Rare Coin Market of 1986

Pondman;

ravenwoods wrote: My dad also bought coins from Lee Numismatics and Blanchards. Fortunately he didn't spend as much on them. The "Investment with Lee Numismatics" is currently worth half what he paid in 1984. Same with Blanchards. Sounds like there are a lot of Unethical coin dealers out there. Fortunately he made a killing with junk silver coins. He had some vending machines back in the 60s and 70s. When he brought the coins home we would sort out all the silver coins. We still have these. Face value is over $1000, so market value is more than $12,000.

My dad also bought coins from Lee Numismatics and Blanchards. Fortunately he didn't spend as much on them. The "Investment with Lee Numismatics" is currently worth half what he paid in 1984. Same with Blanchards. Sounds like there are a lot of Unethical coin dealers out there.

Fortunately he made a killing with junk silver coins. He had some vending machines back in the 60s and 70s. When he brought the coins home we would sort out all the silver coins. We still have these. Face value is over $1000, so market value is more than $12,000.

Thanks for the great advice everyone. Sounds like David Hall was promoting rare coins as an investment in the 80s. I'll give Ebay a try. I hate the big commission that PayPal takes out of the deal though. Anyway this is the explanation one person at David Hall emailed me this week:

"From what I know, (I'm a bit younger, so I hear stories about what
happened the market ) the creation of PCGS created an atmosphere of
speculation into the rare coin market. This fact created a huge demand
for rare coins as a solid investment for the first time because now
there was real data to prove a coin's rarity through population reports.

Before the creation of PCGS, buyers and sellers of rare coins would
basically guess at a particular coin's rarity. In 1986 the population of
all coins were pretty low because most of the rare coins in existence
were not graded professionally. This created a feeding frenzy and coin
demand went through the roof as well as coin prices. 24 years later and
24 years of coin grading later, the dust has settled and we all have a
much more accurate view of what coins are rare.

In short, every investor that bought coins in the 1980's has overpaid.
This was not intentional, it's just the way the market played itself
out. Many investors feel cheated and will never return to the rare coin
market without knowing the climate of the industry at a particular time.
But we can say the same thing about the housing market today. All
investments involve good timing and the rare coin market is no different."

I should add that you could consider David Hall's offers to be sufficient evidence that eating the loss is the way to go.  If you do resubmit them it would be best to remove them from the old holders. 

Here is a description of the 19 coins purchased from David Hall in 1986. Total cost of the 19 coins was. $6577. Hall offered $956 to buy them back this week.

1. Cert No. 1112564  PCGS no. 3906, 1908 5C, PR64, Cost in 1986: $1550
David Hall offered $235 to buy it back this week.

2. Cert no. 2002488 PCGS no. 5004, 1937 10C, MS65, cost in 1986: $52
David Hall offered $13 to buy it back this week.

3. Cert No. 2002566 PCGS no. 5016, 1939 10C, MS65, cost in 1986: $50
Hall offered $13 for it this week.

4. Cert no. 1106903 PCGS no. 5018, 1939-D 10C, MS65, cost in 1986: $50
Hall offered $13 for it this week.

5. Cert no. 1115538 PCGS no. 5025, 1940-D 10C, MS65FB, cost in 1986: $225. Hall offered $30 this week.

6. Cert no. 1114364 PCGS no. 5032, 1941-S 10C, MS65, cost in 1986: $50
Hall offered $13 this week.

7. 1114340 PCGS no. 5038, 1942-D 10C MS65, cost 1986: $52.
Hall offered $13 this week.

8. 1134505 PCGS no. 5053, 1944-D 10C MS64FB, cost in 1986: $68.
Hall offered $11 this week.

9. 1093308 PCGS no. 5058, 1945-D 10C MS65, cost in 1986: $68.
Hall offered $13 this week.

10.  1114413 PCGS no. 6625, 1945-D 50C MS64, cost in 1986: $435.
Hall offered $42 this week.

11.  2000573 PCGS no. 6626, 1945-S 50C MS64, cost in 1986:$480.
Hall offered $42 this week.

12. 2002371 PCGS no. 6628 1946-D 50C MS64, cost in 1986: $405.
Hall offered $42.00 this week.

13. 1110485 PCGS no. 6696, 1955 50C PR67, cost in 1986: $187.
Hall offered $70 this week.

14. 1115889 PCGS no. 6697, 1956 Type 2 50C PR64, cost in 1986: $25
Hall offered me $17 this week.

15. 1116055 PCGS no. 7130, 1881-S $1 MS64, cost in 1986: $465.
Hall offered me $45 this week.

16. 1138998 PCGS no. 7130, 1881-S $1 MS65, cost in 1986: $625.
Hall offered me $110 this week.

17. 1039457 PCGS no. 7172, 1887 $1 MS64, cost in 1986: $500.
Hall offered me $42.00 this week.

18. 1114833 PCGS no. 7182, 1888 $1 MS64, cost in 1986: $560.
Hall offered me $42 this week.

19. 1153731 PCGS no. 9345, 1936 Oregon 50C MS64, cost in 1986: $685
Hall offered me $150 this week.

My father paid about $6500 in 1986 for 19 rare coins that are PCGS evaluated and in slabs. According to the PCGS website the same coins are now worth only $1447. Was there a speculative bubble in the 80s? I found another website where a guy told how he bought $5000 of rare coins from the same dealer and after two months the coins had dropped in value by 50%. So what was going on with rare coins at that time?

Anyway we are busy dividing up my dad's estate and selling these coins now at a loss may help him on his income taxes.