Mark: I've gotten a lot of enjoyment and have learned a tremendous amount about coins by sharing information with the new numismatic contacts that I have made via the PCGS U.S. Coin Forum, and I've also added a few nice coins to my collection which I have purchased through some of these same fellow forum members.
Coin collecting has been one of the constants throughout my adult life, and has always been a recreational activity from which I derive much enjoyment.
Part of the fun is in the learning. The more that I learn about the several coin series which I collect, the more I enjoy the hobby, and the more I realize I still have to learn.
There are so many facets of this hobby that one can master, including history, series knowledge, grading skills, negotiating skills to make the deal.
It has been a very fulfilling experience for me to have collected coins for the past 35 years. It's been a renaissance for me within the past 1-2 years to have joined this forum, attended the April PCGS Invitational, and to have found some significant hidden treasure within my own personal collection through the contacts that I have made within this forum, and through submitting coins to PCGS for grading -- the results of which exceeded my most optimistic value estimates.
For me, this has mainly been a combination of a great learning experience combined with a wonderful sharing experience with others who have similar interests with me.
I have always found the Collector vs. Investor Debate to be interesting, so here are some my personal thoughts about it:
1) Are you involved with Numismatics primarily as a Collector or an Investor?
2) A Collector typically enjoys coin collecting as part of their Leisure Entertainment, while an Investor does so for Commercial Business Gain
3) Collectors enjoy sharing ideas, visiting, and sharing numismatic information with others, while Investors are mainly trying to Promote Sales & Stimulate Business
4) Collectors typically purchase coins that they enjoy owning, while Investors make their purchasing decisions primarily based upon how much money they think that they can make on a coin.
A few general thoughts for both Collectors & Investors...
5) Specialize in some specific aspect(s) of the hobby to become an expert in them. You will derive much more enjoyment and achieve more of whatever you define as success through education and application of that knowledge in your coin purchases.
6) Read and learn as much as possible about your selected specialty area(s). Mine are PL/DMPL Morgan Dollars, Silver Dollars, 19th Century Type Coins & $20 Gold Pieces. They are my favorites, and they offer many interesting challenges.
7) Seek out others in these forums who have common interests as you, and learn from the volumes of information that are available in reply to your posts. There is a great wealth of knowledge which is shared very generously by fellow forum members.
8) Remember that for those of us who consider this a hobby, the object should be to HAVE FUN and to enjoy this little diversion from our work routines.
Stuart
Collect 18th & 19th Century US Type Coins, Silver Dollars, $20 Gold Double Eagles and World Crowns & Talers with High Eye Appeal
"Luck is what happens when Preparation meets Opportunity"
Talk about a thought provoking thread---you won the prize with this one Mark. I would suggest the following: For every series, there are a few that have a depth of knowledge that is awesome about a particular series. Take Chuck for Lincoln's or Russ with Kennedy's or MadMarty on how to win the powerball without even having to buy a ticket.! I would like to see these people share their insights with a simpleton like myself whenever they can, kind of like your informative posts Mark. But the rest of us can not just sit back and make these experts do all the work. We can contribute in our own ways, whatever they may be --- maybe a positive comment or a pic that helps show an example of the subject at hand, or just sometimes a thank you will do. We all need to hold back on the negative comments, when you don't like a post- skip it. In a nutshell- I would like to see others (maybe newbies) learn as much as I have on these boards. John
A website specifically designed to educate people on how to start collecting coins. One that educates people on the scams that are out there, cleaned coins, PVC, doctored photos, etc.
To go further, companies that specifically target those who don't know, should be required by law to display the website address in bold print before they can sell. For example, the Coin Vault on HSN should be required to discuss this website at the start of their segment and remind people of this website throughout the show and have the address posted at the bottom of the screen.
All ebay coin auctions should have this website posted in each listing. It could appear automatically like the credit card symbols do when a seller accepts Paypal.
I think all those commercials for the fake replicas should also be required to discuss this website in their commercial.
It's a thought...
Dennis
Of course this assumes that the people buying form Coin Vault have a computer at home.
I LOVE the idea, and don't particularly like this suggestion, but here 'goes: continue to support this forum. What better place than this to learn just about everything? If we (collectively) continue to foster relationships here, then we (collectively) continue to grow as we have been. All things considered, this is a pretty remarkable place.
