Priced out of the market?

shirohniichan

How many of us started collecting when we had more money to devote to coins, and now find ourselves unable to finish sets we've started?

If I would have shopped for the "stopper" for my set while I was still single, I could have afforded it. At the time the market for the coin was higher, so it would have lost about 30% of its value by now. For that reason I'm glad I didn't buy it. If I would have bought it two years ago it would have been at its lowest price in a while, but I wouldn't have been able to buy any other coins for a year or two.

While I'd like to finish the set, family responsibilities hold me back. How many of us are in the same boat?

prooflike

I'm in that boat. I'm definitely in that boat. A very sad state of affairs.

RLinn

I certainly find myself in that boat with regard to a couple of series. All those boats and no keys.

nwcs

For me, the high end coins in my preferred series are >$$$$$$$ so I'm priced out of most of the great stuff. I usually do one $400 coin a year. The rest are generally <$150 each and not too many of them. Which is why I'm selling some of my dark side stuff and other things. To generate some cash to get good stuff.

LanLord

Barber and Standing Liberty quarters and Mercury dimes come to mind for me right now. I am sorry, the family will have to do without Christmas if I see a really nice 1901s quarter or 1916d dime.

Just kidding, but, yes, I do find myself wondering about my ability to complete sets which I foolishly started.

Spinynorman

I still haven't put the 09-S VDB in my set. I think I'll have to buy one of those half pound lots...

Catch22

I've certainly slowed down my purchases given the birth of my daughter. But, I've never really intended to complete my collection as it has no end. I collect rare coins in circulated grades and have interest in all American coins of the pre-modern era. The only complete set I own of anything is my Indians that I started when I was a teen. That was 25 years ago.

Although somewhat knowledgable, I've never considered myself competent to risk the kinds of dollars the upper grades command. I can live with a few lessons that cost a few hundred dollars, but I'm not financially able to risk a few thousand on a difference of opinion. I do make a few exceptions, but rarely.
Besides, there is still a high degree of satisfaction in owning a coin with few survivors...even in VG-8. Often times, problem free circulated rarities are more difficult to find than their Mint State brothers.

Does anybody else think that rare date gold coins in circulated condition are very reasonably priced?

coinrookie

In the same boat but mine is really leaking. I am bailing as fast as I can.

MrKelso

Years ago (40) or so an old coin dealer that i visited as a kid on my bike trying to collect Franklin's said to me KID you gotta go after the key dates first so i did. be it morgans,franklins merc's.barbers whatever i always went for the key first. The rest came easy. Sadly over the years i traded off or sold most of the sets i had put together as a kid and set sight on Morgans and Gold of all kinds. Not a bad trade off as i have accumulated a ton of Raw what i call very choice Gem/BU (is that allowed?) material. I do have a few dozen graded pieces but for some reason the fact that the coin is all locked up in that GOD awful plastic contraption makes me very sad.
I love putting on the cotton gloves and grabbing the coin edge and under my coin light moving it back and forth to admire what is now called DM ?? and PL ?? over the past couple of months being home and disabled i have been looking them over and placing them in little coin envelopes catologing each as i go on my PC and writing on the little envelope what each coin is. Geeze i even found i owned a few choice 1884-s Morgans and until recently never knew how much they were now worth. Will i send them in? NO I have gone through approx 1500 and have about the same amount left to do but i have recoved to the point that the Doctor feels it is time to go back to work so it has been fun and has helped me once again to grow a bit but it may take me a few years to look over the balance and discover more Gems. It's a Great Hobby and i now remember what i have been missing so i am going to try and set aside some time each week to collect with my Grandson and pass on the Tradition and i hope the excitement of finding a key date or as he would put it a (KEWL) coin.

Money? It's just a tool to enjoy the finer things in life if you don't have the money to buy a new coin then take the time to enjoy the coins that you own already and share that feeling with a family member or friend
even if they don't seem interested.

StillLurking

The price of the 1916D Mercury is a "stopper". My set is 80% complete and there's no way I can go any further. Lincolns, Jeffersons, Roosies and Washingtons/States are up to date for 2002. Next year I'll pull what I need from change or buy them at the local shops.The cost of starting anything else "lite-sided" is just too much. Not much of a U.S. collector anymore.

banknote1

I guess I am one off the currency darksiders but my boat has sunk! It is on the bottom of the deepest ocean! Lyn Knight auctions cleaned me out this year! My family will get scans of my last currency purchase for Christmas presents ! I think my wife would shoot me but my collection is going to my sons!!!

shirohniichan

Although somewhat knowledgable, I've never considered myself competent to risk the kinds of dollars the upper grades command. I can live with a few lessons that cost a few hundred dollars, but I'm not financially able to risk a few thousand on a difference of opinion. I do make a few exceptions, but rarely. Besides, there is still a high degree of satisfaction in owning a coin with few survivors...even in VG-8. Often times, problem free circulated rarities are more difficult to find than their Mint State brothers.

It sounds like we're in the same part of the same boat. The coin I was after has no known survivors in mint state and rarely is available in any grade. I saw two for auction this year but could afford to pay for half of either, so I don't think I'll be getting one soon. I guess I can live with an incomplete set and wait for retirement to finish it. I only have 15 1/2 more years to save for my daughter's college education (if we have another child, I can kiss most of my collecting goodby ). I just hope one of the 12 to 15 survivors is for sale when I do have the money.

gmarguli

Shiroh, you should not look at your family as "obligations". Consider them potential sources of income. Make the kid sell lemonade on the corner. Make the wife get a job.

