Are Circulated coins going up??

[bsshog40]

I use Pro-coin software for my inventory. It gets it's value updates from the PCGS guide every month. This month, 03/08, I noticed alot of climbing values for Lincolns, roosevelts, & and Qtrs. SBA's and Sac's rose also. But of the first 3 listed, I seen values actually climb 3 times from what they were the month before. Now I know that the PCGS guide is higher than the actual market, but my main concern is why are these coins rising so much? They aren't silver, so the rise in silver isn't causing this. Anyone have any ideas? Are all metal prices going up?

[Lem]

I may have an answer for the penny but for the rest I have no clue. It maybe do to the 100th anniversary at the Lincoln penny. Again just a guess.

[EZ_E]

Now I know that the PCGS guide is higher than the actual market

 

Bobby, this statement is no where near true when referring to early type. If I could get nice, original, eye-appealing coins at what the PCGS price guide lists them, then I'd be a happy camper. (thumbs u

[bajablu]

The PCGS guide is way off on alot of prices for different series. Take the matte proof Lincolns. Try getting them for anywhere close to PCGS prices. If you can you should buy all you can!

 

I feel if its a nice coin its going to be going up more. The market just seems to be raging forward and nice stuff is in demand.

 

I wish I could find more nice circulated stuff.

[DC Dawg]

I use Pro-coin software for my inventory. It gets it's value updates from the PCGS guide every month. This month, 03/08, I noticed alot of climbing values for Lincolns, roosevelts, & and Qtrs. SBA's and Sac's rose also. But of the first 3 listed, I seen values actually climb 3 times from what they were the month before. Now I know that the PCGS guide is higher than the actual market, but my main concern is why are these coins rising so much? They aren't silver, so the rise in silver isn't causing this. Anyone have any ideas? Are all metal prices going up?

It's the copper market. The Mint does use a lot of copper in their copper-nickel coins. While the cent has a .050 copper coating, the rest of the silver-looking coinage is .750 copper and .250 nickel. The Sac/Prez dollars are .770 copper, .120 zinc, .070manganese, and .040 nickel).

 

Just from a cursory look, it appears that inventories are down... way down! Take a look at these inventory charts from Kitco:

 

The first chart is from the Commodities Exchange (ComEX) at the NY Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) showing inventory dropping since February 25. The second chart is the London Mercantile Exchange (LME) that shows a lot of depletion of copper stocks in the last 30 days.

 

Copper is used for a lot of things, including coins, ammunition, electric wire, water pipes, and so on. Copper is the only material allowed for electronic medical devices because it is the only metal that delivers a consistent level of power with low resistance. I areas where fiber optics do not exist (about 70-percent of the country), the telecom wires are made from copper.

 

It comes down to the basic law of supply and demand. The supply is shrinking but the demand is steady--or it could be rising--thus, as the supply and demand curve seeks equilibrium, the low supply with the high demand will drive the price up. A great description on the basics of supply and demand can be found on Forbes' Investopedia. Based on the law of supply and demand, the prices are going up:

 

 

It does not surprise me that prices are going up.

 

NOTE TO FUTURE READERS: The images are being linked directly from Kitco on March 9, 2008. They will look different in the future. On this date, the inventory charts what is described above and the price chart showing a steady increase (with some spikes) for the last 29 days.

 

BTW: It is hard to take PCGS prices too seriously. They can be 20-33 percent higher than other guides and assumes that the coins are graded by PCGS. It borders on market manipulation, which could be seen as anti-competitive.

 

Scott

[Dcoin]

I think the issue may be in that many collectors are being priced out of many parts of the hobby. So, what's a budget minder collector to do? Focus on the coins you just mentioned above, which are easily found.

 

Collectors rarely just stop collecting, but their habits are influenced by the price of the product.

 

[bsshog40]

I think you may have a point also here Scott with the price of copper. Good point to there Dcoin, the majority of my coins are merely pocket finds and some low-grade circs off ebay. This was quite a change in values that I have not seen the last 2 years.

[DC Dawg]

I think you may have a point also here Scott with the price of copper. Good point to there Dcoin, the majority of my coins are merely pocket finds and some low-grade circs off ebay. This was quite a change in values that I have not seen the last 2 years.

