What is it you used to do as a collector you don't do anymore?
braddick
Posts: 24,634 ✭✭✭✭✭
For me a couple of things.
First, I remember purchasing coins off of bid-boards and enjoying the hunt for neat items.
Second, I used to look through with an intensity the ads in CoinWorld and Numismatic News.
Now, I don't.
How about you?
peacockcoins
4
Comments
Buy high-grade Peace dollars.
I used to buy a lot of the mint’s yearly offerings but I don’t anymore. I also used to buy whatever caught my eye for whatever reason but I’m much more selective now.
Be constantly on the hunt. I'm on hiatus, wondering if the passion will return. May try to hit September LB and see if that kick-starts me.
I used to buy coins that did not fit in my collection, partly to relieve boredom. Now I have two safety deposit boxes full of coins that I don't really want.
RMR: 'Wer, wenn ich schriee, hörte mich denn aus der Engel Ordnungen?'
CJ: 'No one!' [Ain't no angels in the coin biz]
I don't spread my budget on nearly as many series or different coins now. I primarily buy from one.
Twenty years ago I had an interest in pre-33 gold but not the deep pockets to assemble a full type set of AU/MS coins. The nicest coin I had was an 1808 $5 in MS-61 condition. Did some research, wrote a few articles (one mentioned in the attributions thread) but couldn’t justify the spending involved in continuing to build the collection and eventually sold it. I won’t make a second attempt because I enjoy breathing and my wife would kill me. That has relegated me to Franklin’s, an occasional buy of a coin that I might find interesting and helping my grandson (9 years old) with his Merc and Buffalo nickel collections (mostly VG and F).
Years ago I bought a mint and proof set each year.....no more! I can't give them away today!
I use to keep all the NIFC Kennedy Halves I found CRH the past few years.......no more! I've thrown them all back.
Yeah ... I remember scanning those ads quite carefully.
See http://www.doubledimes.com for a free online reference for US twenty-cent pieces
fill a hole then improve later. No longer. Now buy right the first time
Comet or Ajax. And a toothbrush.
Buy coins on credit cards OR collect without any specific goal in mind.
I used to search rolls. Haven't done that in a long time.
Buying on credit is dumb.
Buying essentials on credit is dumb.
Buying non-essential luxury items on credit (or while carrying any consumer debt of any kind) is dumb, dumb, dumb.
I came to this realization too slowly myself. Righted that ship several years ago, and if it all goes according to plan, it will result in the ability to buy much nicer coins in the future.
Can't argue with that Bryce. Unless you (not you personally, but anyone) are really disciplined with credit cards (and most people aren't) the vast majority of Americans are still paying the minimum balance on Christmas gifts bought seven years ago. They will never get out of debt.
I was born with an aversion to debt, it would seem, so I agree entirely with the essence of your post. I would simply point out that buying on credit is actually smart if and only if you are able to pay off your balance in full every month. You will earn rewards that are subsidized by those who carry balances. The key is financial discipline and living within your means.
Collect large and half cents. EACS (the early copper club) scared me off by their continued barrage against slabs and tpg grading. We know how to grade better they say, tpg's don't they say, trust us, yes we clean our copper with xylol and a q-tip and then rub them over with a camel hair brush with blue ribbon conditioner, but hey, trust us (and of course impart infinite micro hairlines that come out once the blue ribbon evaporates.......).
When I quit the club I told their secretary why, the blistering anti-tpg prose in their journal that I found to be negative for collecting (and damaging their coins with their 'conditioning' practices), and the bloke said 'we understand, but indeed we are better than the tpg's' - i.e. get lost.................. Wow. I can't even imagine what EACS thinks of CAC, I have been gone well before green beans appeared.
NO. THANK. YOU.
Attend shows.
I would add that if you are buying "essentials" on credit because you have no money, I'm not sure I'd call that dumb. Frankly, it would be criminal to not buy the baby formula because you are averse to the use of credit.
I once dreamed of attaining a basic U.S. type set per the registry, but then realized there are coins therein for which I have no passion. So, I aint buying those!
My collection will then be a joyous mishmash!
"Got a flaming heart, can't get my fill"
I dont search bank rolls anymore or buy "unsearched" bags of wheat cents. It was good for building my knowledge 10 years ago and im pretty good at spotting a fake Lincoln wheat. I have owned and searched around 75,000 Lincoln cents (memorial and wheat) and it taught me several things: I learned about varieties and errors. I learned how to grade Lincolns. I learned that just because it is different, doesnt make it special. And finally I have learned that non collectors that have truly never looked at the Lincoln cent, also believe Im nuts. Oh, and you will never get rich from pocket change.
It's a cent, not a penny.
I attempted to put together a set of business strike Liberty Nickels in MS 66. Got 20 of them and then stopped. A cache of high end 12 S and 1886s was found. Pops exploded for the grade, many prices cratered. I didn't want to spend $6K for a coin that less than 2 years earlier went for $14K.
Am focusing on the few coins I need to complete my type set. They're expensive and almost impossible to find. Am not in a hurry. That said, will be nice to go back to shows.
"Seu cabra da peste,
"Sou Mangueira......."
Clad proof sets - I sold everything I had in 2007 for practically nothing - never again.
"When they can't find anything wrong with you, they create it!"
I used to search bank bags of coins. I have not done that in decades.
The only winners are dealers and auction houses with the fill the hole improve later strategy.
I would simply point out that buying on credit is actually smart if and only if you are able to pay off your balance in full every month. You will earn rewards that are subsidized by those who carry balances. The key is financial discipline and living within your means.
"The most brilliant financial strategy consists of living well within one's means." A quote from Benjamin Graham's "Memoirs."
