market is likely to be the most robust.

The last few auctions have seen relatively little in terms of my 'target buys'. But I am willing to play the long game and see how things develop.

[Bernie]

I read the question, what will happen to the dealers ?

Answer: most dealers place anything rare into auctions to get the very latest best price.

Some people are buying coins purely as investment. Because of the high prices they are willing to pay, eventually all high grade rareties will be vacuumed up and only the mediocre coins will be available. Many of these collector investors are so wealthy that they will never want or need to sell them.

Price rises aren't a certainty. If demand drops significantly the prices will fall. Prices are kept high by the demand from only a very few collectors of each denomination. When big collections come up forsale or auction, it is quite possible that prices could be very reasonable due to insufficient demand at that particular time.

Accumulating a good collection should be treated as a lifetime challenge.

I just wanted to share my thoughts