Good mood to you, dear readers of our blog.
I propose today to discuss the most pressing topic in the field of instrument search. Falling prices for Kopari trophies. And, someone will now think: “What is there to discuss, everything is clear, there are so many diggers, there are not enough for all the collectors, so prices are falling.” And I will answer that not everything is so simple, several reasons came together here . After all, in Britain, for example, they have been digging for about forty years, and the prices for various dug coins began to decline only in the last five years.
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So what's the problem? But let’s look at this now.
In the first block, we will consider several reasons at once, united by the law of economics on the relationship between supply and demand.
A sharp decline in the value of not only coins, but all collectibles in general in our country occurred five years ago. And was it connected??? And who now remembers what happened five years ago? That's right – there was an economic recession caused by the introduction of sanctions against the Russian Federation. Then, over the course of a year, the purchasing power of a large number of numismatists and collectors sank greatly. And subsequently, collections from owners who were experiencing serious financial difficulties began to go on sale on the market. And this is not surprising, because many citizens previously really perceived collecting as a reliable investment. As a result, the investments turned out to be not very reliable.
The financial difficulties of this pandemic year have hit the buyer’s options even harder, but the market has not collapsed, someone is buying something and selling something. Of course, a large wave of offers from numerous diggers plays a significant role in pricing. However, we must not forget that the same diggers are beginning to get involved in collecting coins, thereby replenishing the scales of consumer demand.
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The second and perhaps the most significant reason for the drop in demand for coins and other antiquities was counterfeits. No, not the fakes that disguised “drunks” and “builders” sell in parking lots to gullible citizens. And real and real high-quality fakes. And if, say, ten years ago, the cost of counterfeiting coins started at 50 thousand, now a counterfeit silver coin of high quality can be ordered via the Internet for 5 thousand rubles. So that experts on the topic don’t start kicking me in the comments, I will say that the price tags are taken as average, since the topic of counterfeit coins is a two dozen pages of research in small handwriting.
In general, the situation with counterfeits on the collectibles market can be characterized by one story. Last year I had a conversation with a comrade on the field, the conversation turned, as always, to noteworthy finds and, of course, how much we managed to sell. And then, my interlocutor said that his brother is a passionate collector and over the past five years he has completely changed the types of collecting four times. At first he collected coins, but then he saw a video on YouTube about how many fakes there are on the market and, in general, how they are made. This made a strong impression on the man and he became interested in brands, but not for long, as we understand, until he found out how many counterfeit brands were produced and how many of them were sold. There, production is several times cheaper than coins. Okay, the man thought about it and decided to collect something unusual and not widespread. I started collecting antique bricks with stamps. But this hobby only lasted him for a year, and it turned out that fake brick makers work very well in this area as well. As a result, my interlocutor’s brother, after struggling a little, decided to collect stove doors with stories.
This is the story. And we will move on.
The third important reason was the apathy of collectors. I'm sorry, what??? You will be surprised, but I will answer that I only recently found out about this. In my life, I have only collected inserts from Turbo, although, like any pioneer, I dreamed of an album with stamps. So, for me, collecting is a dark forest.
And here's what it turns out. Classic collecting is not the banal collection of objects based on external features or systems. This is a passion for finding the item you need. Well, do you understand? Previously, collecting brought people together into clubs of similar interests where they communicated, exchanged and, most importantly, showed off their acquisitions. Once a year, thematic exhibitions were held at VDNKh, where a huge number of people met. In general, the basis of collecting as a hobby is the search for the right and interesting thing.
What now? And now the Internet has almost completely killed this part of the collecting hobby. Now the collector is limited only by his financial capabilities. On the other hand, some careless grandson who has become the owner of a small grandfather’s collection can, thanks to the Internet, find out what and how much it costs and put the coins up for sale. Whereas before, this album with coins lay in the attic for many decades.
This is such an interesting history of the issue. I also remembered the story of how one respected metropolitan numismatist bought a very expensive coin from another respected numismatist. And then the buyer began to be tormented by doubts about the authenticity of the acquisition, and over the next three years he spent more on examinations than he paid for the coin itself. But that's a completely different story.
Thank you for your attention and wish you all the best.
Photo: www.thehistoryblog.com
Photo: www.thehistoryblog.com