From my own perspective, I think one of the most important areas -- but nothing close to THE most important area, which is the subject matter of your thread -- has to do with with what your legal rights and obligations are (and aren't) as both a coin seller and purchaser, particularly with respect to representations about grading. FrattLaw has initiated many interesting and informative threads on this topic.
Anyway, bravo to you, Mark, for initiating the idea. Maybe that's the best idea of all: offer prizes for the best ideas.
My idea is that all of us chip in a pay for an data accumulator/transfer member that has the time to funnel in bids from various sources into the BST boards, ticker tape like............and maybe even the TV guys too so we can keep full spectrum in our rear view mirrors.
Thanks for your many fine comments, suggestions and entries. I was also impressed with the number of forum members who selflessly entered posts, ideas or threads on behalf of others, rather than themselves.
It was extremely difficult for me to choose a first place winner, due to the large number of excellent responses. In the end, I chose a post that was written for this specific contest, over some other wonderful entries which had been written previously, for other threads or purposes.
For the second place prize (which some might very well prefer over the first place prize) donated by TahoeDale, I asked him to give me some input and made my selection based partly on his feedback. So, if you don't like that decision, I suggest that all of you pay a personal visit to Dale and discuss it with him.
I had considered making honorable mention of some of the runners-up but have come to the conclusion that there were so many great posts, if I mentioned some and not others, it probably wouldn't be fair.
So, without further delay.......
Second Prize goes to JrGMan2004/George for:
<< <i>I realized recently, that with starting college, my coin collecting budget was going to have to become much smaller. Between gas and food, I found that at the end of the month, I only had $20 left in my wallet!! Well, I looked around and tried to find some other coins to collect, to satisfy my collecting needs. Now, I'd like to pass on to you some of the cheap ways to enjoy the hobby. First and foremost, knowledge is power! Buy books and learn as much as you can about coins. Search the internet, read coin forums and coin magazines. With a little bit of knowledge, you can cherrypick dealers' inventories. Everything from Cameos from 1960s Proof and SMS sets, to doubled die varieties. These are coins that can then be submitted to a Third Party Grading Service, such as PCGS or NGC, and then resold for a profit. I recently attended a show, and found a proof set from 1969 with a nicely cameoed Kennedy Half. I had a friend dip it to remove the haze (I would not suggest dipping it yourself for a novice, but if you don't have someone knowledgeable to do it for you, NCS is a good way of getting rid of haze from proof coins, that is safe, and relatively inexpensive compared to the prospect of messing up the coin) and then sent the coin to NGC. It came back as a PF69UCAM. A $30 investment for the proof set, grading and shipping, and I got back a coin worth $100. Cherrypicks are out there to be had, just be vigilant, and patient, and search the inventories of dealers. Another fun and cheap way to collect, is to go to a bank, and get rolls of coins. You can then pick out the nice coins from the rolls, look for varieties, errors, and you can even work on a set, such as Lincoln cents. You can buy a folder and start filling it up for only a few dollars. You can, of course, do this with any other denomination, but Lincoln cents are the cheapest way to do this, and you will occasionally pull out a circulated wheat or even an Indian Head. Also with searching rolls of dimes, quarters and halves, look for silver. For quarters and dimes, any coin minted in 1964 or before was made of silver. Halves from 1964 and before were 90% silver and 1965-1969 were 40% silver. If you don't want to keep these, there's always dealers at shows who pay more than face value for "junk silver." But don't expect to find too much silver left in rolls. If you are more into classic coins, circulated sets are always fun. Again, you can get an album or folder and start filling it up. This was something I decided to do with Barber Dimes. I like how circulated silver with nice dark grays looks. So, I bought a Dansco album for Barber Dimes, and started filling it up with G and VG coins which can easily be found in the binders in dealer's shops for only $2-$3 at the most, except for key and semi-key dates. You just need to be careful and watch for damaged and cleaned coins. Even though you are buying lower grade coins, still be picky, and find coins you like. I know the key dates are expensive, but given a few years, your budget may expand and be able to include the keys, which will make for a very nice looking matched set. And of course, there are plenty of other series that you can be successful with. Circulated Wheats, circulated Mercury dimes, Indian Head Cents, Buffalo Nickels, Barbers, even Silver Roosevelts aren't very expensive, and make for a nice looking UNC set that won't cost you a lot. Above all, just have fun. Whatever you do to collect, have fun at what you do. Don't let other people discourage you just because you are a younger collector on a budget. And this is a great way to develop a relationship with a dealer. You may be in their shop spending only a couple bucks at a time in their shop, but in a couple years, you could be back in there spending hundreds of dollars at a time.Good luck and happy hunting!! >>
