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PillarDollarCollector

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PillarDollarCollector

I am getting use to it but just curios for others here. Are you at a point where you add just a few coins per year or are you still able to find enough that you want per year?

Tibor

I've added 11 coins I needed and upgraded 6 more over the last 18 months. I'm at the point where even the common pieces rarely come up. When they do, I might bid several multiples of the high estimate. Even then, I'm left with no winnings 80%of the time. The others start with bids in the 4 figures. Many times if I win I know I'm buried in the coin. Doesn't bother me though, there's a lot to be said for the pride of ownership. 2 of them are pictured in your Rarest Coin thread from a couple of weeks ago.

PillarDollarCollector

It is so strange there are no actual coin shops for my area of interest not use to that when I collected Canadian or US coins.

bidask

What coin is it exactly that you want ?

TwoKopeiki

I add less than 5 coins a year to my primary collection, on average.

Boosibri

@TwoKopeiki said:
I add less than 5 coins a year to my primary collection, on average.

Same but 2020/2021 was much bigger for me but with a significant net subtraction in total coins owned and a significant increase in average dollar per coin.

SmEagle1795

@Boosibri said:

@TwoKopeiki said:
I add less than 5 coins a year to my primary collection, on average.

Same but 2020/2021 was much bigger for me but with a significant net subtraction in total coins owned and a significant increase in average dollar per coin.

This is exactly what I've done as well. I've had a net-reduction in count over the last ~18 months by about 40 coins but have added three of my top five best coins in the same period. That feels like the right direction to take.

In a normal year, I've averaged 10-15 "keepers" but I'm always happy if I add just one.

For the items currently on my wantlist, there are five coins where I've been waiting for 10+ years and might need to wait another 10 to find the right example. The rest I'll hopefully cross off periodically.

neildrobertson

I've added about 150 coins to my collection this year. Over half were upgrades. That doesn't tell you much though. I could have just bought 2 lbs of bulk world coins.

I take the approach of working on multiple things at once. I have a few "sets" that are difficult and get between 0-5 coins per year. I also have some easier ones that I can add coins to more regularly. Those easier sets are where most of the additions are. I find that always having something low cost and accessible to work on keeps me from getting restless and making bad decisions on the tougher coins. On the other hand it lessens how much money I am willing to spend on the rarer coins.

It's funny though. One of my "easy" sets ended up turning into one of the nicer parts of my collection. And I probably got more joy from working on it too.

PillarDollarCollector

@bidask said:
What coin is it exactly that you want ?

Looking for nice presenting Mexican 8 reales from 1732 to 1949 (will focus on the remaining later on) and some South American 8 reales 1771 and earlier. There are some for sale here and there so I have no complaints just curious for those that have been at it longer than I have.

Just find it strange still you can't just pick up a phone and call a dealer and ask for this date or that date but it what it is and just have to sit back and wait.

WCC

I have bought one coin this year so far. Two others were offered in the recent Heritage Signature auction but was outbid. I didn't want either badly enough and yes, both are once a decade opportunities.

In 2020, I believe I bought four, three for my primary series.

On eBay, I have a saved search for Bolivia and Peru pillars (by date). Not a single coin I would even close to consider buying has been offered this year. One was above my price range which met my standards. Not sure any except for that one coin (already graded) would grade numerically.

For half real, I own every date in the NGC or PCGS data. A few possible upgrades.

For 1R, two dates I do not have (not sure what one of them looks like) and six upgrades.

For 2R, three dates I do not have and one or maybe two upgrades.

For 4R, two dates and three upgrades.

Also a few duplicates I would consider buying.

Everything else I know and want is from "name" collections but not graded and never seen even one for sale.

WCC

@neildrobertson said:

I take the approach of working on multiple things at once. I have a few "sets" that are difficult and get between 0-5 coins per year. I also have some easier ones that I can add coins to more regularly. Those easier sets are where most of the additions are. I find that always having something low cost and accessible to work on keeps me from getting restless and making bad decisions on the tougher coins. On the other hand it lessens how much money I am willing to spend on the rarer coins.

