If you started collecting today...

airplanenut

There have been a lot of threads on what you would change now if you had something tangible- perhaps a certain amount of money to spend on one or more coins.

Now, let's take a step back and go to the intangible... suppose you have never collected. Yes, your current collection never existed. BUT, you still hold all of the knowledge that you have gained since you started collecting.

What would you do differently? What would stay the same? Would you collect the same things? Assume that the budget is closer to your current budget, as you are collecting NOW.

----

For me, I wouldn't have passed on some coins simply because they were out of a holder... I said buy the coin, but I wanted to play the registry game. Now I realize that the holder doesn't mean anything if the coin is truly nice. I may have also scrutinzed some purchases more and done more research to possibly spend a little more on a better item, than a little less on one that in the future I won't appreciate as much.

Jeremy

LucyBop

I am starting over in a sense.... I am going to collect the Biblical coins of Israel series...

barberlover

Jeremy, i will skip the part about my current coin budget. But if/when i start up again i intend to keep collecting mint state barbers but also to investigate pattern coins and colonials.

Les

kieferscoins

Sample slabs. I would have started getting them years ago when prices were even lower. I would still collect type coins but try to mix it up about 50/50 instead of heading head deep into any particular area.

Cameron Kiefer

originalisbest

I would buy pretty much the same stuff - but would concentrate even more so on getting the keys in various U.S. series in problem-free shape - depending on the issue, either in nice UNC or problem-free circs. There's always time for the more common stuff. But overall my dabbling in various US sets and type pieces would look similar to how it does now.

barberlover

Hi Lucy
I am someone who has been collecting Israeli coins
for sometime now. I have coins that go back to the
period when Britain was in charge of what was then
known as Palestine. I also, have coins from since
Israel became the Jewish State in 1948. More recently, I purchased coins from earlier periods.
I found at coin shows some very nice ancient Israeli
coins. One such coin is from the period of the
Maccabees. The Maccabees were a family in the Biblical period when Greece ruled Israel. They led a revolt against one of the Greek emperors.

Israellover
Barber lover's wife

ursabear

An excellent question, Jeremy...

Given the circumstances you stated, I would probably collect the dollar series as I have, but with quite a bit less "mistakes" in my grading and purchases. I'd also work my way up from '64 on my JFKs instead of from the current time.

I would probably have spent more time preparing and getting together the money for a Winged Liberty collection as well.

JTMC

i would probably grab every really nice standing liberty quarter i could find because now they are starting to move up in price it seems like every week. and i would also go after PQ 1909 vdb's. i am still trying to do both now but its starting to get a little pricey.

john

oldcameoproofsguy

Jeremy,

This thread applies to me. I am selling every coin but one (my sig coin). When I start again, (which I'm sure won't be too far off) I will limit my collecting to classic proof and mint state beauties like my sig coin. I won't get caught up in the Registry again but I will still collect with a purpose; to get as many original classic coins with knock out eye appeal as possible. The kind that cause instant salivation. Hey... like my sig coin.

LucyBop

way cool mommy-o, the ones I am going to start buying are new modern commeratives....

dan1ecu

I would stick with PCGS and NGC graded coins. I've had some bad experiences with the other services.

I would only go for coins with good eye appeal, which I believe are the ones that will return the most on my investment if and when I decide to sell them.

With the sometimes extreme price fluctuations, I would probably avoid generic gold coins.

That's about all I can think of... Good question!

Mrpawn

Rather than try for XF - MS set of Morgans only to give up due to cost (main factor) and lack of variety, I would (am) work on Type Sets with an emphasis on keys. Even when one cannot find/afford a key date, there is often a nice example for the type to be found.

I have even started to appreciate Barbers and their realtive scarcity in XF - this area anyway.

newsman

I would start buying the key coins in most series for a type set, at the highest grade I can afford, then worry about building sets of the coins that interest me.

ccr

<< <i>What would you do differently? >>


Being more paitent and less impulsive . Study what I like more intensely and dutifully.


<< <i>What would stay the same? >>


Enjoying what I collect.


<< <i>Would you collect the same things? >>


Absolutely! I love Morgans and Peace Dollars. They are coins that I`ll collect for a good while because I enjoy them.

jonesy

If I had to start collecting all over again, I'd probably collect Buffalo Nickels. What other coin has such an all american theme and beauty?

Higashiyama

Airplanenut -- quite an interesting question. I wouldn't do a lot different --- but I would be a little more careful, a little more demanding, and focus more carefully on originality (not in the sense of "creativity" but in the sense of "undipped")

FrattLaw

I don't know if I would change anything. I haven't really been beat on any of my coins. And luckily I lurked here for a while so I avoided an lot of newbie mistakes like buying non PCGS or NGC certified coins. I might have overpaid on some of my coins, but that really doesn't bother me. As the saying goes, you only remember price twice -- when you buy something and when you sell it. Since I'm not collecting for investment purposes I really don't care.

And here's the great thing about collecting -- you can always start all over again. Sell off the collection and start from scratch!

Michael

coachleonard

I would probably still want a smattering of world and U.S coins from various periods of history.

paigowjohnny

<< <i>BUT, you still hold all of the knowledge that you have gained since you started collecting >>



I would never, EVER, have bought from the "big mail order advertisers"...still cleaning up that mess.

I would not have tried to do a complete Morgan set, but rather get the key dates in better condition.

zenny

simple - I would own no more than 20 coins.

of course they would be very, very nice coins.


z

jonesy

I still like the idea of a one coin - coin collection. Perhaps a 1975 Eagle inMS65?

nwcs

If I started over with nothing... Hmm, I'm not sure. I'd probably end up in the same areas.

LanLord

If I was truely starting collecting from scratch today, I would collect in a completely different manner.

I would only buy very high grade key date coins. This would limit the size of my collection as well as the growth of said collection. In the long run, I think this would be a very cool collection, but I'm too far down other paths to try this strategy.