Prices

News: Welcome to the Canadian Paper Money Forum.

As I have just returned to collecting in the last year after a long hiatus due in large part to lifes little expenses commonly known as children and having a mortgage. I was shocked to see where some of the prices have gone. The last issue of Charlton I had before coming back to the hobby was the 4th Edition when I bought the likes of 1935-$25 in VF for $ 600 or a 1935-$100 in VF for $ 675 or a 1935-$1000 in AU for $ 1600 and even more distressing a 1937-$1000 in UNC which booked for $ 1600 and I paid a whopping $ 1750.00 for . That was my favorite note. Unfortunately when I bought my first home east of Toronto and mortgage rates were around 15% I felt the money was better served paying down the nasty mortgage as I had accumulated my collection before lifes responsibilites came along.

Back then I bought a lot of the notes I collected from a place called Arcade Coins in downtown Toronto. The operator was Richard Lockwood and is listed a Past Contributor on page III of the 4th edition. He had a stockpile of Canadian Paper the would knock your socks off.

There has been talk of some prices being out of whack with what the "market will bear" and while there may be some truth to that I think that if the market persists in the long run you will see the "guide" catch up with real market trends. The reason I point this out is to show that over the LONGER run most pointedly since the 4th edition prices have risen 5-10 times in some cases and with any commodity regardless of it's nature a moderate and steady increase is usually better served in the long run.

I would consider myself to have an avid interest in collecting both years ago and today. But to be able to go out now and replace some of the notes I previously owned and let go just isn't likely to ever happen. I imagine the higher end notes are only in the possession of three groups of people, dealers, people who have held them for many years since they were more affordable ( KICK ME NOW PLEASE ) and folks with an excess of spare cash. Of which there are fewer and fewer today.

Anyways I really like this forum I wish It was a little busier.

I'll be going to the show in Oshawa in a couple of weeks and likely to Torex as well.

Over and out..
Andrew

It is really amazing how some of the prices increased over the last 15 years. When i first started collecting we were at the 3rd edition (1989) of the charlton. For instance the 1935 $25 french in VG was selling for only $325 compared to $2,500 for the same note today. Other notes that have increased considerably over those last 15-20 years were the 1935 series in whole, much of the devils face series especially the replacement notes and lastly those famous birds $2 notes AUG-AUN.  On the other hand,  you might have noticed that the price of the S/R test notes (from the 1954 series) have been decreasing in price over the last decade. Anyhow it will be quite interesting to see what prices will be likely in another 15 years from now.