Have any of you thought about serious darkside collecting?

bidask

Its like collecting US coins 25 years ago.......great raw coins all over the bourse. Here is some recent PCGS submission results.

All these coins were bought raw with some help from my friends.

1 1 12766685 518992 1884-Ga AH 8 R MEXICO MS65
2 1 12766686 206655 1873 1/2Sov Gr.Britain MS64
3 1 12766687 207278 1887 2 Pound Gr.Britain MS63

I will try to get some pics sometime.

BBN

Ancient Roman Imperials. I only have one, but will add more on occasion. Tht's my extent of foreign stuff.

tightbudget

Not really...

direwolf1972

The only darkside that really interests me are ancient roman.

Maybe a nice original MT Thaler. One from before her death and not one of the modern reproductions.

vplite

Never. There is just too much to try to know.

seanq

I picked up a few old Whitman bookshelf albums for Canadian coins recently - small cents, nickels, and a type set. I'm thinking it will be fun to try and fill them up on the cheap.


Sean Reynolds

DennisH

Not only thought about it, but I think I'm already hooked on one very particular series: Scotland Ryals (30 shillings) issued under Mary Queen of Scots from 1565-67, and the subsequent "Sword Dollar" Ryals issued by her son James VI from 1567-71. There are only 8 coins in the set, thank heavens, but most of them appear to still be in Europe. So far PCGS has graded only 15 of them... for both types and all 8 years combined.

Here are two of mine; one of each type (PCGS messed up and holdered the 1570 backwards. Grrrr....)

BECOKA

I have considered it but the stuff I want is already over priced.

I love gold sovereigns and old Japanese gold. Both have huge premiums.

Swampboy

I have some ancients and I would like to collect a few medieival coins and some foreign gold.

There's lots of amazing darkside material that interests me.

Joflax

Dabble in South African proofs, very pretty coins , Very low mintages in the early years ....and they are on fire price wise at the moment.

coinlieutenant

When they look like this....you betcha!!

bidask

This is the 1887 2 pound now in a pcgs 63 holder.

bidask

<< <i>Dabble in South African proofs, very pretty coins , Very low mintages in the early years ....and they are on fire price wise at the moment. >>

I love the S.A proofs and MS 5 shillings. Now there is a country of comer collectors with all their mineral wealth imo.

Dave99B

Not really, although some early 1900's Canadian coins have been calling my name lately.

Dave

Joflax

<< <i>

<< <i>Dabble in South African proofs, very pretty coins , Very low mintages in the early years ....and they are on fire price wise at the moment. >>

I love the S.A proofs and MS 5 shillings. Now there is a country of comer collectors with all their mineral wealth imo. >>

The currency over there is also strong at the moment so they are buying like crazy.
The 1950 proof 5 shillings (the key) has a mintage of 500.

coinsarefun

Who could resist Leopold the Hogmouth?



Stefanie






And Russian is always collectable

GoldenEyeNumismatics

Yes.

Coins of the French Revolution.

bidask

<< <i>

<< <i>

<< <i>Dabble in South African proofs, very pretty coins , Very low mintages in the early years ....and they are on fire price wise at the moment. >>

I love the S.A proofs and MS 5 shillings. Now there is a country of comer collectors with all their mineral wealth imo. >>

The currency over there is also strong at the moment so they are buying like crazy.
The 1950 proof 5 shillings (the key) has a mintage of 500. >>

Joflax, I bought the 1950 5 shilling in the recent Heritage NYINC sale. It is a PCGS MS 68 and I paid about 4 times Krause ( around $862 hammer with 15%) and I think I stole it.

Joflax

Awesome buy !!! I was one of the bidders behind you and had a major bidders remorse when I stopped chasing it . How does it look in hand? My best one is a NGC 64

bidask

<< <i>Awesome buy !!! I was one of the bidders behind you and had a major bidders remorse when I stopped chasing it . How does it look in hand? My best one is a NGC 64 >>

Its terrific and in an old green holder too!

Boy I will be watching for you in future auctions on SA coins.

Hey lets not get to crazy and get in a bidding war. Maybe we should consider 50/50.

commoncents05

Only coins with my relatives on them. Fredrick William IV and earlier from Prussia.

