Rhino Posted May 5, 2011 Report Share Posted May 5, 2011 In the past few days, silver crashed 30%. And I noticed on other forums and on eBay that there was an immediate reaction from US collectors who are stocked in Morgans, 90% halves, Peace dollars, etc. etc. And eBay showed an instant reaction to silver prices, with final auctions ending within cents of what the price of silver was for a coin. But what about Russian coins? Are they affected as strongly by the price of silver? In my opinion, the answer is no, but I would like to hear other people's opinions, too. For example, even though a common Nicholas II 50 Kopek coin is only 0.2893 ASW, I've never seen it sell for $9.83, EVER, no matter what the price of silver is. Same thing with even common, worn 1 Roubles.... If you guys agree that Russian coins are immune to price fluctuations of silver, why do you think that is? Popularity? Demand for Russian coins? Scarcity? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saor Alba Posted May 6, 2011 Report Share Posted May 6, 2011 It used to back in the early 1990s before Russian collectors started buying up gold and silver like nobodies business. I can remember when 5 ruble coins of Tsar Nikolai going for $45. Now price of gold is factor, but they have a premium as a collectable now that was not a factor then when they were treated as mere old bullion. I try and find USA dealers with that "all Russian or USSR coins are junk" mentality so I can buy up rares for melt value only. It is not an easy proposition anymore though, people are getting wise. Collectors in Russia are driving prices now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saor Alba Posted May 6, 2011 Report Share Posted May 6, 2011 Sorry for multiple replies on a really slow site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhino Posted May 6, 2011 Author Report Share Posted May 6, 2011 It used to back in the early 1990s before Russian collectors started buying up gold and silver like nobodies business. I can remember when 5 ruble coins of Tsar Nikolai going for $45. Now price of gold is factor, but they have a premium as a collectable now that was not a factor then when they were treated as mere old bullion. I try and find USA dealers with that "all Russian or USSR coins are junk" mentality so I can buy up rares for melt value only. It is not an easy proposition anymore though, people are getting wise. Collectors in Russia are driving prices now. Makes sense. And since I think it's safe to say that popularity of Russian coins will not decline, I guess the price of silver won't be affecting our collections any time soon, since it seems the numismtic premium "catches" or prevents any decline that might happen from metal price going down... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gxseries Posted May 7, 2011 Report Share Posted May 7, 2011 Somewhat true, somewhat not true. Russian coins do get affected by metal prices but it's usually at a higher premieum than other world coins. When silver hit 40USD/oz, there were sellers I knew that were weary of holding onto silver and just sold it for melt value. That included some low mintage commemorative Russian silver coins. The way I see it is, high metal prices actually caused the mints to totally scrap out ambitious designs on various precious metals including palladium and platinum. Looking at the historical high metal prices as well as the economic back then, that is the conclusion that I came up to. When the Soviet Union struck various coins for the 1980 Moscow Olympics, they practically struck millions at the worst time ever - that's right, silver at more than 50 dollars and that doesn't include inflation. The same with gold, worst time ever to strike coins. There's untold stories that dealers were forced to melt down coins at scrap value because they couldn't afford to be tied down with too much metals in their inventories. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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