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To the Box of 20 collectors, a question.
AuldFartte
Posts: 4,597 ✭✭✭✭
I'm giving this some serious thought, but having two Boxes of 20 instead of one (possibly one British Victorian and one Classic US). My question is this: What is your reasoning behind your Box of 20 instead of a larger collection? Thanks in advance for any and all responses! Much appreciated.
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Weed out the dreck and encourage thoughtful and meaningful collecting (vs. hoarding/accumulating).
peacockcoins
More like the box of 20,000.
100% Positive BST transactions
I like your idea.
If less is more, wouldn't a Box of 10 be more thoughtful and meaningful than a Box of 20?
Who's up for a Box of 1?
I don't let the number of slots in a plastic box control my collection, but I do have a strong natural bias towards collecting fewer and better coins. I can easily imagine the day when I have fewer than 20 coins in my collection.
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
To me, it partly depends upon budget limits. Up to about 15 years ago when I mostly bought off of eBay, I'd buy cheaper lower quality coins regularly. I did so presumably for the same reason many others do, I liked buying something frequently.
That is, until I concluded I'd never be able to collect the coins I wanted most within my budget constraints. I didn't have a random hoard or accumulation (all within specific series) but it was an inferior collection to the one I have now.
I have on occasion thought about what it would be like to sell off much of my core collection to acquire a more prominent rarity, but I cannot bring myself to do it. An example is the Rudman 1732 Mexico AU-58 4R. I could have competed for it in 2016 in the sense I have the funds available but I don't ever intend to buy a coin in that price range. I can't afford it by my standards.
The coins I would have to sell, I doubt I'd ever be able to buy most back either which I would want to do. There would possibly also be noticeable "slippage" financially.
I think the general idea is to have fewer but better, and to prune periodically. That being said, my box of 20 currently has 33 coins. I do not stress about this.
There are 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who do not.
I enjoy picking and grading too much and have failed the concept.
A work in progress, but have been playing around with a solution devised on a pyramid
20 Holy Grails 20-20 Personal Collection/ Cherrypicks 20-20-20-20 Grading SetsThat gets me to a core of 140 coins while adding 20 annually.
ATM... Might own 70 between raw, slabbed, and those in the Q for grading.
Longterm, I want to cap it at around 200 to 300 coins.
Guesstimate... 10 years before I need to worry about thinning the herd, and 20 years before completion.
Holy Grail Box of 20... zero but hope to add one per year (examples 1955 DDO, AH Kennedy DCAM)
South Carolina Box of 20 PC... items which will include exonumia, errors, medals etc... currently 3
Annual Box of 20 Collection... currently on pace for about 20 in 2021. A place for toners, varieties, cherrypicks in general. Could be sold off to fund Grail Box or upgrade my grading sets to key/semi key quality.
Grading Sets...
Box of 20 grading set for Buffalo Nickels... complete
Box of 20 grading set for Lincoln Cents, Morgan, and Peace Dollars... incomplete
In the four months of implementing this plan, I have been more selective of the coins chosen and more ruthless of the coins that don't make the cut.
Now I have a hankering for a Statehood Quarter Collection
BST: KindaNewish (3/21/21), WQuarterFreddie (3/30/21), Meltdown (4/6/21), DBSTrader2 (5/5/21) AKA- unclemonkey on Blow Out
@yspsales - I like that idea!
My OmniCoin Collection
My BankNoteBank Collection
Tom, formerly in Albuquerque, NM.
A box of 20 could be used to manage an inventory class. Classic Silver Commems for instance.
Example - Barry, a new wave dealer and strategist does Shows & Online plus maintains an inventory roster of 100 slabbed PCGS coins for show case 1. 5 Boxes of 20 for Walkers, Commems, Dollars, Gold, Type. He has a $250k total investment and strategy maintain a mix allocation 80 pct inventory / 20 pct buying cash. In this way he can use the Pcgs inventory (registry) app manage his inventory. Showcase 2 has currency, pages of raw bullion or collector coins. He has free info CPG, PCGS CF, and spends $25 / yr. for CW values and $15 yr NN subscription. His business is a lean, mean, green machine. Overhead costs are kept at a minimum. He sets up at shows as early can be let in and stays to the closing bell. If he’s buying from a wholesaler he wants 1st crack at that material so possibly some good pickups to retail when public let in.
Offers, bids are at a pct of what he can sell it for plus he does a lot of business with wholesalers at shows. Good business connections important in acquisition strategy. Outside of numismatics he may work in accounting, teaching, or engineering. Consequently he brings a highly analytical, competitive skill set into the arena.
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My collection in NGC and PCGS holders is in this range. However, much of it is what I used to buy before where it isn't worthwhile to sell it.
I buy far fewer coins now because I cannot find much for my primary collection and I allocate all of my budget to it. I have bought nothing so far this year. Last year, I bought five coins total, but two were lower grades from eBay though one is almost impossible to buy.
Quality o Quantity
Less is more
I like the idea of a few boxes of 20, each with a different focus. I'm like WCC where I find it difficult to find coins for my primary collection (1st year type set in PCGS CAC, problem-free, good eye appeal, and within budget), so I haven't bought much in a while. The hobby kind of gets stale with little to no activity. I might think of a few focus areas, but keep it to boxes of 20 to keep the focus on quality and not a hoard.
Thanks for all the great responses, folks. I really appreciate your thoughts and input.
My OmniCoin Collection
My BankNoteBank Collection
Tom, formerly in Albuquerque, NM.
Do what makes you happy, I have never been a box of some number collector. I get the strategy but it just does not work for me.
My Collection of Old Holders
Never a slave to one plastic brand will I ever be.
My "reasoning" for going with a very small set of rabidly loved and favored coins had a lot to do with just going through my own collector "life cycle." I started off naïve, impulsive, expansive and based much on whim. Later things got more informed, but the years passed, and I had to start thinking about disposition of all the stuff I'd acquired. Then on to Ebay and selling stuff off. And much like in other areas of life, at one point you find yourself much more selective about acquiring more stuff.
So now, I'm left with my small subset of beauties that I like to pull out and oogle. That does it for me!
Here's a warning parable for coin collectors...
I have a box of 20. Several of them, actually.
Do whatever floats your boat. The rules are pretty flexible.
Exactly this. The '20' is just convenient number that coincides with a slab box. It could be 40, 50, 100+, as long as it's not hoarding or accumulating stuff.
This is another reason to be more selective in buying, unless the collector is willing to treat it mostly as an alternative consumption expense.
I don't collect for financial reasons, but going through the trouble of disposing a large(r) number of less desirable and less marketable coins at a possible noticeable discount to my acquisition cost makes it even less appealing.