I have had multiple sets in the past and still have some "holdovers" which I have mostly abandoned. I'll buy one of these coins but it has to be a rarer date in a quality I want which doesn't happen often either. I don't spend much on it either.

I plan to get rid of much of my current collection which will limit the variety. There are others in the past I wanted to buy (world, US or ancient) but have lost interest, as I am not interested in typing up "meaningful" amounts I can spend on my primary series or owning a bunch of random coins. I'd rather attempt to acquire those which don't come up for sale in a private transaction but have other financial priorities now.

WCC

@KingOfMorganDollar said:

>

Just find it strange still you can't just pick up a phone and call a dealer and ask for this date or that date but it what it is and just have to sit back and wait.

I'm not sure why you find it strange. Someone can only buy common or scarcer/rarer but very expensive coins like that, most of which are US.

worldcoinguy

If I can acquire 2-4 solid additions in my core set each year, I consider myself lucky. With that said, I do think that you have to "keep the coals hot" and stoke the numismatic bug periodically with something interesting. Some of the unplanned purchases have proved to be quite enjoyable over the last few years even if I knew they were not long term collection additions. Some detours in recent years have included: Byzantine, Visigoth, US national currency, and Spanish civil war currency.

PillarDollarCollector

@WCC said:

@KingOfMorganDollar said:

>

Just find it strange still you can't just pick up a phone and call a dealer and ask for this date or that date but it what it is and just have to sit back and wait.

I'm not sure why you find it strange. Someone can only buy common or scarcer/rarer but very expensive coins like that, most of which are US.

What I mean with US and Canadian coins I can call a few dealers they will always most likely find what I am looking for. With Mexico and South America you buy what you can when you can it is just different it is OK but also strange at times.

bosox

Regarding Canadian, it depends on what series you collect. If you collect 20th century decimal, some are scarce, but only a few are truly rare or condition-rare. Most of those you can order up on demand from numerous major dealers.

If you collect 19th century decimal or tokens, some of that is very scarce and a lot of the higher-grade stuff is condition-rare. Most dealers will only routinely carry the more common stuff. The very scarce and rare ones only sell once in a while.

If you collect something really rare, like patterns or specimen coinage, you can wait a long time. For example, take my registry set of Canadian specimen cents. Only a nine coin set, it took me 15 years to complete and I was lucky because a couple of major long-term collections, each containing a couple of the needed coins, sold during that time. Absent those sales, I might not have lived long enough to assemble the set.

https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/canadian-federation/canadian-cents/canadian-large-cents-specimens-1858-1912/alltimeset/165324

PillarDollarCollector

@bosox said:
Regarding Canadian, it depends on what series you collect. If you collect 20th century decimal, some are scarce, but only a few are truly rare or condition-rare. Most of those you can order up on demand from numerous major dealers.

If you collect 19th century decimal or tokens, some of that is very scarce and a lot of the higher-grade stuff is condition-rare. Most dealers will only routinely carry the more common stuff. The very scarce and rare ones only sell once in a while.

If you collect something really rare, like patterns or specimen coinage, you can wait a long time. For example, take my registry set of Canadian specimen cents. Only a nine coin set, it took me 15 years to complete and I was lucky because a couple of major long-term collections, each containing a couple of the needed coins, sold during that time. Absent those sales, I might not have lived long enough to assemble the set.

https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/canadian-federation/canadian-cents/canadian-large-cents-specimens-1858-1912/alltimeset/165324

Agreed but if you have the money most coins can be found. I know that based on my collection I once had. People like The Canadian Numismatic Company (All my major rarities I got from the) can help you land almost any coin with a minor few exceptions. As for patterns and specimens I have no idea only ever owned a 1948 dollar in SP66.

