I just started working at a local bank, and I was surprised at how many people came in looking for specific coins, and rolls of them. I can understand getting one of the presidential quarters for your personal collection, but if someone comes in and wants one or more rolls of them, they’ve got to be buying them for another reason, which I am assuming is profit. Are there so few of these coins (state quarters, presidential dollars, etc) that they will be worth something in the years to come?
I understand that for some it is just a hobby and probably a lot of fun. I’d like to know what some serious coin collectors think of the quarter and dollar coin programs, and if there is a possibility for some serious profit.
Right now, in state quarters, we’re paying $30 for uncirculated rolls of Georgia quarters. About $20 for Tennessee and Connecticut. These prices are for today, and probably won’t ever be there again in 5 years.
They’re being promoted to the unwashed masses. That’s the demand side. When that disappears, so does the premium.
(not a collector as such, but I know a lot about it after doing research to find out the value of old coins my grandparents left me. They weren’t worth much, darn it )
A lot of people I’ve met tend to think that if a coin is different from the norm or more than 30 or so years old it’s got to be worth a fortune, but usually they aren’t. Or they think that if they hold onto them long enough they will be worth a fortune… someday. They probably won’t.
State quarters were minted in such large numbers that they won’t be worth much once the wave of “Finish Your State Quarter Collection Now, They’ll Never Be Minted Again!” dies down as Samclem said. The Sacajawea and presidential dollars aren’t made in the same numbers, but they’re common enough that they won’t be worth a whole lot unless they’re very high quality, like proof sets, or have “collectible” flaws (like there were a few coins that made it into circulation that had the George Washington quarter on the front and the Sacajawea dollar reverse).
That said I collected the state quarters and WEstward Journey nickels myself, and I liked how excited people and especially kids were about it at first. The designs on coins hadn’t changed in so long that your loose change suddenly got interesting again. But I knew I’d never get rich from it.
My father in law collects coins semi-professionally - but he specializes in ancient coins. Even then, just because its 3,000 years old doesn’t mean its worth much - and if it is you are probably going to pay pretty close to what its worth. In his case, he’s been collecting for about thirty years, and over that time has been able to take advantage of market changes.
In fact, somewhere around here I have a coin minted around the time Christ was born - its worth $5… My son took it to school in second grade as a show and tell.
I have a collection of U.S. “Type” coins . . . one coin of each design minted throughout U.S. history. When I can afford it, I buy one I’m missing, or upgrade to one in better condition. In general the collection is probably worth several times what I originally spent, but that’s over about 4 decades. And some coins have depreciated over time. If I were doing it strictly as an investment, I’d be certifiably insane.
And no, I don’t collect state quarters or presidentials.
For the vast majority of people, collect coins if collecting coins gives you enjoyment. If it doesn’t, don’t. It’s a hobby, not something that will make you rich or give you a secure old age, and expecting it to be anything but a hobby will likely end in disappointment.
Some coins are worth not much more than the value of the metal (usually gold or silver) that they are made of, so investing in them is essentially investing in the metal. Other coins have a rarity value. However, I doubt if state quarters, even in uncirculated condition, are ever likely to have that rarity value, and they are likely to be always worth less than 25 cents as scrap metal.
If I had an uncirculated nickel for every time some homeless guy came in and asked for the coin pricing guides because he found a silver dime and says “How much you think a thing like THAT would be worth?” and I say “Probably ten cents” and then he gets really offended, I could retire by now.
Silver dimes are a couple bucks, IIRC… but more often than not they’re more worth their value of silver than the cost of the coin at its condition.
And the state quarter thing? Quick way for the government to make a buck.
quick search came up with this quiz from a business magazine as a cite.
It costs the government a dime to make a quarter. People buy them for 25 cents. They then put them away and don’t use them. Ever. Not that they’re worth much probably ever due to the number struck, and the face value is all that the government cares about anyway.
My father was proof that you’ll never get rich from it, you’ve got to enjoy it to do it. Even the richest of the coin collectors I’ve run across only does it as a sideline. If you like it, it’s worth it, if you don’t, it aint.
I dumped most of my silver coins at the recent peak of the metals markets, so made some money from them, but I’d held them for a number of years, so as an investment, it pretty much sucks. Unless you’re buying/selling very rare coins.
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