What are the Qualities of a Successful Collector?

braddick

It's has been discussed what it takes to succeed as a Dealer, but what are the qualities of a tried and true Collector?
Can just anyone collect coins and formulate a coin collection? Are there personality traits that seprarate failure from enjoyment?

Can an individual's dropping out of the hobby always be blamed on the "Coin Industry" or rather, possibly, on that person's temperament?

boz

Anyone can collect coins. But not everyone chooses to do so. If you want to label it as a personality trait, I would say it takes someone with a desire or interest to learn. Myself I enjoy the history surrounding the era of a coins mintage, which excludes me from any interest in moderns. I tend to enjoy things I haven't experienced, more than things I have lived through.
I have friends ask me why I collect coins. To which I usually answer, if I have to explain my collecting you wouldn't understand it anyway.

As far as getting out, I would blame a lack of focus or changes in lifestyle that cause people to drop out . Such as loss of job, illness etc. Anything that would cause you to lose the discretionary income crucial to purchase the tools of the hobby. After all, if you can't participate the interest is bound to wane. Blaming the "coin industry" doesn't cut it for me. You should be armed with the knowledge to eliminate this aspect. If not that is your problem, not the industries.

ss350camaro

<< <i>What are the Qualities of a Successful Collector? >>



I think an answer to your question would be to ask another question:

"Are you happy with what you collect"?

Colorfulcoins

Persistance.......and money doesn't hurt either!

mgoodm3

Obsession and money.

nwcs

I think the most important quality, that I sometimes lack, is patience. Waiting for the right opportunities to buy and sell. Waiting for the right prices to come along. Going with your heart is a sure way to bankruptcy.

prooflike

Deep Pockets

Clankeye

Someone whose appreciation of what they collect exists beyond the reach of the coin "market."

If the things you hold can lose their value to you by the dictate of others or by outside indicators--then you are probably in a very vulnerable position when it comes to coins.

I think most "successful" collectors are not losing sleep over whether the coin business runs hot or cold.

Clankeye

Shamika

Patience, patience, patiece!



And an obsessive/compulsive disorder doesn't hurt either.

Aethelred

A wife who doesn't fuss!

dollardude

<< A wife who doesn't fuss! >>

Good one!

I'd say the following are necessary qualities for a successful collector:

- Interest in the hobby.
- A few key reference books and magazines, but not too many that you get burned out and quit.
- A monthly budget.
- A good eye for quality and choosing coins that have upside potential.
- Ability to grade -- use "Photograde" book.
- Ability to spot problems and counterfeits.
- Ability to take some risks.
- Establishing relationships with reputable dealers.

relayer

Knowledge, patience and good grading skills.

RotatedRainbows

Enjoying yourself!! Whether you buy $20 coins or $2000 coins, since this is a hobby anything less regardless of what your collection looks like would be considered a failure.

MacCoin

they know who braddick is

NIckelCollector

A defined goal and patience

cladking

There are mostly all good answers so far but the biggest single factor is probably "attention
to detail". It is the differences from one coin to another which makes them collectible at all, and
it is spotting and understanding these differences which defines everything from what we spec-
ialize in to how we collect it. Superb collections of almost anything can be formed by knowledge-
able collectors but it requires the ability to spot these differences to make such a collection.

matteproof

Some qualities of a successful numismatist are patience and STAYING POWER. He is most apt to become excited about a gorgeous AU than he is about an average ms65. He is most apt to become excited about an R7 coin graded GOOD than he is about an R1 coin graded ms67. He studies his Series(s) and knows it well.

The true numismatist is always - repeat - always exceedingly HONEST in his dealings. He NEVER seeks to undermine the efforts of another person - particularly those less knowledgeable than he. If he is none of the above then he probably does NOT possess the spirit of a true numismatist and likely will never be thought of as such by his peers. matteproof

Skipper53

Someone who has more knowledge than me.
Someone who has more patience than me.
Someone who has more money than me.

I'm still working on being a successful collector.

BillJones

What marks a true collector?

I'd say that there are several characteristics.

There first is that you have ENJOY collecting the sets or groups of coins that you want above everything else. That means that you are most concerned about finding the coins you want, and not about how much you are going to make from them in the future.

As I collector I purchased coins because I wanted them for my collection. Profits were a consideration that was well down the line. In fact when I am buing a coin that I want to collect my only financial consideration is, "Am I paying a price that will TOTALLY leave me completely buried years from now.?" That was my only financial considertion when I was collecting 19th century presidential campiagn medalets and Civil War and Hard Tokens. I did not want to pay $3,000 for something that was really worth $500, but if I paid $150 for a really nice piece that everyone side was worth $50 it did not bother me, if I had not seen a better peice after months of looking.

Profts are a by-product of collecting, NOT the primary consideration. Beyond my business, that is my prime consideration. AND I'll let you in on a little secret, the coins that I bought because I wanted to collect them have been the best performers in the long run financially.

A TRUE COLLECTOR likes down markets because they provide the best chances to get prime coins are lower prices. When everybody is selling or staying on the sidelines, real collectors are looking for nice coins. This is a challenge for two reasons. First, it takes guts to run against the crownd. Second, the good coins are often not offered during down markets, and it takes a lot a work to find them.

Finally I'd say that true collector buys every WORTHWHILE reference book that is available and studies it. Collectors who specialize in specific areas often know more than the dealers. For that reason, they often make informed purchases.

oldcameoproofsguy

I'd probably be a successful collector if I didn't keep selling my darned collections.

Placid

A successful collector is someone who's happy with their collection, if its worth a million dollars or a hundred dollars makes no difference.

So a good trait for a successful collector is the ability to decide what coins they want to collect or not based on their own judgement and not listen or care much about what others think they should collect or not.

ccr

Some basic questions to ask your self is:

Do you enjoy what you do ?
Is it worth it to you in the investment of time and money to aquire what you want ?
Do you have an urge or desire to share what you have or know that`s hard to surpress ?

I think if you can honestly say " Yes " to one or more of these questions, There is a pretty good chance you maybe a collector.



<< <i>Can an individual's dropping out of the hobby always be blamed on the "Coin Industry" or rather, possibly, on that person's temperament? >>



I tend to think it`s on the persons intent. Some maybe shopping around for a hobby, dabbled in it, and found out it wasn`t for them. Some are in it for speculation purposes. Some are in it to augment them into something that isn`t coin related like collecting Civil War Memorabilia.

I wouldn`t consider my answer complete but, points out some of the tendences that I think collectors have.

Elcontador

To summarize & mix and match what has been said, in no particular order:
a) enjoy what you collect
b) pay attention to detail
c) be patient
d) try to acquire as much knowledge as possible about what you collect

An example was my search for a nice business strike Liberty Nickel. After looking at a lot of them, I decided I wanted one in PC 6. I read about Liberty Nickels, and was able to learn what I read by looking at as many of them in the desired grade as possible and asking people (whom I thought knew more about them than I did) questions.

By paying attention to detail, I learned which ones seemed more attractive to me and got an idea of how the graders viewed them. For instance, many of them may have a few soft stars, a soft left corn, and maybe a minor contact mark or two.

However, a really nice one, while having these technical defects, may have stunning toning (occasionally they do show up0. Other really nice ones are fully struck (again, not a lot of them, but they do show up periodically).

MJPHELAN

One who can enjoy collecting and not get divorced over it.