The recent dramatic rise in the values of gold and silver seems to have prompted more interest in the coin market. The low end of the Morgan silver dollar market has particularly been experiencing increased action. So has the demand for gold and silver American Eagle bullion coins. This is great news for the bullion related market, but it doesn't appear to be responsible for a marked increase in the number of active coin collectors.

There has been much publicity and news commentaries surrounding the recent rebound in the spot prices of gold and silver and the weakening dollar, especially on whether the Federal Reserve will or will not raise interest rates further.

Predictions in the general media of a potential bull market run in gold and silver is likely overblown, as U.S. government bond yields are touching their lowest level since 2009. This suggests a future annual inflation will hopefully be an anemic 1.24 percent, which is not what a die-hard gold bug wants to hear.

To further add water to this predicted potential precious metals bull market fire is Societe Generale's commodity strategist Jesper Dannesboe, who has recommended shorting gold based on its performance on the Bloomberg Commodities index. For those keeping a score, gold is still down about 37 percent over the past three years.

There are active collectors, but simply not as many as there were about six years ago. These collectors are noticeably active in the auction theatre, which in recent months has been able to offer some significant rarities, Bidding has been quite spirited for these coins. However common to scarce coins still don't seem to have much momentum behind them.

True coin collectors don't care what gold and silver prices are doing in the market. However we still seem to be in a market where most coins are viewed more as a commodity than collector items. Of course for most collectors gold and silver are not exactly considered to be investments.

In other words, gold isn’t meant to be a means of saving for retirement or a way to supplement your income, but rather is a hedge against the dramatic inflation of traditional currency in the event of a global economic
meltdown.

Most of us don’t have the luxury of preparing for such a dramatic worst-case scenario. We’re having a hard enough time as it is just staying out of debt – the average household currently owes roughly $6,600 to credit card companies – let alone building emergency funds to cover unexpected expenses or float us during periods of joblessness.