First Prize goes to Airplanenut/Jeremy for:
<< <i>I offer the following (serious) ideas:
1--Research what interests you. Don't just learn the prices, but learn how to grade them. Learn the history behind them. 2--When you have the opportunity, offer to help and teach fellow collectors. 3--When you have the opportunity, graciously accept the help and knowledge from a fellow collector/dealer. Never miss out on knowledge because of your ego. 4--Never be afraid to ask for help. Someone will help you, and you can't learn from nothing. 5--Buy what you like because you like it, not because there's a game to play or someone else tells you it's what you should buy. 6--Hobbies are about having fun. Have fun. 7--Don't be rude/inconsiderate to YNs (this is mostly to some dealers) because they don't have as much money as you'd like them to spend. One day they will have the money, and they will remember those dealers who were friendly and took the time to be helpful and nice. Those dealers will receive praise and business. Remember, you, too, were young.
I think that's all I can think of today >>
A disclaimer regarding my choice of Jeremy as the winner - some of you know that he designed my website and business cards for me. But, I will be paying him for that and hopefully don't owe him any favors. : ) Additionally, when I chose his selection, it was one I had copied and pasted to a list of finalists, and frankly, I wasn't even aware that it was his, until I went back to the forum to see who the winner was.
I think these two (younger) numismatists have some great contributions to make to our hobby and that their words and suggestions can benefit everyone, regardless of age, experience, budget or collecting preference.
Thanks again to each of you for your thoughtfulness and your efforts.
Hope you giving them a new car each as a throw in just like Oprah did???????
EDITED: Thanks coinguy, I see the Morgan and bust coin the winners are getting. A great thread indeed. I wished I had the experience these YN now have when I was their age. But we are fortunate to have them in our midst!
Thank you very much Mark and Dale Just a little information on why I wrote the article, it was originally intended for the YNA Newsletter, and this contest just happened to come up at the right time. I want to thank Cameron though for asking me to write articles for the YNA Newsletter, and helping me to come up with topic for this article...
Thanks for your help in making the forum a better place to be, for the ideas are so much more interesting than the complaints and gripes that are all too frequent.
It seems the negative posts went way down during the last week to ten days.
If asked by Mark, I will continue to add prizes to his essay contests in the future.
One of the greatest strenghts of these boards is the input from a wide variety of collectors and their individual perspectives. Certainly the two winners have contributed greatly to the forums.
Comments
Coin collecting has been one of the constants throughout my adult life, and has always been a recreational activity from which I derive much enjoyment.
Part of the fun is in the learning. The more that I learn about the several coin series which I collect, the more I enjoy the hobby, and the more I realize I still have to learn.
There are so many facets of this hobby that one can master, including history, series knowledge, grading skills, negotiating skills to make the deal.
It has been a very fulfilling experience for me to have collected coins for the past 35 years. It's been a renaissance for me within the past 1-2 years to have joined this forum, attended the April PCGS Invitational, and to have found some significant hidden treasure within my own personal collection through the contacts that I have made within this forum, and through submitting coins to PCGS for grading -- the results of which exceeded my most optimistic value estimates.
For me, this has mainly been a combination of a great learning experience combined with a wonderful sharing experience with others who have similar interests with me.
I have always found the Collector vs. Investor Debate to be interesting, so here are some my personal thoughts about it:
1) Are you involved with Numismatics primarily as a Collector or an Investor?
2) A Collector typically enjoys coin collecting as part of their Leisure Entertainment, while an Investor does so for Commercial Business Gain
3) Collectors enjoy sharing ideas, visiting, and sharing numismatic information with others, while Investors are mainly trying to Promote Sales & Stimulate Business
4) Collectors typically purchase coins that they enjoy owning, while Investors make their purchasing decisions primarily based upon how much money they think that they can make on a coin.
