Coins of the Future?

[WoodenJefferson]

 

 

I was going through some miscellaneous raw coins the other day and came across this 1985-P Washington Quarter. Looking at it, I thought, why in the world did I keep this particular quarter since I am not really a modern collector?

 

It kind of made me wonder, perhaps at the time, some of older coins that I now possess were "set aside" many, many years ago just like this one, without any thought to their future value.

 

Even though this is a clad version of a later date Washington Quarter, I feel that one day, someone, somewhere out there in the future will prize this coin as much as I prize some of my old coins.

 

We are in essence preserving history without even thinking of it at times…one of the quirks of our hobby that transcends for the next generation.

[MunkyMan95]

Think back to the turn of the 20th century. They had the Indian cents, V nickels, etc. They never thought, not in a million years, that these might be worth something some day. Guess what! They were.

 

I firmly believe that our coins will be worth something to future collectors. Especially series like the Presidential Dollars, and Statehood quarters.

[zrlevin]

Look at the differences in mintages, Chad. Will they be worth something? I think not.

[supertooth]

Woody---- Back when they took the silver out of our coins, I literally hated our government. But I still had the holes to fill in my blue Whitman folders---so I saved one or two from each date and mint. It got to about 1973---year I graduated from dental school---and I was loosing interest fast. So, I started a little box of newer coins as they came out each year. Just tried to get a P and a D---but didn't really care. Today, I think about that box. Maybe one day I'll look thru it?? Those coins are 35--40 years old now. Time does fly. Some of the nickel lovers would probably like to go thru that box. Bob [supertooth]

[MunkyMan95]

Look at the differences in mintages, Chad. Will they be worth something? I think not.

 

The mintages now are astounding, I know - but what if we change to aluminum coins, or some other metal? Clad will be a thing of the past then, and I think more desirable to collectors.

[bsshog40]

Depends on how high aluminum gets.

[cladking]

I didn't think anyone could hate clad more than I when it came out. It wasn't just a cheap replacement for good silver but represented much more. There was a date freeze in effect (two really), so there would soon be no variety at all in circulation. In five years there would be no old coins, no silver and just a lot of worthless junk that seemed emblemic of what was wrong with the country. The government didn't even change the designs to distinguish the junk from the silver which meant they were trying to fool the population.

 

I suppose it was inflation that changed my mind more than anything. Sure the coins were still worthless junk by 1972 but by then they had the spending power of worthless junk so it came out even. They also had long since abandoned the date freezes and the coins had gotten much more diverse, and by extension, interesting. The FED even began to rotate their stocks of coins so it was a sure thing that the coins would wear pretty evenly.

 

There was no certainty that people would ever collect this stuff but already there were signs of interest. The new Ike was being hoarded to some small extent and the half dollar had recently been changed to clad as well. Mint marks had been restored, half dollar and nickel production resumed in Philly, and the San Francisco mint ceased nickel production. A few varieties were beginning to be reported even though it would later be learned there were already dozens of important coins issued.

 

Initially my interest was a speculative interest but over the decades my primary interest became a collecting interest. (at least until I started promoting them).

 

Today there are still very few people who collect the moderns but the number simply keeps growing. Sure, I always imagined the interest would be sparked some day and there would be a huge number of new collectors suddenly. This seems far more improbable with each year that goes by, but demand just keeps growing. It might be hard to see for an outsider to these coins because on the surface they appear to be dependent on outside forces. The prices seem to skyrocket and then plummet earthward as collectors move from one hot series to the next. In actuality most of these price moves are caused by a very low number of people who believe something must be scarce and find to their dismay that they are wrong. Not that these things that shoot up are necessarily common, just that they are common compared to the current demand.

 

'85-P quarters are actually a pretty good coin. They put 1 3/4 million into mint sets so it won't be scarce in the foreseeable future but most of those were not very attractive coins. No small bust '85-P quarters went into the sets and very few rolls were saved so this would be a very desirable variety in unc. (I even hold onto VF's)

 

The pictured '85 appears to be the common variety but it's in uncommon condition.

 

It's still hard for me to believe people won't want these coins and there always seem to be more signs of expanding interest. Bu rolls of this date bring only $27 even though they are rarely seen. The main reason the price is so low is that most roll coins for this date are very unattractive.

[Dcoin]

Lets face it... if it's a matter of making money then sell the coin and buy a good mutual fund. However, if it's a matter of collecting then keep it safe and tell your grandkids how we usto carry little piece of metal around called cash.

[JL3Eleven-migration]

 

I was going through some miscellaneous raw coins the other day and came across this 1985-P Washington Quarter. Looking at it, I thought, why in the world did I keep this particular quarter since I am not really a modern collector?

 

It kind of made me wonder, perhaps at the time, some of older coins that I now possess were "set aside" many, many years ago just like this one, without any thought to their future value.

 

Even though this is a clad version of a later date Washington Quarter, I feel that one day, someone, somewhere out there in the future will prize this coin as much as I prize some of my old coins.

 

We are in essence preserving history without even thinking of it at times…one of the quirks of our hobby that transcends for the next generation.

 

And just think that most people are modern haters and don't think about how I'm collecting and grading these coins now for cost and will sell them to their grandchildern for a lot of money later.

[Revenant]

I think it's short-sighted to say that moderns are worthless or pointless to collect, but I'm only collected certain things of the moderns (what I like of course) and I still get some old coins too. It's all about balance.