London Coins Auction March 1St & 2Nd 2013

[Peter]

Off topic? us!!!

I'm still playing catch up with farthing varieties from ebay and fairs.

I've got a few non UK dealers who use Krause(sometimes Spink)

I'm looking forward to a good 2014 and wish the same for everyone.

[Accumulator]

This is all nicely going off topic as usual, but is it just me or is the title year irrelevant? 2014 is coming! We are not availing ourselves of a Tardis for that auction.

Everyone have a splendid numismatic Christmas hopefully you all get a chance to relax with some coins and best of luck in the upcoming auctions there seems to be a deluge of material to bid on.

Ooops… I'm living in the past as usual!

[Peckris]

Some, myself included think the collector market for lower priced classical bits is stale and perhaps falling away [down]. The middle ground coins then trying to hang on and the big spender coins in a seeming free rise.

The lovely bit is if somehow one has a coin bought at formerly "middle ground" prices and has now climbed to

"big spender" status. Then the pleasant dilemma is whether to sell or somehow hang on to it and hope for further gains...

Yeah but no but yeah but no but.. There are coins I bought for comparative peanuts in the mid or late 90s that I simply wouldn't part with - even though their value has gone up 5 to 10 times. 1903 halfcrown VF £26 (American dealer!); 1797 2d GEF flawless rim, traces of lustre £100; 1926ME penny from CC GVF/VF £39; and many more. It's partly the fact of owning what now turns out to be a real bargain, but also the fact that an upgrade would now cost silly money unless I was able to swap the "bargain" for a decent proportion of the upgrade price.

Edited December 24, 2013 by Peckris

[Accumulator]

Some, myself included think the collector market for lower priced classical bits is stale and perhaps falling away [down]. The middle ground coins then trying to hang on and the big spender coins in a seeming free rise.

The lovely bit is if somehow one has a coin bought at formerly "middle ground" prices and has now climbed to

"big spender" status. Then the pleasant dilemma is whether to sell or somehow hang on to it and hope for further gains...

I think it depends how you define 'lower price classical bits', 'middle ground coins' and 'big spender coins', Vicky?

Taking pennies, I'm not sure there's ever been a market (or ever will be) for common 20thC pennies in average circulated condition (which can mean EF+ for, say, 1967) or the Victorian washers you see on eBay. To me, these aren't 'low end' but 'unsaleable' coins. Given the ample supply, 'low end' should mean coins in considerably better than average condition, i.e. A/UNC for many 20C pennies and VF+ for the less common varieties (in the £5 - £50 range). I've not seen any evidence of prices falling away here.

You're certainly right about 'middle ground' (£50 - £500) and top end (£500+). These appear to be gaining with, as always, a sharp focus on the very best or rarest examples.