A few general thoughts for both Collectors & Investors...
5) Specialize in some specific aspect(s) of the hobby to become an expert in them. You will derive much more enjoyment and achieve more of whatever you define as success through education and application of that knowledge in your coin purchases.
6) Read and learn as much as possible about your selected specialty area(s). Mine are PL/DMPL Morgan Dollars, Silver Dollars, 19th Century Type Coins & $20 Gold Pieces. They are my favorites, and they offer many interesting challenges.
7) Seek out others in these forums who have common interests as you, and learn from the volumes of information that are available in reply to your posts. There is a great wealth of knowledge which is shared very generously by fellow forum members.
8) Remember that for those of us who consider this a hobby, the object should be to HAVE FUN and to enjoy this little diversion from our work routines.
Stuart
Collect 18th & 19th Century US Type Coins, Silver Dollars, $20 Gold Double Eagles and World Crowns & Talers with High Eye Appeal
"Luck is what happens when Preparation meets Opportunity"
In a nutshell- I would like to see others (maybe newbies) learn as much as I have on these boards. John
To go further, companies that specifically target those who don't know, should be required by law to display the website address in bold print before they can sell. For example, the Coin Vault on HSN should be required to discuss this website at the start of their segment and remind people of this website throughout the show and have the address posted at the bottom of the screen.
All ebay coin auctions should have this website posted in each listing. It could appear automatically like the credit card symbols do when a seller accepts Paypal.
I think all those commercials for the fake replicas should also be required to discuss this website in their commercial.
It's a thought...
Dennis
Of course this assumes that the people buying form Coin Vault have a computer at home.
Looking for PCGS AU58 Washington's, 32-63.
From my own perspective, I think one of the most important areas -- but nothing close to THE most important area, which is the subject matter of your thread -- has to do with with what your legal rights and obligations are (and aren't) as both a coin seller and purchaser, particularly with respect to representations about grading. FrattLaw has initiated many interesting and informative threads on this topic.
Anyway, bravo to you, Mark, for initiating the idea. Maybe that's the best idea of all: offer prizes for the best ideas.
--chris
Tiger trout, Deerfield River, c. 2001.
It was extremely difficult for me to choose a first place winner, due to the large number of excellent responses. In the end, I chose a post that was written for this specific contest, over some other wonderful entries which had been written previously, for other threads or purposes.
For the second place prize (which some might very well prefer over the first place prize) donated by TahoeDale, I asked him to give me some input and made my selection based partly on his feedback. So, if you don't like that decision, I suggest that all of you pay a personal visit to Dale and discuss it with him.
I had considered making honorable mention of some of the runners-up but have come to the conclusion that there were so many great posts, if I mentioned some and not others, it probably wouldn't be fair.
So, without further delay.......
Second Prize goes to JrGMan2004/George for:
<< <i>I realized recently, that with starting college, my coin collecting budget was going to have to become much smaller. Between gas and food, I found that at the end of the month, I only had $20 left in my wallet!! Well, I looked around and tried to find some other coins to collect, to satisfy my collecting needs. Now, I'd like to pass on to you some of the cheap ways to enjoy the hobby.
First and foremost, knowledge is power! Buy books and learn as much as you can about coins. Search the internet, read coin forums and coin magazines. With a little bit of knowledge, you can cherrypick dealers' inventories. Everything from Cameos from 1960s Proof and SMS sets, to doubled die varieties. These are coins that can then be submitted to a Third Party Grading Service, such as PCGS or NGC, and then resold for a profit. I recently attended a show, and found a proof set from 1969 with a nicely cameoed Kennedy Half. I had a friend dip it to remove the haze (I would not suggest dipping it yourself for a novice, but if you don't have someone knowledgeable to do it for you, NCS is a good way of getting rid of haze from proof coins, that is safe, and relatively inexpensive compared to the prospect of messing up the coin) and then sent the coin to NGC. It came back as a PF69UCAM. A $30 investment for the proof set, grading and shipping, and I got back a coin worth $100. Cherrypicks are out there to be had, just be vigilant, and patient, and search the inventories of dealers.
