Too many Baby Boomers want to sell

The weak market for collecting or investing in coins can be seen through the anemic 9,852 proof 2018 $10 tenth-ounce gold American Eagles sold on the launch date of Feb. 9.

Collectors now can view this as a potentially low mintage coin, but this also suggests the coin will be available from the US Mint for a long time, further discouraging sales.

The traditional coin collecting market consisting of older coins remains slow, with a continuance of more minus than plus signs for values of Morgan silver dollars and other important market staples. It’s no secret that there has been a decline in the interest in all collectibles for some time. Part of the problem is the Baby Boomer generation ridding itself of their lifetime encumbrances of antiques and collectibles, so they can move to Florida or Arizona and play golf from the proceeds.

Baby Boomers are numerous. So they are trying to sell their voluminous supply into a diminishing demand market. Potential buyers would be collectors in their 40s. But remember the dip in the level of births in the 1970s. Millennials, even if they become interested, are not at the point in life to have money to buy coins.

Lack of new collector numbers and lack of money by those who are there pretty well sums up the present market situation. Another part of the problem, which impacts coin collecting directly, is the poor performance exhibited by the price of gold, silver and platinum for several years. It is human nature to be motivated to buy into an appreciating market rather than take advantage of the bargain prices of a declining or stagnant market.