Carry on collecting THE big news at the start of 2026 has to be the continued strength of the metal markets, with all three of the “biggies” (gold, platinum and silver) seeing strong post-Christmas gains. Silver, in particular, has shot up. Now, as regular readers will know, we never really talk about investment here at COIN NEWS and aren’t regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to do so (actually bullion isn’t covered by them anyway), but there is no doubt that in recent months a lot of sales of coins have been related to the price of the metal from which they are made, and it isn’t unusual now to see “Awaiting Stock” or “Out of Stock” labels under sovereigns, Britannias and other bullion coins on dealers’ websites as the rush to buy has hotted up. Of course, for many coin collectors, the price of silver or gold isn’t foremost on their minds as the numismatic value of what they collect is more than the bullion value (the price of a Henry VII hammered sovereign isn’t going to be affected by its metal content), but there is no denying that the price of precious metals is part of our hobby and cannot be ignored, if only because, as I mentioned in October’s magazine, lower grade silver coins in particular are now worth far more as scrap than they are as coins. As an aside, that October “Comment”, written in late September 2025, put gold at £2,600 and silver at £30 an ounce. Today, in mid-January, 2026, gold stands at £3,400 and silver is at £63 an ounce—that’s how strong the market is! That said, the cost of precious metals will inevitably make a real difference to some collectors, particularly those interested in newer issues, but we mustn’t let it become the main focus, mustn’t let it detract from the reason we started collecting coins in the first place and we certainly mustn’t let it put us off. I don’t know which way the markets are going, I wish I did, but the question I have to ask is: “Does it matter?”. The vast majority of us don’t collect coins for the potential return. Yes, we’d like to think we won’t lose on them, but money is not usually the driving factor; what’s more important is the “thrill of the hunt”, that joy in collecting for collecting’s sake and we shouldn’t lose sight of that just because prices might be on the up. Yes, I fully accept that if you were collecting silver Britannia 1oz coins and had budgeted for one a month in the hope of getting one of each of the designs available, then a doubling of the silver price is going to hurt, but that’s no reason to simply give up—you just have to adjust your sights a little. Now, instead of a Britannia a month, it’s one every two months! If silver continues to go up, then you adjust again, you’re still up on the deal as the coins you bought at a lower price are now worth more, so paying more for new acquisitions isn’t quite so painful. If silver drops, well that’s OK too, it means you can go back to one coin a month (or more) and rediscover the fun of watching your collection grow rapidly once again. Even if you’re a non-bullion new issue collector, you don’t automatically need to stop your 50p collecting just because the silver coins are higher now than you were paying last year. There’s always the BU version to consider, far better a change of metal than an incomplete run. This approach, of course, applies to any price rise, regardless of whether it’s metal driven or not, or indeed anything that constrains your coin purchasing power (the cost of living crisis cannot be ignored)—if you’re perhaps finding it difficult to afford those Victorian milled pieces in EF to complete your collection then don’t despair, why not look at VF examples, or even Fine coins to fill those gaps? Again, if prices continue to rise you’ll be glad you’ve got the ones you have; if they fall, you’ll be able to afford the EF examples after all! What I’m trying to say, in a roundabout way, is that if you are one of those for whom the price rises are affecting your collecting habits, please don’t let them stop you in your tracks; there are ways around everything and we must remember that it isn’t just about the money, it’s about the coins. We must try to remember the joy of collecting just for the fun of it and reconnect with that again. After all, it’s why most of us got into this in the first place and it’s worth revisiting that now and then.