"Manufactured" Coins

[AEATON-migration]

Is there merit to a numatists view that manufactured coins will not establish a collector market, because at the end of the day they are JUST PRETTY BULLION ??

 

collect what you like.

 

[Here]

What do you mean by manufactured coin? When I first read your question, I thought you may be referring to the proposal to eliminate the copper penny and put a "bakelite" type plastic coin in it's place. But I'm not sure now.

 

 

Jerry

 

Added: Are you talking about the comment on the toned coin in a post across the street?

 

 

 

[Hoot]

Silver and gold rounds are just pretty bullion.

 

We have an odd situation in the U.S. where American Eagles (non-proof) are made for bullion purposes, but are widely collected as coins, particularly MS70 pieces. They are, however, provided a denomination.

 

Other stuff that you see in magazines by the Franklin and Gallery Mints are just bullion with a fancy finish. When you get tired of them, selling them for much more than melt can be a challenge.

 

Hoot

[AEATON-migration]

Are you talking about the comment on the toned coin in a post across the street?

 

I'm talking about Gold and Silver Mint State rounds, Legal Tender which are not intended for circulation.

 

I feel that these have artistic merit - like a Monet, and that they harness a countrys heritage and history. But they are not legitimate coins with the historical feel to them that you get in circulated currency. A circulated gold round in this condition from centuries back would be worth a killing for it's scarcity, but since every one of the modern bullion are likely to be in mint condition, it can be argued they would never be sought after. On the other hand each country does have a series of these, and there are alot of collectors going for them ...

 

[Scarsdale Coin]

I would say beaut is in the eye of the holder.....people collect various things....if they were very nice might be worth way more than melt.......

[Zoins]

It just comes down to what people feel like collecting. There's so much to choose from now that some things will find a following and others won't. If you want to get off the beaten track, it's good to do some research and try and understand the mentality of collectors in those segments.

 

Lots of countries put out NCLT bullion (I think this is what you're talking about) now, some of it trades for a premium to melt while a lot doesn't. American Eagles and China Pandas seem to do best from what I've seen. Many other countries issue NCLT bullion but I'm not sure if they've generated significant collector interest.

 

A while back I was surprised to learn that people paid a premium for Coca Cola 1 oz silver bars but then there are lots of people that collect Coca Cola memorabilia in general so there's a cross-over effect between Coca Cola collectors and silver art bar collectors. When I looked at these they were selling for $60-80 for a 1oz silver bar with some going over $100 I think.

 

I don't know if Franklin Mint products will ever sell for much more than generic bullion but one thing holding back the market may be a lack of a good reference. My gut tells me if someone puts together a reference and NGC starts slabbing them (it seems that NGC likes to have reference books and corresponding item numbers for the exonumia they slab), demand and prices will increase. Until then, demand will probably be low. There are several different kinds of Franklin Mint series, some were just random art while some series were commissioned by organizations across the US for commemorative events. I think this latter series is called SPI (Special Private Issues) which may have potential because they were specially commissioned commemoratives with very low mintages compared to US government commems.

 

One set of silver rounds that sells for a slight premium to silver bullion is the ones issued by the Royal Hawaiian Mint. They put out silver rounds and other metals/sizes for a variety of Hawaii themes. Many of their 1 oz silver rounds sell for $40-50 from what I've seen. A 30th Anniversary of Hawaii Statehood silver round recently sold for over $90 on the bay but that may be due to bidiots. The Royal Hawaiian Mint has stopped issuing medals for a while because it was headed by Bernard von Nothaus who spends most of his time on the Liberty Dollar now. Another set of silver art rounds that sells for a premium are the ones from the Alaska Mint, many of which depict Alaska wildlife and are issued one type per year. I think these sell for around $50-60 per 1oz silver round.

 

I haven't seen too much stuff from the Gallery Mint except replicas and I don't think the prognosis is good for straight copies/replicas because more can always be made. Partial copies, however, can do well. Recently a silver Gobrecht coin club medal from the 1960s sold for like $230. It was a silver proof about the size of a half dollar with his Seated Liberty design. It's pretty unusual to see coin club medals selling for much so I was surprised.

 

Most of the areas I mentioned are modern issues. Older exonumia of many types such as Conder tokens, Hard Times tokens, Civil War tokens, So-Called Dollars etc. have attracted collector bases. This is partially because they are older and also because they have reference books. It is unknown if there will be more collector interest in more modern issues as time goes on and these modern issues start to age more. The interesting thing about them is that their mintages are much lower than the stuff the US Mint has been pumping out so who knows.

 

There's lots of stuff out there from both a NCLT and a non-LT perspective. Because there's so much, the vast majority of it will not attract a collector base but some will. You just have to understand the specific collector dynamics for those areas.

[bsshog40]

I have purchased a couple of these bullion items. I have a 4oz $100 bill and a 4oz larger 2004 state quarter. I bought them strickly as a noveltiy for myself. It's silver bullion so I don't lose much there and then again they are a neat item of topic when showing a friend. I think they are ok for people who just want something different once in a while!

[mazorj-migration]

Is there merit to a numatists view that manufactured coins will not establish a collector market, because at the end of the day they are JUST PRETTY BULLION ??

 

collect what you like.

 

 

Yes, but even serious collectors may prize one of these things for esthetic or sentimental value. Selling them at a loss is not an issue because the holder wants it for other reasons. It's the ultimate form of the oft-repeated advice, be it for art or coins or whatever, that you should buy something because it has some specific appeal for you and not for its investment value.

 

(Yeah, I've got one or two of those, too. )

 

[just-john]

I have one of thought 1lb silver eagles it looks cool it would be nice if the mint made say 10o/z circulating American Eagles and sold them at spot prices and they would them go up and down with the market.TODAY the dollar hit it all time low against the EURO