Beware of Coin and Bill Collectibles Being Marketed as Investments

I became a numismatist (coin collector) at the age of 8 and was very active in the hobby for more than a decade to follow. College and real life expenses intervened but I do plan to become active in the hobby again at some point in the future.

Over the last few years I have been seeing more and more advertisements for “Coins” and Bills on television. One of the most disturbing to me has been a company called “National Collectors Mint”. They are a private company and only in very small print do they clarify that they are not affiliated with the United States Mint, and it only flashes on the screen briefly. There ads are very misleading making you think that they are a part of the U.S. Mint. The coins that they sell are either medallion pieces (non-legal tender issue) or coins like the Morgan Silver Dollar that are overpriced and low grade (certainly not investment pieces). Morgan Silver Dollars, my area of expertise, were issued from 1878 until 1921 and are advertised by this company to be delivered to you in Brilliant Uncirculated to Fine condition. Now, I have two problems with this. The first is that is a huge range of conditions- and a coin in Fine condition has been heavy circulated and looks nothing like what they are advertising on TV. The TV ad only shows coins in Uncirculated condition- and those coins are a better quality than the high end of the condition range that they promise to send to you. The second problem I have with this ad is that these coins, while highly collectible, are never likely to appreciate much beyond the value of the silver in them- so these are not investment coins (unless your buying for silver bullion value- but in that case you are better off buying silver bullion because these are overpriced).

They also advertise the 9/11 Twenty Dollar Commemorative silver note- in genuine Liberian Legal Tender. Twenty Dollars in Liberian currency is worth only a few cents in U.S. Dollars- and you can get it for the bargain price of face value- $20. Sure there is silver value to it- but I am sure that is worth only a dollar or so.

So if you like these coins, medallions and bills as a hobbyist, enjoy, but don’t be fooled into believing these could make good investments.