-Paul

Joflax

I think that there were bigger fish than me after that coin as well.
I decided to go after some of the lower mintage proofs , and got beat out there too...was that you as well?

bidask

<< <i>I think that there were bigger fish than me after that coin as well.
I decided to go after some of the lower mintage proofs , and got beat out there too...was that you as well? >>

I considered those but did not bid but if they were nice I am sure they were worth the price....I felt I was like a kid in a candy store in that auction there was so much to choose from. That is what is so great about darkside....

Joflax

<< <i>

<< <i>I think that there were bigger fish than me after that coin as well.
I decided to go after some of the lower mintage proofs , and got beat out there too...was that you as well? >>

I considered those but did not bid but if they were nice I am sure they were worth the price....I felt I was like a kid in a candy store in that auction there was so much to choose from. That is what is so great about darkside.... >>

yeah it had nme fired up for weeks but the prices were too rich for me ...the1892 5 shillings went for moon money( I think there were 3 or 4 of them) and if I remember they were all single shaft. We should pm each other before the next one so we dont murder each other

Bear

I thought that we were already living

in the dark side of the economy.

FilthyBroke

Dabbling in ancients, just testing the waters. Take a short trip to VCoins and just browse. There are TONS of interesting ancients there.

Steve27

Yes, but I buy them raw and keep them raw.

BigRed

Yes, I have thought about it a lot due to being a lower budget collector now but just have not crossed the bridge yet. I have always liked medievil and ancient coins but there seems to just be to much to learn and at my age I don't know if I have the time.

RYK

Other than foreign coins that circulated in the colonial US, I have no interest in darkside coins. One of my main motivations for collecting coins is the connection to history--US history--and I have little scholarly interest in European, Asian, or South American history at this point in my life.

PerryHall

<< <i>Other than foreign coins that circulated in the colonial US, I have no interest in darkside coins. One of my main motivations for collecting coins is the connection to history--US history--and I have little scholarly interest in European, Asian, or South American history at this point in my life. >>



Once again I agree with RYK---I'm a US history buff and I like to associate my coins to American historical events; hence, I have no interest in foreign coins.

Cocoinut

There have been several times in the past when I have had more interest in foreign coins than those from the US. I enjoy the variety of designs, and the fact that so many are available for a fraction of what any US coins from the same time period would cost. You can buy some mint state coins from over 200 years ago for prices in the low 3 figures. If you can associate a coin with some historical event, it makes it even more interesting.

Jim

coinpictures

Darkside?

Nah...

fc

<< <i>

<< <i>Other than foreign coins that circulated in the colonial US, I have no interest in darkside coins. One of my main motivations for collecting coins is the connection to history--US history--and I have little scholarly interest in European, Asian, or South American history at this point in my life. >>



Once again I agree with RYK---I'm a US history buff and I like to associate my coins to American historical events; hence, I have no interest in foreign coins. >>



ditto.

USA! USA! USA!

i enjoy reading about americans and their exploits. we lead and
others follow (tongue in cheek)

ziggy29

Yes, I've thought about it. I wish I could get excited about it, for several reasons -- mostly because some nice and scarce stuff can be had for a small fraction of what lightside material would sell for with similar quality and scarcity. And because the slab game and its marketing machine hasn't ruined much that area of the hobby yet.

But I just have trouble getting excited about it. I wish I could change that.

291fifth

The problem that collectors of US coins will encounter is margins. The margin on darkside material is much higher than it is for US coins. Given the investment outlook of many US collectors, they are going to have a hard time adjusting to a field in which their chance of making a profit is very slim.

coinpictures

<< <i>The problem that collectors of US coins will encounter is margins. The margin on darkside material is much higher than it is for US coins. Given the investment outlook of many US collectors, they are going to have a hard time adjusting to a field in which their chance of making a profit is very slim. >>



Ehh? What are you saying? The chances of making a profit on Darkside material are hardly "slim." In fact, as a general rule, I do FAR better on Darkside material than U.S.

