The never ending struggle to find nice material for one's collection

EVillageProwler

As we all know, there are too many coins available. Even too many coins that we consider eye candy. Of these, the union of what we want, what we need, what we like, what we can afford at that moment and what is available dramatically impacts our pursuit and acquisition.

Last week, Spink, DNW and CNG had back to back to back auctions of material within my collecting area. And, like a typical collector who's looking desperately to get some nice additions, I bid furiously and won (only) one lot that I posted here previously in a separate discussion. But that wasn't enough for me. I wanted more. I needed more. So I went on a hunt for more. I scoured every dealer site I knew; I even reached out to some dealers to ask about stuff they may not yet have revealed.

With the help of a fellow addict and member, I finally found one that I really want on Friday. This coin is super nice to my eye, and is very rare. So without further ado, I present the coin below. Lot description and image are from the dealer.

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Plegmund (890 – 923 AD) Two Line Type Penny; Danelaw Imitation, Bvrved. 1.39g. (N. 253, S. 974).

Obverse: Central cross, retrograde inscription around +PLEGEMVN DORO. Reverse: A single central pellet dividing inscription BVRV / EDMO, single pellets above and below at 12 o’clock and 6 o’clock.

Silver/grey and of good metal without defects. Very rare, of 9 examples of the type recorded in the EMC and SCBI databases just 2 are of a similar type (retrograde obverse legend, single pellets on the reverse) Very fine.

Provenance:

Spink Numismatic Circular, February 1970 (1399)

The form, weight and retrograde legend indicate this coin was manufactured in the Danelaw, either in the last years of Alfred’s reign, or during the early part of his son’s reconquest of a large swathe of Viking held territory, this leading up to the recapture of York in 927 AD.

bidask

Wow, way to hunt that coin down !

Congratulations

Boosibri

The struggle is what the whole hobby is about. No struggle no interest for me.

Boosibri

How does this purchase compare to the lots missed in the auctions? Did you reflect on your bidding strategy and realize you should have stretched more? Or is this piece even better, which goes to show strong dealer relationship are in most cases more important than auction bidding strategies?

MrEureka

@Boosibri said:
The struggle is what the whole hobby is about. No struggle no interest for me.

Agreed. The best collecting goals lie right on the border between the possible and the impossible.

EVillageProwler

@bidask said:
Wow, way to hunt that coin down !

Congratulations

Thanks!

@Boosibri said:
How does this purchase compare to the lots missed in the auctions? Did you reflect on your bidding strategy and realize you should have stretched more? Or is this piece even better, which goes to show strong dealer relationship are in most cases more important than auction bidding strategies?

I eyed two lots of primary interest for me last week; unfortunately, the one I needed to fill a major hole came late in the auction sequence. It was an expensive piece and I had to hold back a bit on all the prior lots of interest. Aside from the one lot that I won (also a lot of primary interest -- the Hiberno-Norse penny I posted earlier), I walked away having bid in vain.

So to answer your question, I need to adjust the context slightly. I lost on a major coin that I needed to fill a hole, but otherwise I'd have put it as a half or whole tier lower in terms of my "want" preference. But, the coin that I did win (the Hiberno-Norse penny) and the coin above are two coins that I will enjoy owning much more than the major coin I did not get. All three are nice coins, but one of them feels mandatory while the other two likely will make my metaphoric numismatic toes curl. So, I am trying to adjust my bidding strategy such that I maintain discipline for the "mandatory" targets and be more aggressive with the toe curlers. (Of course, auction lot sequence and a limited budget still force me to adopt a grounded approach.)

BTW, the coin above is a purchase from a dealer from whom I had never done prior business. (My fellow addict and member has done business with him, so I know he is not a scammer; in fact, on the phone, he sounded like a thoroughly decent chap.)

Thanks for your response. I really liked it.

@MrEureka said:

@Boosibri said:
The struggle is what the whole hobby is about. No struggle no interest for me.

Agreed. The best collecting goals lie right on the border between the possible and the impossible.

Well, on this note, I guess I should mention that I am struggling with deciding on yet another purchase of a major coin that comes with a larger than comfortable (yet, IMO, not unfair) price tag. This coin will fall into the "toe curler" category, sort of; it is definitely not "mandatory". And, this coin is offered to me from a much valued dealer contact and has not yet been listed; my guess is that he was saving this for the December/January/NYINC FPL offering.

