Sleepers

[MikeKing]

I sort of love sleepers, and I say sort of, because, my big question is....

 

How long will they sleep??

 

 

That's the question!

 

[like, if they sleep till I'm dead and buried,.....what's the point?]

[Stanley]

Mike...Sleepers sleep until there woke up.

[WinstonWare]

Until enough are collected that they become difficult to obtain

[123cents]

Sleepers will sleep until the collecting community find them desirable to collect.

[MBA101]

Get as many different sleepers as you can. One day, one of them just may wake up. Of course, they all could just be dead...

[cladking]

Until enough are collected that they become difficult to obtain

 

The problem is demand.

 

If a coin has no demand then the tiny supply is "sufficient" to hold the price in check, but there's more to it than this. In many cases there will be people who know the coin is rare and will seek it at almost any price. They either need it for a collection or as speculation against the day that it's widely recognized as a scarce and desirable coin. But, unless they advertise widely then their desire to own it (or many of them) has no effect on the price. It might list inb the guides for less than $1 and the collector willing to pay a great deal but the price stays low because there is no supply and virtually no demand.

 

This situation is common in world moderns where most unc coins are either distressingly common or quite scarce. It is often compounded by the fact that those seeking the coins are well aware that the possibility of hoards exists.

 

A case in point would be the '70 or '81 Indian 1R coins. These are nearly impossible to locate no matter how much effort is expended but they are $1 coins. The face value is low so and they are of more recent mintage so there could be large undistributed hoards.

 

I find it remarkable that one can easily put together unc sets of almost anything before WWII though many will be pricey. Unc sets of post-WWII coins are often difficult or impossible but are extremely cheap. Every year though there are more and more of these cheap coins being recognized as scarce.

[rrantique]

My sleepers

I should have said my pick for some sleepers.

[TomB]

I think every sleeper I ever purchased had actually been euthanized instead.

[bsshog40]

Those sleepers of your irvin can sleep at my house!!

[rrantique]

Those sleepers of your irvin can sleep at my house!!

 

Somebody needs to wake ol foghorn up Bobby.

[MarkFeld]

In all seriousness, "sleepers" don't usually become known as such, quickly or easily. Rather, they earn it, and over a long period of time. I know of very few, if any "sleepers" which lose that status, other than by a large promotion and/or market manipulation.

 

Buy "sleepers" if/because you like them, but don't expect them to wake up. If you wait for that to happen you are almost certain to be frustrated and/or lulled to sleep, yourself.

[World Colonial]

South Africa ZAR were sleepers before I started collecting them and to some extent after I did. But I could just not afford most of them five years ago and now that they gone up in price a lot (high quality ones that is) , I still cannot afford many of them.