Q. David Bowers
The, Beatles arrived in New York City beginning their first musical tour in the United States. Fiddler on theRoof, HelloDolly!, and Funny Girl opened on Broadway. Films of 1964 included Dr. Strangelove, Zorba the Greek, Mamagelto'uan-Style, Seven Days in May, My Fair Lady, and A Hard Day's Night. Popular songs included Mr. Tambourine Man, I Will Wait for You, Pass Me By, I Get Around, and the Beatles' melodies I Feel Fine; Love Me, 'Do; Please, Please Me; and She Loves You;
The Kennedy half dollar was issued and gained immediate popularity. Hundreds of millions of the coins were hoarded by the American public, and for months thereafter specimens were worth $5 or more on the collector's market in Europe, attesting to the late president's popularity worldwide. Circulating coins of 90% silver content were minted for the last time, ending an American tradition. Future dimes, quarters, half dollars, and dollars would be made of clad metal. Exceptions would be certain commemoratives with silver content.
The coin market had changed radically since Peace dollars were last coined in 1935. Back then, commemoratives were all the rage, to peak in the summer of 1936, and then decline to a low point in 1941, after which they climbed again-finally achieving recordprices in 1964 that were multiples of the highs of 1936. In the meantime, many new commemorative half dollars had been issued since 1935, culminating in the final coinage of Carver-Washington P-D-S sets in 1954. As of 1964, new commemoratives were a dead issue, and the Treasury had stated numerous times that no more would be made.
The monthly Numismatic Scrapbook magazine, born in 1935, achieved great prominence, and by the 1950s was the most widely read periodical in the hobby; in 1964 it was in the last stages of its life, however, and a few years later it would pass from the scene. Meanwhile, Numismatic News, a tabloid style paper founded as a monthly by lola, Wisconsin hobbyist Chet Krause in 1952, had changed to a weekly and reached tens of thousands of subscribers, and the weekly Coin World (founded in 1960) and The Coin Dealer Newsletter (1963), each had a wide following. The discovery of the 1960 Small Date Lincoln cent in 1960 (which soared to be worth $200 or more for a 50¢ face value roll) and the launching of Coin World in the same year ignited a boom in coin investment. Rolls and Proof sets were in the limelight, paced by the low-mintage 1950-D Jefferson nickel $2 face-value roll, which by 1964 was selling for over $1,200!
Coins had become big business since 1935, and by 1964 several firms (Empire Coin Co., Inc. was the first, in 1961) claimed to have annual retail sales in excess of $1 million. Dealers did business by telephone and by several Teletype circuits. Conventions were held with increasing frequency, and air travel made it possible to go from New York City to Los Angeles in a day. The Chapman brothers, B. Max Mehl, and other dealers from the early twentieth century were gone, to be replaced by a new generation, many of whom belonged to the Professional Numismatists Guild (incorporated in 1955) or the International Association of Professional Numismatists. The American Numismatic Association had over 20,000 members and was soon to move into its impressive headquarters located on the campus of Colorado College in Colorado Springs, where Ed Rochette would serve 20 years as executive director.
While auction sales held by Stack's, New Netherlands Coin Co., Abe Kosoff, Federal Brand Coin Exchange, Leo A. Young, and others attracted attention, prices were no longer primarily learned from reading auction results. What amounted to a virtual information overload existed in 1964, with weekly data from Coin World, Numismatic News, The Coin Dealer Newsletter, and Teletype reports, plus a barrage of dealers' fixed price lists.
Silver dollars, released in quantity by the Treasury in the 1962-64 period, continuing through early 1964, were to become the hottest series on the market. However, in 1964 the situation was still uncertain. Many issues could be bought for small premiums over face value, $1,000 face-value bags of Uncirculated coins were traded actively, and no one knew if Morgan and Peace dollar issues released in quantity would forever remain common and cheap, or if they would increase in value.
Alas, 1964 would prove to be a market crest, not for silver dollars but for rolls and Proof sets. As it had done so many times before, the price structure of "hot investment" coins faltered, and the values of Proof sets and rolls crashed, taking with them a lot of other coins as well. In the meantime, traditional numismatic series such as colonial coins, half cents and large cents, tokens and medals, etc., maintained their values. Collector interest in paper money increased. However, it would not be until the early 19708 that the price structure of many popular series resumed its upward trend.