The King of Coins & Collectibles - Van Simmons | #624

The Meb Faber Show - Better Investing

The Idea Farm

Management, Investing, Business

4.8 • 978 Ratings

🗓️ 27 March 2026

⏱️ 70 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In today’s episode, Van explores the evolution of the rare coin and collectables market, how grading transformed collectibles into an institutional-quality asset class, and why high-grade coins may be undervalued today. He discusses supply dynamics, the historical link between currency, gold, and collectibles, and how technology and AI are reshaping authentication and valuation. To close, Van explains why rare coins remain a compelling way to preserve wealth and build a lasting legacy. (0:00) Starts (2:25) Overview of current coin market and recent gold discoveries (16:43) Historical significance of coins and storing advice (25:34) COVID's impact on watches and sports memorabilia (31:41) Grading with AI (35:42) Identifying undervalued collectibles and selling lessons (45:15) Securitizing collectibles (49:52) Modern companies influencing the collectibles market (1:01:42) Highlights from coin shows and record-breaking sales ----- Follow Meb on X, LinkedIn and YouTube For detailed show notes, click here To learn more about our funds and follow us, subscribe to our mailing list or visit us at cambriainvestments.com ----- Follow The Idea Farm: X | LinkedIn | Instagram | TikTok ----- Interested in sponsoring the show? Email us at Feedback@TheMebFaberShow.com ----- Past guests include Ed Thorp, Richard Thaler, Jeremy Grantham, Joel Greenblatt, Campbell Harvey, Ivy Zelman, Kathryn Kaminski, Jason Calacanis, Whitney Baker, Aswath Damodaran, Howard Marks, Tom Barton, and many more. ----- Meb's invested in some awesome startups that have passed along discounts to our listeners. Check them out here! ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Medfavor show, where the focus is on helping you grow and preserve your wealth.
0:10.9	Join us as we discuss the craft of investing and uncover new and profitable ideas, all to help you grow wealthier and wiser.
0:16.9	Better investing starts here.
0:19.5	Metfabor is the co-founder and chief investment officer at Cambria Investment Management.
0:22.5	Did it industry regulations, he will not discuss any of Cambria's funds on this podcast.
0:25.8	All opinions expressed by podcast participants are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinion of Cambria investment management or its affiliates.
0:31.2	For more information, visit Cambriae, visitambriae.
0:34.2	Welcome to Paris Pizzeria. Your blind dates is already at the table and here she is.
0:39.3	Cousin Brenda, what are you doing here? You're married anyway.
0:43.3	Substitution brought to you by Paddy Power. Cousin Brinda makes me for Beth, the office crush.
0:48.3	Oh, get in!
0:49.3	You might not always pick the right starter, but your sub can still deliver.
0:52.3	Because with Paddy's Super Sub, your bet rolls over to the player coming on. Paddy Power. Valid on selected leagues and markets only. Pre-match and in-play bets on qualifying player outcome selections only. T's and Clusions apply. 18 plus scumannware.com. Welcome back, everybody. Today is an awesome episode. Our returning guest is Van Simmons. Van is a numismatist, heavyweight in the world of
1:12.5	high-end collectibles. He's the president of David Hall, Rare Coins, co-founder of PCGS, company that
1:19.2	essentially invented modern creating back in the day. Van, welcome back to the show.
1:23.2	Thank you. Appreciate you having me on, MEP. Listeners, this is a special treat. We first talked to Van
1:29.5	almost 10 years ago, which is crazy. If we wait another year, it'd be the 10th anniversary.
1:35.9	I'm going to put the link in the show notes. We might even republish it in the feed because it's such a
1:39.9	great episode. And this one, dovetail. Back off that one. I mean, just for fun, I looked up
1:46.6	what gold prices were back then, $1,000. What silver prices were back then, $16. A little
1:56.0	bit's changed since then, man. How's life? Walk us through. What have you been up to the last
1:59.4	seven years? Eight years, nine years. Just, you know, working. I mean, we built
	...

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