Collectors Active Despite Uncertainty

Interest rates have been going up. The stock market has been going down. The Federal Reserve continues to be busy taming inflation. How is all this impacting both the hobby and the business of coins? The recent drubbing experienced by precious metals is having an impact on the number of purchases of gold, silver and platinum bullion coins. There is uncertainty in this market, with some dealers suggesting that clients buy the dip, while some speculators are backing off from taking that advice, believing this could be more than a short-term price decline. Collectors remain active regardless of the direction intrinsically valued coins take, but without investors the interest in these coins slows.

Money for scarce to rare coins may originate from savings and from profits made in the equity markets, but as Courtney Reagan of CNBC said on July 29, “High end consumers aren’t pulling back.” Not only are high end consumers looking for coins that could be called “the best of the best” pulling back, but with several important coin collections now scheduled to hit the auction block in the near future the fuel for this fire is already there. The owners of such coins wouldn’t take the chance of auctioning these rarities unless they are confident the coins will realize strong prices.

The U.S. Mint continues to struggle to keep up with demand for not only collector coins, but for circulation coins as well. This demonstrates that the cashless society and cryptocurrency market proponents will have some impact on our currency, but coins (and bank notes) are not about to go away. Neither will the coin collecting hobby. We may lose some of the bullion investors if the precious metals market continues to decline, but the bigger picture indicates that the hobby continues to thrive.