How much do u pay?

[Md. Shariful Islam]

So why have your British India rupees become more expensive? Inflation and more people with money and spare time.

Peter

Does it mean that people of Bangladesh have more idle money than people of a developed country. Sounds absurd. I think the most influential cause for the situation is the fact that if anything is illegal here means that we have to do it hiding and doesn't mean that we shouldn't do it. Melting coins are illegal here too. But not monitored by the authority. As a result jewellers melt silver coins to use in jewellery. So silver coins are priced based on metal value here in this subcontinent.

I admit that a few people are becoming holder of abnormal volume of resources. They have idle time. But I dont think that they have time to care about coins.
Islam

[Figleaf]

No, it means that Bangladesh is developing. Collecting coins is a luxury unsuitable for the poor. When a poor family joins the middle class, they get financial space for luxuries. One of those may be coin collecting.

Peter

[Md. Shariful Islam]

No, it means that Bangladesh is developing. Collecting coins is a luxury unsuitable for the poor. When a poor family joins the middle class, they get financial space for luxuries. One of those may be coin collecting.

Peter

Coin collection is more of a pain than luxury. As there is no coin shop in our cities we have to talk to each and every jewellers in the city and beyond. In most of the cases Jewellers even dont want to disclose that they have coins. If I talk to 50 jewellers 1 will show coins and sell. From many we have to accept negative behavior. Many looked at us with suspicion.  We collect coins this way. Will one call it luxury. I shall not. Today I recall at 37 years of my age that I have lost all my beloved toys of my childhood. But still I have the pot where I used to collect antique and international coins and the stamp book. I did not lose or swap a single coin I collected from my childhood. In my childhood did I have the sense of luxury? Probably not.

Several times I run out of cash and have to loan from others. Its is because of coins. My friends who collects coin here are not in the richer class but in middle class. We collect coins because of attractions for antiques, rares, culture and beauty. I shall better consider coin collection a sort of madness which is not related to purchasing power. Otherwise why should we spend hours after hour on 'world of coins', ebay and others for looking at coins? Why should we look at every change coins looking for errors? Why should we visit shops after shops asking the jewellers an embarrassing question 'do you have and do you like to sell old coins?' Why should we try to save a part of our own earnings hiding from beloved wife whom we share each and everything else? I call it madness. Not luxury. I believe the characteristics that I have mentioned is somehow universal to coin collectors.

Islam

[Md. Shariful Islam]

I've found a seller who sold @ 1600 BDT. Even I picked the 1885 A1/II Rupee at this rate.

Islam

[Md. Shariful Islam]

I couldn't pick the following because of shortfall of cash...

1862 Rupee 2 units @ BDT 1600
1940 Rupee 1 unit @ BDT 2000

What is your suggestion. Should they be picked at this rate???

Islam

[asm]

Dear Islam,

I am not sure of the market prices of the 1940 rupee currently but i do know that it is quaternary alloy which has only 50% silver. So if you are buying from a Jeweler, it should not be so expensive (unless of course he knows something on coin pricing).

Will check up the current pricing and revert. However, normal melt value rupees were sold @ Rs. 800 last month and I was told that prices of silver in Dhaka are higher than in India.

Amit

[Md. Shariful Islam]

I paid BDT 1500 or INR 900 for a Karshapana. I thing I paid a bit higher than what I should have paid. What do you think? How much do you pay for these.

Islam

[Rangnath]

Thanks for posting this Islam.
I agree with all of you! And of course, Figleaf is an economist, so I give him extra respect and even more attention.
(How can you tell if it was a dog or an economist that was hit on the road? By the skid marks. {yes, this one was originally intended for Lawyers, but I digress}

India's economic growth rate is astounding over the last few years.  The middle class population approaches the population of the entire USA?  And that means we can expect to see a continual rise in coin collectors in India.  Over the long run, I don't think that we need to look elsewhere to find answers for the increasing value of Indian coins. The silver content of a 1/4 rupee from the 19th century is just way too small to be the rational cause of its increase in value.  Am I Right Figleaf?
richie

[Prosit]

Revisit:

Probably in 2001 I spent $6000 USD on coin collecting
by 2011 that has gradually been reduced to about $250 or less per year.

Not by choice.

I have not noticed a reduction in fun.

Dale

[Md. Shariful Islam]

Yesterday I've picked an Ahmed Shah Zafar Rupee (Sonargaon) mint @ BDT 2200. I tried to bargain with the seller but he said that he is taking 10% profit on cost.

Islam

[Figleaf]

Quite so, Rangnath. Metal content does not begin to explain the price movements in coins of 100+ years old (except the odd bullion coins, but none are Asian.)

Over a long period (say 40 years), East Asia and (more recently) South America have started to develop. Those countries that have a stable political environment and absence of war have profited most. Their influence is spreading to South Asia. Look at any world map of poverty indicators. They tell you that world poverty is concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa, except the Southern tip and the population-heavy part of the Middle-East and Central Asia. A country like Bangladesh, stil one of the poorest on earth, is surrounded by success stories like India, China and Thailand. If it can avoid the Burma story, it is bound to feel the beneficial effects of the growth of its neighbours. Just being at peace for decades now is a huge bonus and political stability wil contribute even more.

India is an even bigger story. Travelling around, you cannot fail to notice how much remains to be done and how much poverty there still is, but that is a photograph, not a film. You note how the middle class has grown massively, I could add that for the last 50 years, there have been more millionaires (in USD terms) in India than in the Netherlands. Tick off the important points: peace - could do better, but progress; political stability - excellent; corruption - active resistance against it; independent judges and rule of law - very good, but not yet perfect, mostly due to inertia; neutral police - real progress but work remains to be done; education - very impressive growth in quantity and quality, the children of the poor benefit; domestic demand - growing impressively; social services - weak point, but growing. On the basis of this analysis, India ranks better than China.

Dale makes a very important point. The fun of collecting is not dependent on how much money you spend on the hobby.

Peter

[Md. Shariful Islam]

Dale makes a very important point. The fun of collecting is not dependent on how much money you spend on the hobby.

Peter

Well said. But if hobby becomes too expensive, that is a barrier to fun of collecting. Higher the price, lesser the ability to buy, lesser the coins to pick, lesser the fun.

Islam

[Figleaf]

I have had that problem when I was collecting British Commonwealth coins. I solved it by going into tokens. That turned out to be not just financial relief but also a highly interesting new area. If a collecting area becomes too expensive for you, all you need to do is change your collecting interest. There is no such thing as "complete" anyway.

Peter

[Prosit]

Change my area of collecting is exactly what I have done.  To an extent at least.
Dale

I have had that problem when I was collecting British Commonwealth coins. I solved it by going into tokens. That turned out to be not just financial relief but also a highly interesting new area. If a collecting area becomes too expensive for you, all you need to do is change your collecting interest. There is no such thing as "complete" anyway.

Peter

[Md. Shariful Islam]

I was not that calculative in hobby. My hobby was collecting subcontinental vinyle LPs and EPs. This was less expensive. Suddenly I was caught by subcontinental antique coins which are tough to find and expensive.

Sometimes one may feel near completeness in collection. Vinyle production was suspended in India and Bangladesh during 1990s. Now I feel good collection and my collection is good enough to satisfy my thirst for music. In case of coins it is far away as I have been able to accumulate a small number.

Islam