That coin that you were looking for, did you look into financing it with the auction house? Many companies will allow customers to finance the coins.

TheNumish

Shiro,
I have a modest proposal for you. Eat the kid and with the money you save buy the coin.

petertdavis

When you get to the point that a 'stopper' is bothering your enjoyment of your collection, perhaps then is the time to re-evaluate your collecting strategy. Sure, everyone collects a set by date and mint-mark. But do we have to do it like that? Type sets are the most obvious alternative. How about theme sets? Or collect all coins of a specific date, or period. Collect foreign coins. How about pick a specific coin, date, and mint and get one example in each grade? Let's get creative!

StillLurking

"Collect foreign coins." Hey, I like this guy!

agfox

Kids.. awww cute cuddly kids. I have to keep telling myself that everytime I add up that daycare bill of 16,000 a year.

If the wife would have just listened to me about that whole send 70 cents a day thing to a child in cambodia..

I'll get back to sorting my wheat horde now.

Clankeye

<< <i>While I'd like to finish the set, family responsibilities hold me back. >>



You don't want to finish the set, Shiroh. The sense of accomplishment is fleeting. It's the chase, man. Poverty prolongs enjoyment.

Carl

Bear

In a number of sets two issues prevent finishing or upgrading a set(s).

1. The availability of the coin or availability of upgrade condition.

2. The cost of the coin or upgrade condition.

These two factors coupled with changing priorities really put a damper on finishing or upgrading

one collections. Whether you are younger with children, or older making estate planning,

changing needs change collecting habits as well as funding for those habits.It is not always the

lack of money but rather the need to provide liquid cash, and financial security that makes

one slow down on collecting habits.Perhaps the answere for some , is to move on to less expensive

collections , that can continue the excitement of the hunt for beautiful and interesting coins.

BillJones

The higher prices for early copper definitely knocked me out of that market. I was a really enthusiastic collector, but after a while I found that I could not compete with the multi-millionaires who now collect nice early copper. When the really common coins (e.g. 1804 plain 4 stemless half cent, common Sheldon varieties of 1802 and 1803 large cents.) cost many hundreds of dollars for TRUE EF and AU examples, it’s all over for many collectors. Many of us can afford a few expensive coins in a set, and that's OK because that's what gives us a challenge. But it's the pits where EVERY coin becomes expensive.

The trouble is when specialist clubs encourage collectors to acquire multiple examples of the basically the same coin because of die state collecting, the number of pieces available dries up pretty fast. A total population of a few thousand pieces IN ALL CONDITIONS is the stuff that makes for VERY COMMON dates in early 19th century American coinage. It doesn’t take too many collectors who need 5 or 10 examples of the same coin to dry up the supply.

ccrdragon

I got married two years ago and that slowed me down a little (but not much as the wife actually said "I really don't care how much you spend on coins, dear" - do you see why I love this woman so much?!?!? ).

The crunch didn't come for me until we had our daughter 6 months ago. Before that, I was buying 1-2 coins a week, but until I get the
hospital paid off (even with insurance, it's real d@mn expensive to have kids) and the rest of the bills caught up, I cannot afford to buy the high-grade indians and buffalos that I want for my set. We also decided that we did not want the kid raised in daycare so my wife quit work and has gotten to be a stay-at-home mom since the birth, so we lost her income which was allowing me to be extravagant on the coin purchases.

But all is not lost. I still collect coins - I am currently working on a circulated set of Isle of Man coppers from the 1700's and the 1800's. I
have found that most of these coins can be found on ebay for less than $20 apiece and that is well within my current budget. They are also a very nice slice of history.

Nysoto

My nine year old daughter now needs braces, the 1802 half dollar will have to wait. This is definately a balancing act. I still feel more comfortable "investing" in a $700 auction coin than "spending" $50 for a couple of low grade coins at the local coin shop.

09sVDB

I some respects I have to agree and disagree. When I started at the age of six grandma gave me most of what I had and some stuff came from circulation so my budget for coins was 0. Once I got a job, in high school, I started buying coins. I kept buying until I go married ten years ago and then completely stopped when our daughter was born in 1993. I didn't buy much until the last three or four years, but in the last two I have started buying on a regular basis. I sold off all my moderns to buy classic coins. My last coin was a PCGS 1798/7 large cent. The only complete sets I own is the Lincoln set, Jeffersons, and Roosies, but about five others are 80% complete.

Bulldog

I have been collecting for 40 + years. I have changed my strategies and directions, about as many times as my collecting years. Collecting coins is fun for me, the hunt can be exciting and bagging the rabbit (so to speak) can be anti climatic.

In all of these years, I have never let my collecting, hoarding, effect my family or my other distractions. When I was born, I was never given a guaranty that I would achieve all of my dreams. My Mom always told me to never give up on anything, and always enjoy the hunt and it's rewards, as well as it's consequences.

I like coin collecting very much, I love my family and friends even more!

Bulldog

banknote1

Speaking of kids, they don't get expensive until they go to college!!!

Lakesammman

When I started collecting the FE/IHC series, I decided to get only the tough dates and ignore the common ones, figuring they could be added anytime. With the exception of the 1877, it has been a good strategy (although even the "common" ones are getting hard to find).

If your standards are low, you won't be able to afford all the coins that meet your low standards. I have found that, by setting my standards very high, coins that met them don't come around very often. By doing this, the previous purchase is paid off by the time the next purchase comes along. This wasn't the intent originally but I have noticed the trend over the years.

As a result, nearly every coin I own makes me think, "Man, am I one lucky SOB to own this one!".