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The old coins were worth collecting


Guest Stujoe

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The expressed view is a popular one. Sometimes I agree with it also. On the other hand, it reeks of simple resistance to change. In the US the days of finding that low mintage rarity in change are pretty much gone. In fact, what low-mintage coins since '65 are there? The occaisional burst in popularity that draws attention to some mint commemorative of relatively low mintage aside, I don't know of any standard issue US coins with low mintage. The most recent dates of Kennedys and Sacs may be the closest, but they are supposed to be unreleased.

 

Still, there are some sound reasons to check your change and to collect from change:

 

There are the varieties - e.g. the "AM" zincolns.

 

There are the errors - I actually received this slightly off center SQ in change!

 

Finally, there are the super-grades. At first, I abhored this practice...buy a bunch of rolls and cherry pick the MS69s and have them slabbed. I don't do this and I think it is probably a pretty risky endeavor investment-wise, but still, it's a legitimate collecting angle (well, depending upon how you feel about having pocket change coins slabbed).

 

So, I guess I figure - go with the present and let the past take care of itself.

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I'm afraid i find modern money hard to equate with. I collect for history, modern money hasn't aquired enough of it to interest me yet, give it 200 years and i might be interested in collecting coins from the 1990s, the only snag is i'll be dead. If reincarnation is an option then in 200 years time i'll be sat there on a board not unlike this saying 1990s coins were awesome and 2190s coins are modern rubbish.

 

I care nothing for errors. In my informative years it was drilled into me by coin dealers and my father alike that the stuff to go for was the best available, the best grade, the most perfect strike, the roundest, most unclipped, fullest specimen i could afford and i've stuck by this. Buying coins that are imperfect seems illogical to me, it goes against the very grains of my upbringing and intuition in this hobby. Buying errors to me is like buying a cleaned coin, it's not the best out there.

 

 

With regards to slabbing and MS69 i find this to be an artificial approach to collecting. It's not about collecting the coin but more about number chasing and collecting plastic tombs.

 

 

I much prefer the variety approach with modern coins, the wide lettering variants and things like that. This i think warrants collecting in it's own right. But your mileage may vary.

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The expressed view is a popular one.  Sometimes I agree with it also.  On the other hand, it reeks of simple resistance to change.  In the US the days of finding that low mintage rarity in change are pretty much gone. In fact, what low-mintage coins since '65 are there?

 

Resistance to unlawful change for the worse is no vice. The coinage went in a bad direction with the Lincoln cent, and worsened with each new obverse image of a politician. It finally went into the toilet completely when all precious metal content was eliminated. The reason that low mintage coins became a thing of the past after '65 is that the coins became worth many times more ( by virtue of unconstitutional legal tender law) than they cost to strike. Congress no longer had to find the bullion to use for striking more coins, they could simply authorize the purchase of cheap industrial metal stock and happily expand the money supply by striking hundreds of millions of unneeded coins. All of that is unlawful, if one still regards the US Constitution as the supreme law of the land. Unfortunately only a few politicians have read the document.

 

The designs could only go downhill with the value of the coins. The new bullion rounds are worthy of hoarding and their designs are much better than the designs of the current crap coinage, being borrowed form earlier coin issues. That being said, I'm completely with the author, and I don't mind being called 'resistant to change'.

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Post-65 is the modern equivalent are the Post-Constantine Roman coinage.

 

Issued in debased/base metals in huge quantities, they will be left behind in the billions for the future to collect.

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