# Morgan Silver Dollar and other coins you buy off TV....why? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 23, 2019, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morgan-silver-dollar-and-other-coins-you-buy-off-tv-why/837508 "2019-07-23T19:42:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2019, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morgan-silver-dollar-and-other-coins-you-buy-off-tv-why/837508/22 "2019-07-27T21:25:02Z")
I like going to places that sell collectible coins and buying gimmicky silver coins at basically a dollar above their melt cost. I have a pretty sweet brand new Gulf War 1 commemorative silver coin set I have displayed on my wall because of this. Not worth that much but any coin with an Abrams tank on it is at least worth looking at. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2019, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morgan-silver-dollar-and-other-coins-you-buy-off-tv-why/837508/23 "2019-07-27T22:11:10Z")
> [@Chimera;21773864](#): > > As above, if they’re doing this, they’re likely also sending too much money to phony TV preachers and fraudulent causes. And sometimes they’re [one and the same.](https://ritholtz.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/GoldlineGlennBeck4.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2019, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morgan-silver-dollar-and-other-coins-you-buy-off-tv-why/837508/24 "2019-07-28T03:16:54Z")
> [@Johnny\_Bravo](#): > > Any kind of “collectable” object is marketed based on its perceived future value. Remember those old commercials for commemorative plates? [Here’s one.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QM1dEkIGURo) > > Yes, they add a disclaimer about “some” plates going down in value, but then immediately pivot to all-but-assuring customers that **their** plates will of course appreciate. You can get this particular plate now for ten bucks or less all over the internet. Oh, and it doesn’t have a ticket cost, either, it has an “issuing price,” just like stock at an IPO. These plates are meant to be perceived as an investment. > > Coins are the same thing, except it’s even easier to convince rubes that they’re making a sound financial decision. Plates may or may not be worth anything, but money is worth money! I have a basement full of Franklin Mint commemorative plates my mother bought before she died, and my siblings wouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole. My mother wasn’t too careful about keeping the Certificates of Authenticity, either, so they aren’t even worth anything to other collectors. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2019, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morgan-silver-dollar-and-other-coins-you-buy-off-tv-why/837508/25 "2019-07-28T10:58:13Z")
My grandmother had a set of 4 vases from Franklin Mint. When she died, they were doled out to 4 of the 5 of us sibs - not sure what the 5th sib got. Mine is pretty much a dust collector. I offered it to my daughter, but she wasn’t interested. A few years back, one sis and I swapped, since she liked the color of mine, and I didn’t really care. It’s sitting on a shelf with a piece of craft-fair pottery I bought 40-ish years ago. I looked up the vase as well as the full set of vases - asking prices of individual vases range from about $15 to $90, and I saw a set of 4 for $250. From what I can tell, they sit on the market forever. Honestly, the only reason I still have it is because it was my grandmother’s, even tho I don’t recall ever seeing it in her house. She probably felt the vases were too “good” to display, and she kept them wrapped up in a chest somewhere. Maybe some day my granddaughter will want it as something from her great-great grandmother, or maybe the cat will knock it off the shelf. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2019, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morgan-silver-dollar-and-other-coins-you-buy-off-tv-why/837508/26 "2019-07-28T13:10:03Z")
My wife bought some Franklin Mint plates because she liked the way they looked. She never looked at them as an investment: just decoration. The other factor in these “collectibles” is that anyone who wants them, guys them when they’re first offered, so any potential buyer for them already has one. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2019, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morgan-silver-dollar-and-other-coins-you-buy-off-tv-why/837508/27 "2019-07-28T13:45:25Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Similarly, the most collectible coins tend to be ones with double strikes or other flaws that caused them to be made in very small quantities. Or sometimes the same coin will be made in two different mints, with one having a much smaller production run. So the right mint mark will make an otherwise identical coin worth much more, This reminds me of one of the most recent such incidents. On some Irish commemorative lunar landing stamps they [misspelled](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-49085026) the Irish word for “Moon” … on two of the four. That’s a a neat trick. Even if the misspelling was on 3 of the 4, those would be more valuable than the less common ones that got it right. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2019, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morgan-silver-dollar-and-other-coins-you-buy-off-tv-why/837508/28 "2019-07-28T14:00:19Z")
My parents bought the Franklin Mint coins for forty stinking years. ☹ The packages arrived in the mail regularly throughout my childhood. Every time I visited on holidays there’d be more coins going into the safe. So did everybody else. I found out their collector value is negligible. The market is flooded as that generations estates are liquidated. Apparently dealers buy them for the silver and melt them down. I can’t bring myself to sell the collection for melting. My dad was so invested in those damn things. Wear those plastic gloves to \*\*\*handle the coins son! Ok dad. What a scam. \*\*\*Many of the proof coins are encased in plastic ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2019, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morgan-silver-dollar-and-other-coins-you-buy-off-tv-why/837508/29 "2019-08-02T00:36:16Z")
I agree with what’s already been posted. The ads are designed to target those with poor judgement and no knowledge of what actually makes something collectable. I’ve occasionally been an antique and collectables dealer. Not once did I ever tell any prospective buyer that it would be a good investment. My mom collects portrait plates out of love. There was a time her collection was worth about $200 per plate. Then, the bottom fell out of the market. The plates are now worth about $20 a piece. You want to invest? Talk to an advisor at your bank. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2019, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morgan-silver-dollar-and-other-coins-you-buy-off-tv-why/837508/30 "2019-08-02T03:07:28Z")
> [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > I don’t know who’s the ad genius who figured NFL fans love these types of things, but I was watching NFL Network when I saw this same commercial multiple times. You can apparently buy (for just 9.99! Five per customer!) recreations of old coins minted by some commemorative mint and I don’t understand why. What’s the purpose of owning a coin you can’t spend? Sentimental value? It’s made with .999-whatever pure silver, so is the value going to go up when silver goes up? Am I supposed to buy this now and give to my grandchildren to smelt? > > What is the market for these and why do they exist? > > ETA: I put this in Cafe Society because it’s something you buy off TV, but feel free to move it since it could go in a few different places here Isn’t this exactly the same question as “why do spammers still exist?” And the answer is the same. A sufficient number of people take the bait, however rotten it appears to the rest of us. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morgan-silver-dollar-and-other-coins-you-buy-off-tv-why/837508.md?page=1)