EVP

TwoKopeiki

@EVillageProwler said:

Well, on this note, I guess I should mention that I am struggling with deciding on yet another purchase of a major coin that comes with a larger than comfortable (yet, IMO, not unfair) price tag. This coin will fall into the "toe curler" category, sort of; it is definitely not "mandatory". And, this coin is offered to me from a much valued dealer contact and has not yet been listed; my guess is that he was saving this for the December/January/NYINC FPL offering.

EVP

Sorry, explain the struggle to me...

EVillageProwler

@TwoKopeiki said:

@EVillageProwler said:

Well, on this note, I guess I should mention that I am struggling with deciding on yet another purchase of a major coin that comes with a larger than comfortable (yet, IMO, not unfair) price tag. This coin will fall into the "toe curler" category, sort of; it is definitely not "mandatory". And, this coin is offered to me from a much valued dealer contact and has not yet been listed; my guess is that he was saving this for the December/January/NYINC FPL offering.

EVP

Sorry, explain the struggle to me...

It's the 'larger than comfortable' price tag is giving me pause. We haven't been watering our money tree enough, I suppose.

Boosibri

@EVillageProwler said:

@TwoKopeiki said:

@EVillageProwler said:

Well, on this note, I guess I should mention that I am struggling with deciding on yet another purchase of a major coin that comes with a larger than comfortable (yet, IMO, not unfair) price tag. This coin will fall into the "toe curler" category, sort of; it is definitely not "mandatory". And, this coin is offered to me from a much valued dealer contact and has not yet been listed; my guess is that he was saving this for the December/January/NYINC FPL offering.

EVP

Sorry, explain the struggle to me...

It's the 'larger than comfortable' price tag is giving me pause. We haven't been watering our money tree enough, I suppose.

With interest rates where they are, borrowing from myself and paying back with interest has helped me to rationalize those uncomfortable purchases.

What is more scarce, your ability to generate more funds and replace the opportunity cost of having those funds, or finding this issue again and being offered the chance to acquire it.

For me in acquiring a large amount of new coins recently, the opportunity cost is low with the stock market where it is, and the probability high that if I passed on these pieces, I would perhaps never have the opportunity to acquire them again, or at least it would take 20 years.

MrEureka

@Boosibri said:

With interest rates where they are, borrowing from myself and paying back with interest has helped me to rationalize those uncomfortable purchases.

I used to borrow from myself all the time but not anymore. I Just found it too difficult to get repaid.

pruebas

@Boosibri said:

@EVillageProwler said:

@TwoKopeiki said:

@EVillageProwler said:

Well, on this note, I guess I should mention that I am struggling with deciding on yet another purchase of a major coin that comes with a larger than comfortable (yet, IMO, not unfair) price tag. This coin will fall into the "toe curler" category, sort of; it is definitely not "mandatory". And, this coin is offered to me from a much valued dealer contact and has not yet been listed; my guess is that he was saving this for the December/January/NYINC FPL offering.

EVP

Sorry, explain the struggle to me...

It's the 'larger than comfortable' price tag is giving me pause. We haven't been watering our money tree enough, I suppose.

With interest rates where they are, borrowing from myself and paying back with interest has helped me to rationalize those uncomfortable purchases.

What is more scarce, your ability to generate more funds and replace the opportunity cost of having those funds, or finding this issue again and being offered the chance to acquire it.

For me in acquiring a large amount of new coins recently, the opportunity cost is low with the stock market where it is, and the probability high that if I passed on these pieces, I would perhaps never have the opportunity to acquire them again, or at least it would take 20 years.

The larger question is whether or not you even need the piece(s) in question. Many times, if you actually think about it carefully, you will realize there are always more coins than you can ever buy and maybe one individual coin that you thought was necessary more often than not, isn't. Or isn't at the price at which it's being offered.

If you are collecting an area that has no defined boundaries, there may not even be any "mandatory" pieces.

Boosibri

@pruebas said:

@Boosibri said:

@EVillageProwler said:

@TwoKopeiki said:

@EVillageProwler said:

Well, on this note, I guess I should mention that I am struggling with deciding on yet another purchase of a major coin that comes with a larger than comfortable (yet, IMO, not unfair) price tag. This coin will fall into the "toe curler" category, sort of; it is definitely not "mandatory". And, this coin is offered to me from a much valued dealer contact and has not yet been listed; my guess is that he was saving this for the December/January/NYINC FPL offering.