Of course, knowledge is key...

ziggy29

<< <i>The problem that collectors of US coins will encounter is margins. The margin on darkside material is much higher than it is for US coins. Given the investment outlook of many US collectors, they are going to have a hard time adjusting to a field in which their chance of making a profit is very slim. >>

Well, I think the fixation on profit uber alles combined with the slab game is what has been ruining collecting nice US coins for folks of modest means. So maybe there's something to that.

Don't get me wrong; I'm not against profit and I appreciate the potential for selling at a gain (or at least recouping what you spent), but it feels like the hobby aspect is becoming more and more secondary -- and I think that's squeezing a LOT of folks out of the US coin market.

mgoodm3

Not really, but I do like photo-ing them.

cladking

<< <i>The problem that collectors of US coins will encounter is margins. The margin on darkside material is much higher than it is for US coins. Given the investment outlook of many US collectors, they are going to have a hard time adjusting to a field in which their chance of making a profit is very slim. >>




Margins do tend to be a little higher but the big difference is that retail
is so high on darkside. Retail can be multiples of a fair wholesale price
and most of these markets are thin enough that there isn't a well estab-
lished wholesale.

To learn these markets you just have to read the ads and sell a coin
once in a while. This really applies to all collectibles. Even multi thou-
sand dollar US coins can provide a surprise if you're buying them and
have no knowledge of the real market.

In other words, don't pay retail except on the truly special coins that
you know are not going to be encountered again. This is one of the
great thing about these coins; there are so many very underapprecia-
ted coins where you can safely pay retail or more.

Michigan

Some very low priced world coins you just can't find because dealers don't want to bother with them since the profit margin isn't there.

There are a couple of interesting coins dated in the 1970s from Chile I am interested in that fall into this category but nobody has
them (I have tried Ebay etc.) to no avail.

charley

Early Corea/Chosun Pieces. Respectfully, Joh Curlis

ziggy29

<< <i>Some very low priced world coins you just can't find because dealers don't want to bother with them since the profit margin isn't there. >>

Well, one of the biggest problems is reduced liquidity. If it takes longer for a dealer to unload the inventory, they have to buy it that much farther back of retail.

If you can sell five liquid $1000 coins (at retail) with a 15% margin in the same time you can sell ONE $1000 coin with a 50% margin, you are way better off selling the liquid coins at a lower margin since you could turn that smaller profit five times for every time you can turn the larger profit once.

This is the main reason why even the most reputable dealers might only pay 50% of retail for some coins...IF THAT. If it's not something with strong demand, if it's something which will likely sit in their cases for months or longer, if it's something they need to wholesale out because they don't want to tie up their capital in a coin that will just sit there...they have to make a low-ball offer. And in those cases, it's not insulting, it's just business.

In general, the lower the demand, the less a dealer will pay (relative to "retail") for it. Time to sell is money.

Nysoto

I have a few gold ducats from the 1600's and 1700's, but the multiple ducats are too expensive. I have been cataloging die varieties of some 1614-1626 Polish coins, about two years into a ten year project, it is a lot of fun and the coins are much less expensive then US coins (for now).

reds

Conder tokens about 6 months ago and past 100 already . You can get them in the condition shown relatively cheap compared to U.S.

Doogy

yeah, I've thought about it and dabble a bit.............



(the following pics were taken for me by Bruce Lee, a great photographer!)

TwoKopeiki

DennisH - That's one hell of an area to get hooked on

TwoSides2aCoin

Anyone who appreciates coins, appreciates coins. I'm in that camp.

PerryHall

<< <i>Early Corea/Chosun Pieces. Respectfully, Joh Curlis >>



Corea?

ahooka454

My dad gave me some Darkside stuff when I was younger. Way before I collected coins. I dug them out and here are some of them...


















Ill post more in abit. I need to take more pics.

HonoluluDude

I recently started a darkside collection. I like the Germany coins and the Panama Balboas. The big Mexican silver pesos are nice too. It's fun to look up stuff in the Krause book and then realize that you overpaid, LOL.

DennisH

Posting to this thread yesterday wound up being expensive for me: I just located and ordered a 1569 Ryal in NGC VF20, one of the five dates I still need.