Q. David Bowers
Common Sense
This is not a book of investment advice, but it will be read by many investors. For such readers, it is a source file. Heaven knows, more investmentadvice has been written elsewhere about Morgan and Peace dollars than just about any other series under the numismatic sun. There is no dearth of facts, figures, predictions, analyses, charts, etc.
If you approach Peace dollars from an investment viewpoint, I urge you to use common sense. If someone tells you that MS-63 1923, Peace dollars will someday become very rare and extremely valuable-and such things have appeared in print-you will be able to judge that the words are hokum.
From an investment viewpoint, the rarity ratings given in this book cart be very useful. To loosely paraphrase Charles Dickens, if 5,000 MS-63 Peace dollars exist of a given variety, and there are 20,000 collectors seeking them, the result is happiness for those who own the coins. If 5,000 exist, and just 1,000 collectors are seeking them, the result is misery for those who own the coins and try to sell them at a profit. This, of course, is the old law of supply and demand.
It would be simple if this were the entire equation, but it isn't. Price enters in. A Peace dollar can be very rare in a certain, grade and in great demand, but is the price too high? Has the market already taken into consideration the demand, and perhaps overpriced it? Or, if the market is in a slump-as it is from time to time-is such a coin a bargain if the price is half what it was three years earlier?
By reading the price, rarity, and editorial information about each variety of Peace dollar described in this book, you should be able to come up with some excellent ideas on your own. I doubt if any expert or specialist in the country will have more useful data than you do.