Backs question

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Posted By: Bill Todd

Well, now is as good a time as any for this lurker to chime in.

This thread is beginning to hark back to the one of a few weeks ago about coins vs. cards as an investment. I see lots of similarities between the card market now and the coin market back in the early 80s.

The "Wall Street" mentality hit the coin market when the guv'mint first allowed non-financial instruments to be included in retirement accounts. If memory serves that was at the same time that IRAs were opened up to the little guy, around 1981. More traditional investment vehicles were getting hammered, so people were looking for other places to put money--art, real estate, collectibles.

The result was that loads of people who knew nothing about coins as collectibles were coming into the market. (How many BB card "investors" do you know?) Some smart cookie realized that if they could take a good chunk of the uncertainty out of "rare" coin purchases, there was loads of money to be made. And voila! ANACS, PCGS, NGC, and a host of other grading services.

One big difference was that the problem then was more one of grading rather than outright fakery, but the principle was the same--lots of folks dropping lots of money without taking the time to learn about the object of their desire.