 BEHIND the heavily fortified door of Stack’s Bowers, a gallery of rare coins in New York, smiling salesmen show off their precious wares neatly displayed in pristine glass cabinets. To the untutored eye, it looks like pocket change. Numismatists, who study the history and art of old money, see well-preserved coins as aesthetic masterpieces worth many times their face value. At an auction organised by Stack’s Bowers on March 31st, an American cent from 1793 (pictured) sold for $940,000, becoming the costliest penny ever. 在纽约的一家稀有货币藏馆Stack’s Bowers，层层加固的门后，营业员面带微笑，展示整齐地陈列在复古玻璃橱窗中，价值连城的古币。在外行看来，这些古币与零钱无差。在研究古币历史艺术的钱币学家眼里，这些精心收藏的货币则是具有艺术价值的绝世珍宝，价值超出了面值的数倍。3月31日，Stack’s Bowers举办了一场古币拍卖会，一枚1793年的美国分币拍卖价为94万美元，成为了有史以来最昂贵的硬币。 An index of tangible alternative asset classes compiled by Knight Frank, a consultancy, shows that returns on rare coins over ten years to the end of 2016 were 195%, easily beating art (139%), stamps (133%), furniture (-31%) and the S&P 500 index (58%). Coins are more portable than paintings or furniture, and boast a higher value-to-volume ratio. Stamps may be lighter, but, come doomsday, cannot be melted down. Knight Frank咨询公司发布的可替代有形资产指数显示，在2016年之前的十年中，稀有硬币的收益率高达195%， 大大超过了艺术品（139%）、邮票（133%）、家具（-31%）以及标准普尔500指数（58%）。硬币比绘画作品和家具更易携带，价值体积比更高。邮票可能更轻便，然而，遗憾的是，邮票是不能熔化的。 The rare-coin market, however, has long had a reputational problem. What distinguishes a highly valuable coin—lustre, sharpness of detail, toning and friction-wear—is imperceptible to the untrained eye. So shady coin-dealers for decades successfully duped investors into paying top dollar for non-premium or even counterfeit coins. 然后，长期以来，稀有钱币市场存在着声誉问题。如何鉴定一枚高价值的钱币呢——光泽、细节的清晰度、色调和磨损程度，这些只有行家才能分辨出来。因此，几十年来，一些地下交易商哄骗投资者高价购买不值钱的钱币，甚至是赝品，并得手了。 The market’s wild-west days ended in 1986 when the first independent coin certifier, the Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS), based in California, established itself as an authority on authenticity and quality. Grading each coin on a one to 70 scale, PCGS gave the market transparency, boosting investor confidence and sales volumes. Today, global sales of rare coins are estimated at $5bn-8bn a year, with 85% of the market in America. So important has third-party grading become that almost all rare coins sold at auction these days have been graded and sealed in stickered plastic by either PCGS or its main rival, Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC), which is based in Florida. 直到1986年，钱币市场才走上正轨。当时位于佛罗里达的首家钱币鉴定机构专业钱币分级服务公司（PCGS）成立，成为业界鉴定钱币真伪与质量的权威。PCGS将所有硬币划分为1至70级，使钱币市场更加透明，增强了投资者信心，钱币交易额也有所上涨。如今，据估计，全球稀有货币年均交易额达到50亿～80亿美元，而美国市场占到了85%。三方鉴定必不可少，如今几乎所有拍卖行的稀有货币都需要专业钱币分级服务公司（PCGS）或其在弗罗里达的竞争对手钱币保证公司NGC的评级，并用塑料封条加以密封。 Some blame the grading system itself for the eye-watering returns. Investors cling to the assigned grade: even a one-point boost can double or even triple a coin’s retail price. An 1884 silver dollar from the San Francisco mint, for instance, sells for $19,500 at the 62 grade but surges to $65,000 at 63. 一些人对评级系统不满，因为评级结果会带来巨大收益。投资者死死盯着评级结果：甚至一分之差都会使钱币的价格翻两三倍。例如，1884年旧金山造币厂铸造的一枚美元银币评为62级时卖到1.95万美元，升到63级以后，价格剧增至6.5万美元。 The grading process is subjective: the evaluation criteria include “eye appeal”. Scott Travers, a coin dealer in New York, says investors sometimes resubmit the same coin ten or 20 times to the same company in hope of an upgrade. All this led to a steady “grade inflation”, that has been cheered along by investors. But in the long term, a sustained rise by simple fiat in the number of high-grade coins will surely depress prices. Already, a new type of “grader of graders” has emerged, hoping to instil some discipline by rating the consistency of the two primary graders. Next: graders of graders of graders? 评级的过程较主观，其中一项评估标准包括：“美观”。纽约的钱币商Scott Travers表示，有时投资者对同一枚钱币申请评估十多二十次，就是希望鉴定级别能升高。这会导致“评级通胀”，投资者欢呼不已，但是从长远来看，高级别钱币不断增多必然引起价格下降。一种新型的“二次评估机构”出现，对两大评级机构的鉴定结果进行二次评级，希望大家能以此为戒。接下来要进行三次评级吗？ 编译：张宇艺 编辑：翻吧君 |
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