Even the dot coins can be had if patient I remember holding the 1936 dot dime (only 5 known) in my hand it was on sale but never saw the penny in person. Maybe now it is different this want back 10-15 years ago. The 1921 50 cent back in those days was not hard to locate if you had the money. To me the truly impossible coin is the 1911 dollar I have seen one in the currency museum. The 2000P quarters are very rare but I owned at one point 3 different ones including the rarest one.

PillarDollarCollector

Sold all my Canadian coins to buy a house. I still miss owning a few of them but rather have a place to live that is my own.

Thing is with Canadian coins there are very few collectors for major key coins. It is not like the USA not even close. If there was many coins would be worth a whole lot more. But I don't see that changing for a long time maybe once Canada reaches a population of 100 million and we are not even at 40 million yet.

bosox

I think you are kind of reinforcing my point. True rarities, like the dot cents and dimes, can only be purchased when the current owners wish to sell. They generally cannot be ordered on demand because generally dealers do not stock such coins.

Take the 1936 dot cents you mentioned. The Cornerstone example, which sold in 2019, was acquired from Pittman in 1997. The Cook example also sold in 2019. It was bought out of the Canadiana collection in 2010. Between 2010 and 2019, I do not think any examples sold.

I think you can sometimes order 1948 specimen dollars on demand. PCGS has graded 64 in total and 20 in 66 or higher. Many of the pre-1900 specimens are much tougher in that they only have two or three examples out there.

Boosibri

@TwoKopeiki said:
I add less than 5 coins a year to my primary collection, on average.

Same but 2020/2021 was much bigger for me but with a significant net subtraction in total coins owned and a significant increase in average dollar per coin.> @KingOfMorganDollar said:

@WCC said:

@KingOfMorganDollar said:

>

Just find it strange still you can't just pick up a phone and call a dealer and ask for this date or that date but it what it is and just have to sit back and wait.

I'm not sure why you find it strange. Someone can only buy common or scarcer/rarer but very expensive coins like that, most of which are US.

What I mean with US and Canadian coins I can call a few dealers they will always most likely find what I am looking for. With Mexico and South America you buy what you can when you can it is just different it is OK but also strange at times.

I dont see why any of that is strange, nor why anyone would want to collect anything where you can just pick up the phone and have a suitable example made available. What fun is that?

PillarDollarCollector

@Boosibri said:

@TwoKopeiki said:
I add less than 5 coins a year to my primary collection, on average.

Same but 2020/2021 was much bigger for me but with a significant net subtraction in total coins owned and a significant increase in average dollar per coin.> @KingOfMorganDollar said:

@WCC said:

@KingOfMorganDollar said:

>

Just find it strange still you can't just pick up a phone and call a dealer and ask for this date or that date but it what it is and just have to sit back and wait.

I'm not sure why you find it strange. Someone can only buy common or scarcer/rarer but very expensive coins like that, most of which are US.

What I mean with US and Canadian coins I can call a few dealers they will always most likely find what I am looking for. With Mexico and South America you buy what you can when you can it is just different it is OK but also strange at times.

I dont see why any of that is strange, nor why anyone would want to collect anything where you can just pick up the phone and have a suitable example made available. What fun is that?

Agreed just get that feeling sometimes.

PillarDollarCollector

@bosox said:
I think you are kind of reinforcing my point. True rarities, like the dot cents and dimes, can only be purchased when the current owners wish to sell. They generally cannot be ordered on demand because generally dealers do not stock such coins.

Take the 1936 dot cents you mentioned. The Cornerstone example, which sold in 2019, was acquired from Pittman in 1997. The Cook example also sold in 2019. It was bought out of the Canadiana collection in 2010. Between 2010 and 2019, I do not think any examples sold.

I think you can sometimes order 1948 specimen dollars on demand. PCGS has graded 64 in total and 20 in 66 or higher. Many of the pre-1900 specimens are much tougher in that they only have two or three examples out there.

Canadian coins are a great series to collect unlike the USA were you have to pay large sums of money for many many coins.