A rejuvenated and healthy market for 2003. by David Albanese Hello all, Welcome to 2003 and a brand new coin collecting year and it's starting off with a bang. We just arrived back from the FUN show in Orlando and it was a very interesting show to say the least. Auctions brought big prices on many coins, some very hard to believe especially a modern 1963 PF70 Lincoln 1c. which brought almost $40,000, yes I said almost $40K are people crazy?! How in God's wide world can a 1963 Lincoln 1c. be worth that kind of money?? Yes the coin market is HOT to say the least, but it's not crazy hot. What is happening is after many years of a go nowhere market many new collectors as well as old timers are finding coins as a new investment tool. I feel that this will continue for the foreseeable future. What I don't see happening is prices going so crazy that it will force the collector out of the marketplace. If you use your head and buy the right coins you will do just fine over a number of years, yes a number of years is very important as you should get involved not for the quick buck but the long haul. Some say you should be in it for at least five years but I feel you should invest with the idea of at least a hold of ten or more years. Why? Because I feel it takes the marketplace at least that long to really sort things out. Now an exception to that rule would be if coins became so strong you'd be crazy not to sell, say for instance you could make at least 20% or more return on your money. In my estimation you should get out and enjoy the profit. In some cases right now I know many collectors who can make lots more than the 20% on some issues and as high as 50%++ on their coin purchase but won't sell as they feel it will go higher and higher. Well my answer to that is remember what has happened to all those investors in the stock market who could have gotten out with big profits and didn?t!!!! Big profits blind you and good old-fashioned GREED gets a hold of you. We recently brought back a 1936 Buffalo 5c. PF67 Brilliant PCGS coin from a collector who bought it from us a couple of years ago for $800 and we paid him $2,400, now he was smart enough to take his money and run, I'm sure you can calculate that as a 200% return not bad!!! So my advice is as I said before take your profit and enjoy as when prices come back down you can always get back in. Areas where I feel are of opportunity are in the Seated Liberty and Barber series along with Proof Gold, these have been lingering behind all other issues. If you stop and check the rarity factors you'll see what I'm talking about. I think these issues are really undervalued at current price levels especially when a 1963 Lincoln penny, which is by no means, or anybody's explanation justifies that coin as being RARE. Well we will keep up to what is happening in the coming year. The next three months will be busy with lots of traveling to shows but please feel free to call and say Hi or ask about a coin. God Bless and good hunting for your favorite coin. Sincerely, Dave David Albanese is a Nostomania advisor and can be reached at his outstanding web site. Visit our Coin News Archive.