Has anyone ever found an ...average... price point for average coin collectors?
FrankH
Posts: 982 ✭✭✭✭✭
I can find historic prices for just about anything. I'm curious what the AVERAGE sale price is for the mass marketers like LIttleton, etc.
Does such an animal exist? 
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I'm sure Littleton knows. ANA might also have done surveys.
Median would be more useful.
That would work.
@FrankH ... Do you mean for each coin type? Or all types in general? Would be a big difference for some types if the general is your interest. Also, I am sure it would vary over time. Cheers, RickO
$128.37
https://www.magnifymoney.com/news/collectors-survey/
Two bits.
Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value. Zero. Voltaire. Ebay coinbowlllc
Every collector has a different budget and there is always an area or more that can be worked into that budget. For items beyond the budget, the collector would need to work with a venue that has the patience for layaways. I don't think there is really an average price point for all collectors.
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What is the definition of an "average collector"?
Does the definition include one or more of the following factors:
How many coins the collector purchases in a year;
How much money the collector spends on the hobby in a year;
What type of coins the collector collects;
How the collector collects (i.e. raw, slabbed, online, B&M Shops, Coin Shows);
The age of the collector; and
The value of the collector's collection?
The ....average...collector is Alvin Albumphiller.
THAT is the market.
WE are the eeeeleeet.....
Mass marketers, yes. Average in anything regarding prices, not in my book.
Some I know of from coin club: Individual coins - Phil - price of PCGs MS70 ASE (lowest bin search) off eBay abt $55. He buys 2 a month. Jim will spend up to price of Pcgs MS69 AGE, AGB - 1 per month. He is stacking those up. Then overall spending not more than 10 pct of monthly income. Eric spends 10 pct monthly income on travel, entertainment, sports venues then If coins sell from his eBay store replaces that with coins that he can get below or close to CDN bid (bid plus 5-10 pct) or slabbed 69-70 ASE. He will not spend more than $300 on an individual coin unless slabbed MS69-70 AGE, slabbed Mod Gold Commem MS69-70 (serious collector of them).
It’s tough to define what a average collector really is. Perhaps a better measure pct of monthly income.
I used to get things at Newberry's.
I’m with those searching for an “ average “ coin collector 😁
I recklessly spend as much as I can on anything that looks good at the moment
🎶 shout shout, let it all out 🎶
There is an "average". That's not the same as saying everyone is the same.
Oh, about three fiddy.
This surely isn’t average. Can you imagine paying $174,000 for one Carson City Morgan silver dollar. I got the hold it for a few seconds anyway.
It could be something you create manually. Before Coinfacts and other auction archive tools were available a glance away at your phone, I had created and Excel file that had hundreds if not thousands of individual auction results for the buffalo nickel series. I used Excels' pivot table not only calculate the average price for each coin in series, per grade, but to also display the high and low auction results. Of course no dealer's coin is an 'average auction' coin, but I found it a useful tool for a number of years.
Buffalo Nickel Digital Album
Toned Buffalo Date SetDigital Album
40% of average collectors at any given coin show will max out at $100 on a single purchase.
70% max out at around $300
These are not averages but they are the ceiling for these percentages of collectors. I have no data to back up my numbers but having sold coins for 20 plus years, I believe these numbers are pretty close.
For an average, @ctf_error_coins may be pretty close with his number of $128.37
That sounds right. I don’t think many of them coming in bourse room have much over $300. Then the bigger spenders may flock to a wholesaler. A wholesaler who sets up can be about 5 -7 pct over bid.
If you think about it $300 about a months food bill for a person.
I actually did think about the number before I posted. It was not a joke.
“ I gave him a dollar “. “ damn you monster “😂😂😂
🎶 shout shout, let it all out 🎶
It really depends on how you define "collector". The majority of estates have collections ("accumulations"?) that have no coins worth over $100.
Investors can have accumulations too. Bourse room customers can be anybody.
