posted 11-22-2004 01:52 PM            

The value of any collectable is a very fragile veneer that is founded solely on people's perceptions and the hype of the day. Look at what happened to high end old cars or artwork by the impressionists - they both shot up in prices and then they both crashed back down. Markets and collectors are fickle.

I also see an element of recapturing one's past in collectables. In the art world, the day of the impressionists ruling the roost seems to have passed and the hot market these days with fast appreciation is the modernists. In old cars, it is no longer the cars of the 20s and 30s that capture interest, nor even the cars of the 50s that were such meteroric risers in values, but now it is the muscle cars of the late 60s and early 70s.

I'm not entirely sure where the hot market for silver is, since it is a smaller market than these more popular collectables, but it seems that the epicenter has gone past the colonial, Federal and even Victorian era and might be more in the arts and crafts, deco and modernist areas.

Of course there will always be collectors of the "old" collecting areas and there may come a time when they get hot again, but I'm not the type who would consider it an investment in terms of expecting to make money as opposed as an investment to fill a spot in your heart for the love of that particular type of silver.