The most brilliant financial strategy includes living well within one's means, at least most of the time.
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
I used to actually collect. mostly just read now.
"The most brilliant financial strategy consists of living well within someone else's means." A quote from the cavernous recesses of CoinJunkie's brain.
I used to go to a different local coin show every weekend. From Knoxville Tn up 11W to Wytheville Va there was a coin show every weekend in each small town. Absolutely loved it. Sometimes I would be so broke I couldn't buy anything, but we went anyway. Such a time that was. When I was in Germany we did the same thing during wine season from May to September up the Mosel River. Small towns would close the streets on their particular weekend to nothing but pedestrians for the wine festivals and it was a fun time each weekend.
Jim
When a man who is honestly mistaken hears the truth, he will either quit being mistaken or cease to be honest....Abraham Lincoln
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.....Mark Twain
These days, I totally agree with you. When I was a newB and totally clueless (as opposed to mostly clueless) it was a reasonably nice way to dip a toe in and learn a ton. That strategy is much easier to do in a rising market. Mistakes can be erased without too much damage. In a falling market, it's a disaster.
It's also a bit problematic if your disposable income dramatically increases along the way. It sure seems nice to upgrade all those slots when you can. It's pretty hard to predict the future though.
As a kid, I cleaned some coins, fortunately nothing valuable. I can attest that harshly cleaned coins look obviously so, even 50+ years later.
I used to buy coins at shows because I didn’t want to leave empty handed. That led me to get a lot of mediocre coins. Now I buy if the right coin is there, but otherwise I enjoy looking and the social aspect, and if I go home without ever opening my wallet, even if I flew across the country for the show, it’s no big deal.
I don't buy from just any dealer anymore. My tuition got paid I guess
Grey sheets.
WS
I don't look at any change that I receive. Stopped about 30 years ago.....
I disagree with this. Especially on rare coins that come along only so often. There is obviously a line where it doesn’t make sense but buying smart doesn’t always mean stretching or buying perfect. Incremental acquisitions and help you get perfect if done well as well
11.5$ Southern Dollars, The little “Big Easy” set
For many years, I purchased Mint and Proof sets - stopped that back around 2010.
Cheers, RickO
Used to buy from ebay (I did get a couple of sweet deals there), but stopped a few years ago due to all the fakes,
shady sellers and proliferation of trash.
Have not roll searched halves in several years - would like to do that again, at least a few times.
I have not gone to a coin specific show since I left the PNW.... just none around here. Some limited coin tables at gun shows though.
Now, I buy from internet sites, forum members or the occasional treasure in an antique shop.
Still a great hobby, along with firearms, knives, marbles, very old decks of cards - and anything that comes along that excites my interest.
Coin roll hunting. That led me to buy boxes of 100 count tubes of all denominations. I wasn't going to fill just folders. Most of those tubes sit empty today. A lot of them were full. Then I dumped it all back into the bank.
Roll searching.
LoL!!! Sparked my memory as a kid as well. "Scotch taped" Lincoln's into my old Whitman folders.
used to have to have 1 of everything
now, much more focused
About the only thing I've changed over the 30 plus years of collecting Nolan Ryan baseball cards and coins is not spending money that I don't have.
Donato
Donato's Complete US Type Set ---- Donato's Dansco 7070 Modified Type Set ---- Donato's Basic U.S. Coin Design Set
Successful transactions: Shrub68 (Jim), MWallace (Mike)
I'm still an upgrader, and I defend it. It's a similar approach I take to most of my hobbies. I limit my investment up front until I know if I'm in it for good. I built an "everyman"/circulated set of something, and if I decide I love it and want to keep going, maybe I'll start to upgrade to uncirculated or something like that. It's hard to lose big when you aren't spending big to begin with. You also should really get to know a series and collecting before you start paying high prices and playing in an area where 1 grade point can lead to significant differences in price. The best way to learn a series can be to start collecting it.
As a new collector, I think it's important to play around on the low end and get your education. This is a thing that new collectors should do that many veterans can skip because they've essentially already done it. I think we should approach this topic in the vein of "I'm glad I've learned so much that have to do that anymore", and we should not imply that new collectors could be successful doing that right out of the gate.
IG: DeCourcyCoinsEbay: neilrobertson
"Numismatic categorizations, if left unconstrained, will increase spontaneously over time." -me
Guffaw!! I remember doing that, too! Thanks for reminding me.
Two things I have stopped:
1) Buying raw coins and submitting them for grading. Now I only buy graded coins
2) Only purchasing NGC graded coins. Now I find the best graded coin I can afford (PCGS or NGC)
Tim
I’m with @TurtleCat on that note.
Buy Classic Commems.
@ernie11- Here's the aftermath to prove it. I had the folder tucked away somewhere for a good 15 or 20 years. When I pulled it out and opened it, the tape was so dried out...it just fell off the face of the coins but left the glue residue behind. I couldn't get it off the folder without ripping the paper. A good reason for a kid!
I no longer tell my wife when I buy an expensive coin. What she don't know can't hurt me.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
This can't be stressed enough. I'm fine paying a spread on coins. People in the business have to make money and without them, finding coins would be far more difficult (I do not buy coins sight unseen; too many times a coin image I have seen does not adequately represent the coin's actual appearance).
But you need to keep in mind that when you buy a coin, there's a spread. When you sell a coin and trade up, you pay the spread on both transactions. If you are well connected with the person with whom you do the deal, you may only pay the spread once, or pay the spread on both sides of the transaction at a reduced rate, depending on your relationship.
"Seu cabra da peste,
"Sou Mangueira......."