I don’t care what they are - but making sales and moving inventory positive p/l the goal.
I have acquired many estates where not much nothin worth over $100. However it all ads up. Perhaps deceased owner sold off nicer stuff years ago. I take it all. One so massive it took 2 suitcases take it away / coins & currency both US & World.
I'm not so sure I would rely on this survey -
...People with more money tend to spend more on their collections. Here’s the lifetime cost of collecting across different household income brackets:
Less than $35,000: $2,646
$35,000 to $49,999: $2,364
$50,000 to $74,999: $5,743
$75,000 to $99,999: $4,219
$100,000 or more: $6,625
pikers!
I would guess the “average” collector spends a couple hundred dollars/year on their collection and probably has a max of $100/coin.
There are still a ton of people who pick up a little here and a little there and really bring down the average from the outliers at the top.
I’m feeling pretty “big time” over the past few years averaging over $100/mo. A lot of folks will never get to that level (and I realize what chump champ change that is to some collectors)
So, there's a challenge to any new grading company.
I'm thinking of WHALEGRADE as a new venture.
“average” collector???
Do exist this?? No. You are a collector or a pseudo collector.
By the name collector the meaning it is a person who like, is passion, and also expertise in one or other directions (fields). An collector will build his collections but in same time all are investors also. So do not exist "average collector".
In function of the capability to invest, they will go high or low. So this drive to different classes of collectors.
Example1: I ordered a roll of 20 50$ 2023 gold coins. One (the best I will find) will go in the collection, and the rest in gold investment. So I collect, but also the remaining of 19 must cover the 20th coin in approx. 1 year. This it is a kind of collecting, I like the design and collect, but also covering the costs by investment.
Example 2: I like the Quarters and the Halves. I want full varieties collection. This it is a passion so I will invest at the best price possible. This it is another kind of collector. (I will not loose the investment if my book will sell well)
Example 3: You has also Dealers. They are business peoples which combine passion and living. I will consider semi-investors because average is short term.
Example 4: Are those pseudo collectors which me I name speculators and scammers.
NEVER ARGUE WITH AN IDIOT.
FIRST THEY WILL DRAG YOU DOWN TO THEIR LEVEL.
THEN, THEY WILL BEAT YOU WITH EXPERIENCE.
MARK TWAIN
This is really tough, if you average out the majority of collectors just collect from circulation, may have a few silver coins and a few paper money notes. When I inherited my dads collection the total was less than $500 of what I sold (I kept around $200-$300 in coins/notes). So taking the stuff that has numismatic value you are talking around $17 per coin and that’s because he had a few ASE when silver was $21 per ounce.
Just taking my 5 most expensive coins/notes you are talking an average over $1000. Taking my whole collection I think my average would be under $100 For every $1000+ coin I have, there are hundreds of silver dimes at $2.25 each.
If we are talking just graded than the average goes higher, but not maybe more than $125, some modern coins cost me little and some slabbed coins aren’t expensive.
It’s hard to answer, but I’ll stick with my dad’s collection. The average coin is around $15-$20.
My current registry sets:
20th Century Type Set
Virtual DANSCO 7070
Slabbed IHC set - Missing the Anacs Slabbed coins
With the summer doldrums their spending tanks across the board. There may be people coming in the bourse room but most don’t have much money. Time get out the less than $20 junk box.
Sell heck outta the junk box on Saturday buy a nice slabbed coin on Sunday off bourse. Plus enjoying the coin show food.
In dollar terms, I don't think finding an average sale price point (even if accurate) is especially meaningful. According to the Consumer Price Index, the dollar has lost half of its purchasing power since 1995. It has lost 90% of its purchasing power since 1962. If the dollar is the unit of measure, I think that any average would need to be inflation-adjusted, and also adjusted for the variation in the quantity of coins sold in any given time period. (Example, more mass-market coins sold in economic good times and fewer sold during recessions.)
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