Hey Bobby... I think that most of the collectors out there are change pickers of buy lower price coins. When I was in Baltimore last week, I could not get near the junk boxes! And the ones that I did get access to were so badly picked over that there was not anything worth buying.

 

There is nothing wrong with collecting like this. In fact, I have Lincoln Cent folders that are full of pocket change and junk box finds. Now that I have the Buffalo Nickel Tribute coinboard from Whitman, I will be junk box diving to fill in the holes for that.

 

It is still fun and that's what collecting is all about!

 

Scott

[bsshog40]

I agree with you Scott. It thrills me whenever I can fill a Dansco hole with a coin that I got back in change. I think that it takes you to the heart of collecting instead of having the money to purchase every coin you have. I agree that some coins just have to be purchased if you don't have them, but I can look at most my Dansco holes and know that there are some of them still running around out there somewhere.

[michael]

yes choice scarcer and more popular circulated type coins pre 1880 are going up as there is strong demand.

 

and circulated coins that are reaLLY eyeappealling and choice for their grades what i like to call "gem" circulated are in and always have been in extremely high demand............ and for many of these coins the pcgs price guides are really understated.... for example choice, eye appealling examples of circulated type pre 1807 and especially so pre 1800 type along with really choice examples of copper colonial type coins

 

 

[CHABSENTIA]

I don't know about your area but in my area of Florida there are crooks that tear out Copper Plumbing in abandoned houses.

 

This reached a new low m last week here when I saw on the News that Theives ripped out the Copper lines for a Kidney Dialysis center here in town.If it hadn't been discovered in time it could have resulted in serious problems for the Patients.

[bsshog40]

I hear about this stuff all the time Chab!! It's pitiful. Nothing worse than a thief!!

[jtryka]

Last summer we had a lot of problems with theives stealing the copper wiring from farmers' irrigation systems. They said everytime it happened it would cost the farmers a few thousand dollars to repair, so many started installing security cameras on the rigs.

[chinook]

Darn inflation.

[DC Dawg]

Darn inflation.

Darn crappy economic policies!

[silvermonger-migration]

I agree with you Scott. It thrills me whenever I can fill a Dansco hole with a coin that I got back in change. I think that it takes you to the heart of collecting instead of having the money to purchase every coin you have. I agree that some coins just have to be purchased if you don't have them, but I can look at most my Dansco holes and know that there are some of them still running around out there somewhere.

This is what coin collecting is all about! Some of the finest collections are/were from pocket change and trading with fellow collectors.

Paying good money for modern coins in a piece of plastic that have an intrinsic value of 11ç and of which several billion are minted each year is incomprehensible to me. I call them TV coins.

To each his own, I have tunnel vision for Morgans and that would be way boring for many other people so I cant criticize what other folks find collectable.

 

Circulated prices going up? YES

raw coins going up? YES

at least thats what I have observed over the last 6-8 mo's in Morgans and somewhat with Peace $s

[EZ_E]

Last summer we had a lot of problems with theives stealing the copper wiring from farmers' irrigation systems. They said everytime it happened it would cost the farmers a few thousand dollars to repair, so many started installing security cameras on the rigs.

 

Well, tarnation, Jeff! I done plumb thought that the worsest problems in yonder y'ur neck of the woods was when you lost yer sweetheart to a coon or a fox. But, at least there's more hens in the chicken house...

[RareSov]

Lower priced coins (pocket finds and cheap ebay buys) are guaranteed to see big % rises when copper goes up like it is.

 

Coins that already cost heaps (some of mine) are unaffected by the rise in gold prices

[jtryka]

Victor, you make fun of them farmers all you want, but when they're chasing you with a shotgun off their porch muttering something about making their daughter an honest woman, we can talk!

 

Actually, in reading through all this, I spent a good 2 hours at the local coin show last Saturday to buy $11 worth of Lincolns and Jeffersons as upgrades for my albums, most were in the half off box! I doubt I paid more than 50c for a single coin, and all were uncs from the 40s to the 70s. It may have been a little money, but when I was done I felt like I had accomplished something.