March 19, 2006: Will the last original coin to leave please turn out the lights?

Heres an experiment for you:

Go to view lots at a typical major auction. Look through every box of every series and jot down how many original, uncorrupted coins you find.

Heres a clue as to what you’ll find:

Not very many.

With the exception of a consignment like the New York Connoisseur’s at ANR in Baltimore, which had been off the market intact for some 30 years, or a museum de-assession like you might come across at Stacks, what we typically see are conserved ‘product’ coins. Stuff. Numerical grades with no soul.

So when will it end? I guess when people stop buying the conserved stuff or chasing the holder grades. Which unfortunately is not today’s trend.

The truly sad part is that when it does become the trend it will be too late for many (if not most) coins.

So what do we do about it?

We try very hard to buy pretty, original coins and thats what we try to keep in our inventory listed on this site.

Now all we need are a few more like-minded collectors who appreciate them to help us in our noble quest.