Working with very little funds...my crazy ideas...

SamThompson

Hey folks, this is going to be more or less a question/gripe combo...but here goes.. did any of you here start out in this bidness with very little funds? I am only 29 and im not exactly a bazzilionaire (yet ). I mean I do have enough to play around with a little gold and a nice keydate here and there, but nothing too seriously big. I guess what I'd really like to know is, how did you people get on top of the game? What is the best way to build up your capital without being an all out scammer? One thing i have thought about doing is...here locally, placing an ad in the local paper and printing up a nice brochure, something like "1910 $20 gold coin plus 100's more please call 555-1212"...and then having something in stock but also finding out what people want and snagging them off ebay for them at a 10% or so markup (fairer than Littleton eh?). I'm not sure how that idea will work out, or if i'll get much response, but as of right now, it's the best idea I have since I don't have 100g's to invest. And I definately don't want to play the profit from shipping and handling game, i consider that scamming.

so anyway...those are my jumbled late night thoughts.

nwcs

Hey, I'm 30 and I still have limited funds. Take comfort that there are far more collectors like us than there are those who can afford the really big ticket coins. Best way to earn capital for coins? Sell what you don't like, work more hours at work, and don't buy food and neglect the mortgage.

jhar

I have learned not to worry about it. I mean with the exception of the lovely people here, no one I show my coins to will care about how rare one of my coins are. I go for "the look" no matter how much money I have. I have a couple of expensive coins, but most of the coins I have cost me less than $50. The most I've been able to spend on a single coin is $400. But not matter how much money I've had at the time, I've found that finding the look amoung the coins in that price range could be difficult.

btw, I'm 35

mrpaseo

Maybe when I retire I'll venture into the dealer side, until then I'm just a small time collector/Hoarder.

I would say be honest, take requests (Want lists) and go out and find the coins that your buyers want. You have a great resource right here on the forums. Go to te buy sell trade and tell them what you need, check all the auction houses and don't forget the dealers here

Good luck,
Ray

mrpaseo

PS. I'm currently 31 with less than 8 till retirement.

DaveG

If you have the time and want to deal with the paperwork (and the public), being a part-time dealer might be OK. (A poster here also seems to do OK buying from the public - it may be a good idea if you live in a smaller town without a coin shop and you have a bigger dealer or eBay to sell the stuff off to keep your capital from being tied up.)

When I had less money to work with (not that I have that much now), I used to go to banks and get half dollars in search of silver.

I also highly recommend you buy coin books - admittedly, most are not cheap (except compared to the knowledge you get), but many (if not most) are not reprinted - therefore they become premium collectibles in their own right! (For example, I know a guy who just bought a case of a recently printed numismatic book to put in his basement.)

Some good examples of books that now sell at a premium are: Bruce Fox's book on Walkers, Bowers' Silver Dollar Encyclopedia, Miller's book on silver dollars, etc. I think the Wiley/Bugert book on Seated Halves is now pretty much out of print.

ColonialCoinUnion

Pick a niche, research the heck out of it, become expert at it and you have a CHANCE to be successful regardless of how much capital you have now to invest.