EVP

Sorry, explain the struggle to me...

It's the 'larger than comfortable' price tag is giving me pause. We haven't been watering our money tree enough, I suppose.

With interest rates where they are, borrowing from myself and paying back with interest has helped me to rationalize those uncomfortable purchases.

What is more scarce, your ability to generate more funds and replace the opportunity cost of having those funds, or finding this issue again and being offered the chance to acquire it.

For me in acquiring a large amount of new coins recently, the opportunity cost is low with the stock market where it is, and the probability high that if I passed on these pieces, I would perhaps never have the opportunity to acquire them again, or at least it would take 20 years.

The larger question is whether or not you even need the piece(s) in question. Many times, if you actually think about it carefully, you will realize there are always more coins than you can ever buy and maybe one individual coin that you thought was necessary more often than not, isn't. Or isn't at the price at which it's being offered.

If you are collecting an area that has no defined boundaries, there may not even be any "mandatory" pieces.

Well, in even larger terms, I really don’t need any coins, so if I think about it too hard, I’m afraid that I will scare myself out of the hobby all together!

EVillageProwler

@Boosibri said:

@pruebas said:

[snip-snip]

The larger question is whether or not you even need the piece(s) in question. Many times, if you actually think about it carefully, you will realize there are always more coins than you can ever buy and maybe one individual coin that you thought was necessary more often than not, isn't. Or isn't at the price at which it's being offered.

If you are collecting an area that has no defined boundaries, there may not even be any "mandatory" pieces.

Well, in even larger terms, I really don’t need any coins, so if I think about it too hard, I’m afraid that I will scare myself out of the hobby all together!

I think 'need' was defined in the context of filling holes in a set, like one 'needs' an Edward I penny for a run of English monarchs.

But, even in the revised context, I actually feel like I need some of these coins. Like... it's a deeply rooted call to my desire to collect and acquire.

It is not lost on me that those of us with spouses who are not collectors may think we are crazy to talk about this stuff as 'need' instead of 'want' items. Yeah, they are 'want' items but sometimes we 'want' them so much so that the distinction between 'want' and 'need' becomes immaterial.

EVP

robp2

Well done on the nice pieces recently acquired.

I see want as the overview, and need as fulfilling the criteria imposed by the broader picture. For example, I want to collect an example of as many mints without duplicating types as possible. Using last week's acquisition from DNW as an example, I needed an example from Tamworth, but I wanted it to be a type not already represented in the collection. I both needed and wanted a William II type 4, and so it ticked the box.

The good news is that my wife currently likes Saxon & Norman pennies, so hay is being made while the sun shines.

Nap

@robp2 said:

The good news is that my wife currently likes Saxon & Norman pennies, so hay is being made while the sun shines.

My wife likes them too, as long as she doesn't have to hear the prices !!

robp2

@Nap said:

My wife likes them too, as long as she doesn't have to hear the prices !!

You could always quote hammer prices and if that doesn't work, try saying the auction was conducted in Turkish lire.

Nap

@robp2 said:

@Nap said:

My wife likes them too, as long as she doesn't have to hear the prices !!

You could always quote hammer prices and if that doesn't work, try saying the auction was conducted in Turkish lire.

She knows the prices are in ££ but tries to fool herself that it’s in $$

So do I!

Clio

@MrEureka said:

Agreed. The best collecting goals lie right on the border between the possible and the impossible.

Is this a Eureka aka Lustig original or something you've heard before? I think it's great and I want to put it as my signature. Make sure I give credit where credit is due.

MrEureka

@Clio said:

@MrEureka said:

Agreed. The best collecting goals lie right on the border between the possible and the impossible.

Is this a Eureka aka Lustig original or something you've heard before? I think it's great and I want to put it as my signature. Make sure I give credit where credit is due.

Thanks! It's original. Happy to take credit for it.

bidask

@Clio said:

@MrEureka said:

Agreed. The best collecting goals lie right on the border between the possible and the impossible.

Is this a Eureka aka Lustig original or something you've heard before? I think it's great and I want to put it as my signature. Make sure I give credit where credit is due.

I like it too !

WCC

For my current primary series, I have to mostly buy it whenever it becomes available which isn't often. I don't have the "problem" of too many coins to buy since most of the coins I used to want fitting this category, I don't really want it anymore.