Another fun and cheap way to collect, is to go to a bank, and get rolls of coins. You can then pick out the nice coins from the rolls, look for varieties, errors, and you can even work on a set, such as Lincoln cents. You can buy a folder and start filling it up for only a few dollars. You can, of course, do this with any other denomination, but Lincoln cents are the cheapest way to do this, and you will occasionally pull out a circulated wheat or even an Indian Head. Also with searching rolls of dimes, quarters and halves, look for silver. For quarters and dimes, any coin minted in 1964 or before was made of silver. Halves from 1964 and before were 90% silver and 1965-1969 were 40% silver. If you don't want to keep these, there's always dealers at shows who pay more than face value for "junk silver." But don't expect to find too much silver left in rolls.
If you are more into classic coins, circulated sets are always fun. Again, you can get an album or folder and start filling it up. This was something I decided to do with Barber Dimes. I like how circulated silver with nice dark grays looks. So, I bought a Dansco album for Barber Dimes, and started filling it up with G and VG coins which can easily be found in the binders in dealer's shops for only $2-$3 at the most, except for key and semi-key dates. You just need to be careful and watch for damaged and cleaned coins. Even though you are buying lower grade coins, still be picky, and find coins you like. I know the key dates are expensive, but given a few years, your budget may expand and be able to include the keys, which will make for a very nice looking matched set. And of course, there are plenty of other series that you can be successful with. Circulated Wheats, circulated Mercury dimes, Indian Head Cents, Buffalo Nickels, Barbers, even Silver Roosevelts aren't very expensive, and make for a nice looking UNC set that won't cost you a lot.
Above all, just have fun. Whatever you do to collect, have fun at what you do. Don't let other people discourage you just because you are a younger collector on a budget. And this is a great way to develop a relationship with a dealer. You may be in their shop spending only a couple bucks at a time in their shop, but in a couple years, you could be back in there spending hundreds of dollars at a time.Good luck and happy hunting!! >>
First Prize goes to Airplanenut/Jeremy for:
<< <i>I offer the following (serious) ideas:
1--Research what interests you. Don't just learn the prices, but learn how to grade them. Learn the history behind them.
2--When you have the opportunity, offer to help and teach fellow collectors.
3--When you have the opportunity, graciously accept the help and knowledge from a fellow collector/dealer. Never miss out on knowledge because of your ego.
4--Never be afraid to ask for help. Someone will help you, and you can't learn from nothing.
5--Buy what you like because you like it, not because there's a game to play or someone else tells you it's what you should buy.
6--Hobbies are about having fun. Have fun.
7--Don't be rude/inconsiderate to YNs (this is mostly to some dealers) because they don't have as much money as you'd like them to spend. One day they will have the money, and they will remember those dealers who were friendly and took the time to be helpful and nice. Those dealers will receive praise and business. Remember, you, too, were young.
I think that's all I can think of today >>
A disclaimer regarding my choice of Jeremy as the winner - some of you know that he designed my website and business cards for me. But, I will be paying him for that and hopefully don't owe him any favors. : ) Additionally, when I chose his selection, it was one I had copied and pasted to a list of finalists, and frankly, I wasn't even aware that it was his, until I went back to the forum to see who the winner was.
I think these two (younger) numismatists have some great contributions to make to our hobby and that their words and suggestions can benefit everyone, regardless of age, experience, budget or collecting preference.
Thanks again to each of you for your thoughtfulness and your efforts.
Sowhachadidtheywin?
Hope you giving them a new car each as a throw in just like Oprah did???????
EDITED: Thanks coinguy, I see the Morgan and bust coin the winners are getting. A great thread indeed.
I wished I had the experience these YN now have when I was their age. But we are fortunate to have them in our midst!
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Thanks for your help in making the forum a better place to be, for the ideas are so much more interesting than the complaints and gripes that are all too frequent.
It seems the negative posts went way down during the last week to ten days.
If asked by Mark, I will continue to add prizes to his essay contests in the future.
michael
Stuart
Collect 18th & 19th Century US Type Coins, Silver Dollars, $20 Gold Double Eagles and World Crowns & Talers with High Eye Appeal
"Luck is what happens when Preparation meets Opportunity"
and their individual perspectives. Certainly the two winners have contributed greatly to the
forums.
Congratulations to both.
PS: Hey Jeremy -- I'll give you an even tougher-date Morgan in PCGS MS65 if you redesign our website!!
Partner / Executive VP
Heritage Auctions
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