After selling off your entire collection of slabbed coins because...

razorface1027

desperate times called for desperate measures---would you start over again from raw coinage to slabbed coinage if your financial situation

permitted? After reading through some of the recent posts regarding the market's upward stretch, would it be wise for me to wait until

prices stablize before investing any real money?


Thanks,
Tom

MadMarty

Been there, done that. Have not started collecting real coins again. But I'm having alot of fun collecting Darkside coins!

DHeath

Tom, now that you've done the slabbed coin thing, maybe you should capitalize on what your eye learned and rebuild with sweat equity. A man with $500 and a good eye can build a $40,000 collection in two years with a little luck. JMO

MadMonk

I would stick with Gold, on the dips.

cladking

I'm with DHeath. We are at a most unusual time in history. The number of coin collectors
here and worldwide is increasing several fold. This in itself isn't so very unusual, what is
unique is that never in the past have some of the best available coins simply gone begging.
There were always collectors to seek the rare and unusual regardless of what it looked
like or where it was found but today most of the newbies are not even aware of the existence
of many of these coins and old-timers won't even look at it unless it's a slabbed US coin dated
before 1965. This leaves vast categories of coins, tokens, and medals which have too low a
value to slab or too few collectors to be aware of them.

Many of the most sought after coin tomorrow are raw today. Indeed, a substantial number
of them have been kicking around in circulation for decades.

It's always best to collect the coins that interest you since this is how you'll find the interest to
learn about them, but if you're looking for underappreciated coins then there is no better place
to find them than raw. And you'll have little competition.

BAJJERFAN

If your desperate times situation taught you that certified coins were easier to unload for a profit or to just get your money back with the least amount of hassle then I mite be inclined to put my money back into those if I was getting into the hobby again. A lot depends on whether or not you think that coins are a good value at today's prices OR who you believe about how much upside [both short and long term] is left in this current bull market. Also collect what you like.

Barry

You asked: would it be wise for me to wait until prices stablize before investing any real money?

The key word in your question is invest. If you are looking to invest, slabs would be the way to go, and only you can decide how to time the market. If you really meant getting back into collecting, the old adage of collecting what interests you applies. Certain coins that interest me are, in my opinion, overpiced now, so those I watch from the sidelines for the moment. Others, I continue to buy, slabbed and raw, depending on the coin.

razorface1027

Certain coins that interest me are, in my opinion, overpiced now, so those I watch from the sidelines for the moment.

Ditto.. mainly MS 63 to 65 Morgans. That little voice in me keeps saying...WAIT.

barberlover

The situation you describe is the exact situation I find myself in now... If "desperate times" as you put it don't improve soon my entire collection that took me 4 years to build will be sold.

If that happens and then times get better, I will stick with finding my own raw coins and "making" them myself. The raw coins I've submitted to pcgs have all graded what I was hoping for at a minumum since 1999 and only 2 coins I submitted in other slabs failed to cross. Maybe it was just luck but what the heck. It will be tough to part with my best coins but paying the mortgage comes first. People who know what that feels like are generally not looking to sell because of where the market is, I just hope like the last time this happened to me, the market crashes after I sell my coins [that would make me feel better].

Les

291fifth

I am in the process of selling most of my US coins. I am reducing my overall exposure to the coin market. I have revived my interest in ancient Roman coins but am approaching it in a very restrained manner.

nwcs

For me, I'm going for value. I try to spend money on coins I believe in. Some are slabbed and are quality coins. Like a PL steel cent I've bid on for a good price. Others are raw that I can see something special in that the dealer hasn't caught yet. Like a DCAM JFK AH I picked up yesterday on the cheap.

Baley

If I had sold all my collection and was starting again, I'd go for the "box of 20" approach and buy just a few of my favorite types in "monster coin" gem with spectacular eye appeal and lots of colorful toning. All my sets I would feel as if I'd "been there, done that", although I might do even more draped bust, small eagle, and early copper because my funds wouldn't be spread among so many coins that make up date/mm sets.

keets

a good approach might be to take some time at larger shows and online, as well as at home by reading, and find an area that you enjoy which isn't as competitively collected right now. probably the best items with the chance to move up are raw and in cases, simply because they haven't been "found" by anyone. this includes exonumia of all kinds, die varieties and chiefly items held by long term collectors and being turned by dealers who don't know what the items really are or can grade competently.

raw coins are the best area to focus on if you can learn how to grade, how the grading services view/grade and are patient and willing to look at lots and lots of coins. my belief is that the majority of dealers found at smaller to mid-sized shows lack the ability to competently grade coins and attribute die varieties, let alone identify much of what's out there. that means you might need to work on your poker face for the times when you hit paydirt. these guys read a mean GreySheet and can be good with holdered coins, just go for the achilles heel and think outside of the box.

al h.