The article is broken up into separate posts - The coin investments list is at the end of the articleThe market is gaining speed quite nicely. Many, many inexpensive coins have been continuously booming even during the slowdown. In the section titled "Our choices", you see coins that have been getting continuously recommended as top picks, and now, they've taken off conspicuously, ahead of other coins.
You heard it here on LBC first:
* 1990 platinum pandas
I recommended these vigorously last year, but very few people were interested in them. I frequently know what's about to happen, but not always why it will happen, so I wasn't very good at persuading people to buy them. List after list, the same 1990 platinum pandas went unsold, even when I kept mentioning over and over that I think they're rarer than people realize - but I didn't know how correct I was, or why I was correct. Then, it was recently reported that some of the largest dealers in the world had melted hundreds of 1990 platinum pandas, and from there, the rest is history. I hope you took my advice and bought a few!
* Small size "fractional" gold pandas
They're only recently being called "fractional". I've never called them that until just now. For most of the last year, I've been telling people they need to buy the small gold pandas, and this time I was able to provide a few better explanations as to why I thought that.
Firstly, they're smaller and more affordable, therefore, there's more money chasing them up to higher percentage gains than coins that start out expensive just because of their gold value. Secondly, they got no respect, so many were damaged through handling, usage in jewelry, etc. Thirdly, not only are the planned mintages higher than the actual mintages, but even the reported actual mintages were much higher than the number that were finally sold - many of the unsold coins went straight back into the melting pot.
Now, everybody is talking about fractional gold pandas. The half ounce pandas were the big stars, while a few of the 1/10 and 1/20 oz gold coins were pretty impressive too. In addition, many of the most valuable platinum pandas are "fractionals".
This month's Pricepedia discusses fractional pandas in more detail, so if you aren't a subscriber yet, you better catch up to the rest of us and get educated with Peter Anthony's most popular publication.
Note that I've also pushed the 1/2 oz silver pandas, which haven't made huge moves yet. You might want to get yourself a few of those...
* Cheaper coins
When I first started my list, it was heavy on the very rare coins with extremely low mintages. Those quickly passed the $5000 mark, where most people could no longer afford them. Since then, the emphasis in this list has shifted to cheaper coins that everybody could afford. Sure enough, the hot topic now is the impressive gains that "common" coins are achieving as more and more people join this incredible market. Just watching how many new readers show up here and at the Chinese Coin Forum every day is impressive.
But, even with all this action, it's still nothing like it will soon become. This market is still somewhat of a secret. The Pricepedia mentions a funny situation where some people have been trying to keep this incredible market a secret, totally unsuccessfully, of course. But, not everyone has yet figured out how profitable it is, even in the cheaper coins.
It's getting quite difficult to find an investment grade coin for under $200! When this list started, they were available as cheaply as $30.
* Dragons, and other lunars
I've been telling you to buy dragons since the beginning. During the slowdown, I started practically yelling at you that you need to own dragons and other lunars. Now, prices for dragons are about triple what they were at the start of 2011, and still rising. The surging interest in dragons is "dragging" all the other lunars upwards too. Now, everyone is talking about dragons and lunars - Everyone smart, that is, because 2012, the year of the dragon, isn't even close yet! When the mints around the world start up their lunar dragon marketing machines, they'll be doing all the work for you, IF you are one of the smart people who are buying dragons and lunars well before 2012. Once that marketing does it's job, everybody is going to want what you have, and prices will rise.
* 1998 large date gold pandas
I've been pushing those pretty hard because I knew that the demand from wealthy Chinese investors was absolutely crazy. They're not the rarest coins to have, but for some reason they were among the first to catch on big, and now everyone uses them as a standard for comparison. When big-rich-Chinese-businessman compares his collection to that of his friends, if he's the only one that doesn't have a 1998 gold large date panda set, his collection doesn't matter! And, it has to be the SET, not just the key 1998 1/2 oz gold large date panda.
But, speaking of the key, when I first started recommending them, I think they were selling for about $6000, up from around $1500 in just a few months. That's a big increase, and seemingly a bad time to be just barely getting into them - but you know what? One just sold for $14,000 a few days ago! FIVE FIGURES! The few, the proud, the 5 figure panda...
* 70 grade coins
People used to not care about these, but collectors get competitive, and now they matter. I was recommending them when their premium was only 50% more than the same coin in a 69 grade. Now, it's hard to find a coin that sells for less than 200%. Some of the biggest prices have pushed up to around 1100%, or higher! Wow!
If there's 10 coins on the market during the worst of the slow times, but one of them is a 70, which one do you think is going to attract the most bidders? That's right, the 70. Even if it's a fairly common coin, it may be very rare in a 70 grade. Don't underestimate basic collector pride - some of them will throw huge amounts of money at the best coins, not because they really care that it has one less microscopic marks than a 69 does, but instead only because nobody else has it!
Now during the summer slowdown, everyone is noticing how well 70 coins are doing compared to 69's and lower. When there's competition, it will favor the best of the best disproportionately. Sometimes, it goes crazy, and seems to make no sense at all - but that's OK, as long as it's money in your pocket.
One thing's for sure - The West is still ahead of China at every phase of the maturation of their coin market, AND, China is catching up as soon as they feel comfortable to move forward. I have lost many fine 70 coins to Chinese buyers with more money than I've got, and I regret it every time I think about it. I will never see those coins again. I see the 69 versions every day, but the 70's are the ones that only a few people will be able to own, and it does amazing things to a collector's sense of pride to have the finest possible coin there is.
* Everything else
What in the list HAS NOT been a good investment? NOTHING! Everything we've listed here has been a winner. We ignored coins that weren't quite ready, and we focused your attention on the best coins for YOU. Many of us have become quite a bit more wealthy following these articles. I have many times encouraged people to put all of their disposable income into these coins, because I was completely confident it would pay off, and it has.
I take my own advice - if it works for me, it'll work for you. With a clear conscience, I've recommended that people "overpay" for nice investment coins, just like I do for myself. I have never regretted overpaying for a great coin, but I have always regretted not grabbing it when I got the chance, just because I was waiting for a bargain that never came...
But, occasionally, the bargains DO come, and I have to frantically scrape together some cash to get it, and it's so very exciting when I finally get the coin into my hands
You heard it here first. If you reacted when you heard it here first, you made lots of money. Sometimes, you only had minutes or seconds to make a decision on something that got posted that was priced at a fraction of the fair market value. Those of with that are registered on the forums and receive notifications of new posts usually get the first chance to buy.
And then you tell us about it in the "LBC makes me rich" topic, here:
http://www.livebusinesschat.com/smf/index.php?topic=2485.0The slowdown is almost over, exciting times are coming! Have fun, and enjoy your profits!
