@MidLifeCrisis said:
As my friend @TomB once said to me when I was thinking about buying an expensive coin:
"Be a man; pony up; WTF's wrong with you?"
Was it a coin in TomB's inventory?
No. It was at another dealer's table at a show in Baltimore.
One of my favorite stories with Tom (and I have many) goes back to the Garden State show in 2004. Tom’s table mate had a gorgeous blue and purple merc in a fatty holder and it was cheap. A perfect coin for Tom. Except he was either getting food or in the bathroom when it was put in the case. I still own it
Im curious though, what is this mysterious type set you keep mentioning? Im guessing a certain year with special significance perhaps? That is something I have considered in the past!
My dad’s parents were born a week apart, and my grandfather was born in Philly. If I’m going to put together a single year set, that seemed like a good one.
You're taking the time to figure it out first, which is good. I think a lot of people jump into a set with no plan about how to handle the tough dates. If you want to do the set, I say go big or go home. Even the Morelan collection of bust dollars had a couple which were 10x the value of the rest. Would that set have received so much press and praise without those two coins? I doubt it. Unless it's a unique or essentially unobtainable coin, when I see a set with a hole, the first thing I see is the hole.
@savitale said:
Even the Morelan collection of bust dollars had a couple which were 10x the value of the rest. Would that set have received so much press and praise without those two coins? I doubt it. Unless it's a unique or essentially unobtainable coin, when I see a set with a hole, the first thing I see is the hole.
But this brings up an important point about prices relative to budget. Let's say I find a set of 10 coins where 9 cost $50 each and one costs $500. $500 is higher than what I've paid for most of my coins (many of which were acquired during or before college when my income was less than now), but it's not a show-stopper price; if $500 leaves my bank account, I probably won't really notice.
On the other hand, if the 9 coins cost $500 each and the last piece costs $5000, well that would make the coin the third most expensive thing I've ever bought, behind my house and car. The issue isn't just the 10x jump, but it's where that falls in my overall budget. For some people, $10 to $100 would be impossible for their budgets. For others, $500,000 to $5,000,000 is no big deal. Each case is 10x, but it's all relative.
Comments
One of my favorite stories with Tom (and I have many) goes back to the Garden State show in 2004. Tom’s table mate had a gorgeous blue and purple merc in a fatty holder and it was cheap. A perfect coin for Tom. Except he was either getting food or in the bathroom when it was put in the case. I still own it
My dad’s parents were born a week apart, and my grandfather was born in Philly. If I’m going to put together a single year set, that seemed like a good one.
You're taking the time to figure it out first, which is good. I think a lot of people jump into a set with no plan about how to handle the tough dates. If you want to do the set, I say go big or go home. Even the Morelan collection of bust dollars had a couple which were 10x the value of the rest. Would that set have received so much press and praise without those two coins? I doubt it. Unless it's a unique or essentially unobtainable coin, when I see a set with a hole, the first thing I see is the hole.
LIBERTY SEATED DIMES WITH MAJOR VARIETIES CIRCULATION STRIKES (1837-1891) digital album
But this brings up an important point about prices relative to budget. Let's say I find a set of 10 coins where 9 cost $50 each and one costs $500. $500 is higher than what I've paid for most of my coins (many of which were acquired during or before college when my income was less than now), but it's not a show-stopper price; if $500 leaves my bank account, I probably won't really notice.
On the other hand, if the 9 coins cost $500 each and the last piece costs $5000, well that would make the coin the third most expensive thing I've ever bought, behind my house and car. The issue isn't just the 10x jump, but it's where that falls in my overall budget. For some people, $10 to $100 would be impossible for their budgets. For others, $500,000 to $5,000,000 is no big deal. Each case is 10x, but it's all relative.