Baby Boomers will flood the market?

[Dry]

A topic on investing got me to thinking about this again. I think we will see a ton of coins re-enter the market in the next 10-20+ years due to Baby boomers collections being sold. Will this flood the market and create reduced prices? Or will there be enough younger collectors waiting in the wings to scoop up these coins at a premium?

Sorry if this topic has already been covered.

[nwcs]

Hope so. I'm in the process of selling off most of my silver coins while we are in this part of the market. (Keeping the gold coins ) I think I'm going to play a waiting game and wait till this coin market hits a bottom and start buying pieces again at cheaper prices.

 

Neil

[cladking]

Right now there are many millions of baby boomers reenterring the market. It remains to be seen how advanced they become during their time in the hobby but they are acquiring vast numbers of entry level coins of primarily the classic types. They are buying some moderns, but primarily their interests lie in the older coins. And some of these people are already quite advanced and are buying significant classics.

 

This is becoming a major driving force in the hobby but is barely underway. The young collectors are not there in the numbers or with the wealth necessary to maintain prices at this time, but this will be a long process. By the time the rate of coins arriving on the market peaks we will need them to be there.

[proofs03-migration]

I think the silver coins will be highly increased down the road compared to purchase price. Just a gut feeling. It seems the collector coins will be minted in gold and platinum, and silver coinage will stop, as in the Silver Eagle. I don't have solid proof to back up my opinion, it just seems to point in that direction.

 

Steve

[Oldtrader3]

The markups on silver Commems and Proof Sets from the Mint are pretty high. I do not think that the Mint will slay that golden goose.

[proofs03-migration]

Unless you don't have the product, and you have a surplus of other precious metal.

 

Steve

[291fifth]

Are baby boomer's who originally collected coins back in the early 1960's really re-entering the market in numbers that make a difference? Personally, I don't see it.

 

My own gut feeling is that coin collecting as a hobby has been slowly fading over the past 40 years. The fade will accelerate as the baby boomers reach their 70's. This accelerated fade will begin in about 15 years and continue for 15 more years. The coin collecting market of the mid-2030's will be vastly different than what we see today. A great amount of the lower and mid-range material will lose nearly all its value. Can't happen? Look at circulated Jefferson nickels today versus the early 1960's. When I started collecting in 1961 circ. Jeffersons were red hot and many dates, not just the keys and semi-keys, were saleable. Today most of those same dates are nothing but spending money.

[proofs03-migration]

It is easier to get the coin you need today than of yesterday. When I was looking for say a 1909-S VDB, it gave me a mission and allowed for time to take its natural course. Now comes Ebay, Coin Vault, HSN, and the Internet, and so on. The finding is easier, just quality is the question, and that will take people who have been in this hobby a long time. Digital printing of coins will take over what we as good coin collectors already know what to do. Maybe we can't see as fast as a computer can, but we can do more than the computer.

 

Steve

[cladking]

In 1995 indian cents were about $20 per roll and were very difficult to sell at the wholesale level. They often had to be exceptional in some way or presented at just the right time to get full value. By 2000 these were up to $50 per roll and there were numerous wholesalers clamoring for them. Today the excitement may be faded somewhat but these are going for up to $75 per roll. There is a similar story in most all the entry level coins and for the main part it is not the sort of people who are collecting the states issues who are buying these. Many of all the people who were buying them a few years ago have advanced in their interests and are looking at other coins now, but remember, it takes most folks many years to go from collecting from change and buying a few cheap coins to forming more "important" collections.