How strong are your hands (and do weaker hands make you less of a collector)?

Longacre

I really like reading the various reports that dealers post on their websites. Some reports are well written, and others could use some improvement. Sometimes in an effort to whip The Masses up into a frenzy, a dealer will describe a particular piece in inventory, and then mention that the next higher graded piece in existence is in “strong hands”.

Personally, I like to think of myself as a compleat collector (to steal a term from QDB), but I don’t consider my hands to be particularly strong (not quite a weakling, but not excessively strong either). I get the sense that by “strong hands” the dealers mean that the collector is a very, very high end collector who does not have a need at any time in the near future to liquidate a coin purely for financial reasons. All of us need to sell a coin now and again. However, the strong hands collectors don’t need to or want to.

Does having weaker hands make you any less of a collector? What do dealers think of strong handed collectors? Dealers make their money by churning and burning coins, and if all collectors had strong hands, that would put a serious crimp in the dealer’s style. Do strong handed collectors tend to keep solely coins that fit within a big, grandiose collection, or can the term be used also for smaller, less significant collectors who tend to hold coins for the long term?

jhusman

I consider myself a "strong hands" collector by those standars - I don't sell good coins. If I can't afford to have money tied up in it, I don't buy it.

That being said, I am not in the same class as the bigger money guys here.

fc

i think dealers that use marketing in their descriptions is just
another way to manipulate the buyer into thinking he is getting
something more for his money.

a forum member here can basically summarize this stuff by his
sig line saying: show me the coin, keep your silly story.

IrishMike

I was until recently, have been diagnosed with Cubital Tunnel Syndrome. Not I am just a strong right hand collector. I guess if you are implying that strong hands means expensive coins then not at all, if you call strong hands holding onto neat varieties then yes. Everything else will go before those do.

Julio

Good question. Wish I had an answer.

To me it boils down to:

I sold to upgrade.

I sold to purchase my latest fancy.

Really does not matter to me as long as my next coin brings that gleam to my eye and I wake up in the middle of the night just to look at it again for the 100th time. . jws


To have a purpose for which one will do almost anything except betray a friend- that is the final patent of nobility, the last formula of the superman. Nietzche

tradedollarnut

There's a certain collector who I really wish had weaker hands - he single handedly has 3 coins I need!

TwoSides2aCoin

I sure love this place and your questions are the best, Mr L.

mgoodm3

Holding onto a coin does not imply one is a "better" collector.

RichieURich

With all the latest generation using computers all the time and playing video games, all of them should have strong hands.

Seriously, some collectors keep coins a long, long time. The Norweb collection and the Garrett collections spanned a couple generations and some coins were held for over 80 years. The finest known 1793 Strawberry leaf cent was held by heirs from 1941 to 2004. So-called "weaker hands" doesn't make someone less of a collector, IMO. Many collectors buy a coin and when they find a nicer one, they upgrade. Some collectors complete a collection, sell it and move on to collect a different series. Some collectors, including a collector of Saint Gaudens double eagles who posts here often, change their approach within their series of choice. None of these approaches IMO makes anyone less of a collector.

My approach to my own collection is that some coins will stay a long time, some will be upgraded, and some will be sold.

Coinosaurus

It's just marketing hype, and also used to show that the dealer has "inside info" that others don't.

The way things churn today, "strong hands" doesn't mean much except in very specialized cases such as what TDN mentioned.

guitarwes

I can bust open a PCGS holder barehanded.......is that strong enough?

shorecoll

I think there are different types of strong hands. The hoarders with strong hands are the ones with potential to hurt specific segments. If the person who supposedly owns the mint bag of 89CC Morgans (or his heirs) ever dump it that will shock some people for a while. If it gets trickled out (or already is being) it doesn't cause problems.

kimon1230

<< <i>I can bust open a PCGS holder barehanded.......is that strong enough? >>

you've got girlie hands
I can re-seal a busted PCGS holder barehanded

guitarwes

notwilight

To me the term Strong Hands just means that it isn't for sale or likely to be for sale in the near future. The high end coins TDN referred to are in strong hands as well as the cent that Utahcoins posted yesterday. --Jerry

edit to add: The term doesn't usually refer to every coin in a collection. Some of my coins are not going to be for sale for a long time but others I could part with. So some of my collection is in strong hands and some isn't.

compromonedas

I really hate strong hands (just kidding) I sold my PCGS Jefferson #2 proof set because i was not able to upgrade it. Even when i offer obscene money for the coins they will not sell (I am talking about 180% PCGS guide price)
keith

slabfab

Interesting thread. There was a thread recently on the board dealing with the propensity of collectors to occasionally buy a junk coin to fill a hole. Guilty as charged. But I think these phenomenon are related. Let's face it. most collectors are going to have strong hands on the coins they like. Julio is not the only fanatic that gets up at night just to look at that recently purchased beauty. The net result is that the majority of coins "on the market" are someone's rejects. Just look at a typical Teletrade auction. It was a hard lesson, but I have learned to patiently wait for a good quality coin to show up in the grade that I can afford. Not all MS66's are created equal. But those high quality "in the grade" coins are just the ones most of us do not want to sell and have little reason to part with. I have sold many coins for the money, but most of the time they are coins I bought on impulse (less than stellar quality) or coins no longer needed due to upgrades. Fess up, you do the same. So I think good collectors have learned when to have strong hands and that is why patience is so important to being a good collector.

cladking

"Strong hands" means very different things. It does always mean a low
probability of selling at the current time but it can mean a low probability
of selling even at a far higher price. Collectors are sometimes almost mar-
ried to their coins and these will usually be sold by the heirs and perhaps
not for generations. But investors and collectors also buy coins because
they consider them dramatically undervalued and would dump them if the
price rose 10 or 100 fold.

Sometimes strong hands just means a coin is owned by a wealthy indivual
who won't need to sell to raise cash. So long as it's part of an ongoing col-
lection, it's in "strong hands".

cladking

I hold some coins strongly enough you'll need to wait for the estate sale.

Many are just in strong hands until the price increases sufficiently.

coinkat

I think knowledge and appreciation is the sign of a collector... I am not so sure I like the Strong Hands concept as it applies to $$$ and not much else

jmski52

Does having weaker hands make you any less of a collector?

I'd say that it does - to wit: when you assemble a group of coins and then opt to sell them without taking the time to appreciate the coins, what's the point? In that case, I'd consider you more of a transient type of buyer.

Dealers make their money by churning and burning coins, and if all collectors had strong hands, that would put a serious crimp in the dealer’s style.

I tend to disagree. The better collections which have been in the making over decades probably cause more excitement for the buyers (and for the dealer) than a collection which has been cobbled together and liquidated in a relatively short time. Kinda like the difference between a home-made cake (with home-made frosting) vs. an instant out-of-the-box cake mix with frosting from a can.

Do strong handed collectors tend to keep solely coins that fit within a big, grandiose collection, or can the term be used also for smaller, less significant collectors who tend to hold coins for the long term?

This is beyond the scope of my experience, but I'd guess that strong handed folks just aren't in the market to sell until they lose interest or die, whichever comes first.

MidLifeCrisis

<< <i>I think knowledge and appreciation is the sign of a collector... I am not so sure I like the Strong Hands concept as it applies to $$$ and not much else >>

Musky1011

I have the "Kung Foo" grip

Shamika

I'll sell any coin in my collection at the drop of a dime if the price is right OR if I find an example of the date/mm that I like better.