Low mintages don

In the past I have felt the need to get on my soapbox and shout to the world my opinions and insights in regards to different numismatic subjects.

You have graciously printed some of these rantings, opinions and views in your publication and I thank you.

I once again find I can no longer hold back my fingers and thus I again find myself with the need to voice an observation.

History is destined to repeat itself again and again. What one generation learns must be relearned by future generations. Reading about something can never replace the act of experiencing a thing.

So it is with the current craze in 2009 coinage.

I was only a child in the 1960s, but I well remember the 1950-D nickel and 1955 coin frenzy.

As we who were there can attest, the prices paid for some of these coins at that time were to say the least outragous.

So many rolls from these years were hoarded that even today many of those coins are sold at very small premium.

That said, we come to the present day coin market.

With individuals ever looking for a way to make a buck, we have come full circle.

Yes, Jefferson nickel and Roosevelt dime mintages will be lower this year than any other in the past 50 of so years, but does that mean they are rare?

Is the new collector or investor in store for what the older, experienced collector sor investors hopefully learned 50 years ago?

I think they are.

The large premiums being paid online and at some of the shows for 2009 nickels and dimes can only drop in cost to value ratio.

If 80to 90 percent of the entire mintage is stored away by investors in hopes of future increase in value it will take a very long time to recoup your cost once the frenzy has subsided.

As we learned from the 1982-83 coinage, a large mintage does not aways mean a lack of value and demand in the future.

The less the number of coins surviving in high grades is more indictative of their increase in resale value in the future.

If the majority of coins from a certain year are placed into circulation the greater is the potential for a price increase down the road irregardless of the mintage numbers.

Look at the resale value of 1986-D cent rolls. Who would have imagined they would be selling for $30+ per roll in 1986.

This is because few were saved even though the mintage was 4,442,866,698 per the 2007 Redbook.

I think I will wait and see when and if I receive my nickel or dime in pocket change this year or next.

As Jefferson nickels and Roosevelt dimes collections have been reluctant to increase in cost or value over the life of the two series I see no great need to be in a hurry to fill that hole in my coin folders.

That said, good luck to those persons who will and have invested large amounts of their hard earned cash in the hope of making a quick profit now and more so to those individuals who hope to in the future.

Nicholas A. Szempruch is a collector in Sarasota, Fla.
Viewpoint is a forum for the expression of opinion on a variety of numismatic subjects. The opinions expressed here are not necessarily those of Numismatic News.
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