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Where is a NewB to go next? (Warning - long read)
BryceM
Posts: 11,937 ✭✭✭✭✭
In what direction should this newB go next?
I’ve been dabbling in coins for as long as I can remember, having purchased a few US Mint sets and coins in Jr. High and High School. I sorted odd change for silver, wheat cents, and rare dates, but never really got serious about complete sets or putting together anything of real value.
Now that I have a real job, and a pretty good one at that, I found myself with the means to combine an investment opportunity with a hobby that is fun enough to keep my “head in the game”. I started off in ten random directions collecting some raw modern proof sets, a few modern gold pieces, some 20th century silver, but pretty soon I fell in love with Peace Dollars.
My first foray into serious collecting was putting together an album of low/mid grade Peace Dollars. Since I live in the middle of nowhere, with absolutely no B&M stores other than the odd pawn shop, the easiest source of product was of course the ‘Bay. I tried to educate myself on the attributes of a desirable coin, and in retrospect I actually didn’t do too badly. I spent around 50% above melt for most of what I ended up with. Right around then I started lurking in forums, reading up on the series, and educating myself on condition, grades, etc. It became obvious that I had a few nice coins, some real junk (whizzed, cleaned), and mostly respectable, but average sliders. No big deal. I gained a ton of experience and was smart enough (usually) to only bid on what was within my comfort level.
Then, I had the pesky 21, 34-S, and 28 to contend with. By then I was smart enough to know that I didn’t want to buy anything outside of plastic if more than $100 was at stake. I was also really starting to see the attraction of MS coins. About this same time I sold my small business and had a bunch of $$ floating around looking for a place to land. Does the formula NewB + $$ to spend = disaster?
I studied up and settled on putting together a Peace Date/Mint set in minimum MS63 grade. I easily found the common dates and probably got a bunch of average or low-for-grade coins. I planned on getting the cheapos first to build experience and get a better sense of grading standards for the series. I slowly worked into the better dates and automatically found myself buying less from eBay and more from people like JJ Teaparty, Larry Shapiro, and several others. I also started picking up a few on Heritage and a few with green beans. Instantly I saw a huge quality-for-grade improvement. That fact was not lost on me and I gained instant respect for a good dealer’s eye. I also made a decision to work on a PCGS registry set and limited my search to those holders.
Income from the business sale was greater than expected and I was no longer satisfied with my “training-wheel” ladies. I started upgrading most of the coins to the highest grade in each series before 4 figure numbers started to appear. The set is now complete and is within the top 40 of the 24-coin registry series. It was time to liquidate all but the 24 in the set.
I sent in the best of my raw coins to PCGS and had a few “genuine”, a bunch of AU58s, and a few MS 63s and 4s in common dates. Upon sale, the PCGS AUs actually did the best on the ‘Bay in terms of profit for investment, sometimes earning more than the same date in MS63. In total, I sold 50 or 60 raw and slabbed dollars. Once I accounted for grading fees, auction fees, and PayPal, I got back almost exactly what I had put in. Not bad considering how much I learned in the process. It also gave me a little confidence to see that the effort I put into learning came back with a decent return. At this point, not losing money was decent enough!
I also learned that my level of knowledge and experience was probably going to get me in trouble when I started to dabble in stuff that was truly rare. A mentor, time at shows, and looking at a whole lot more coins was going to be necessary. My biggest mistake to date has been with the MS63 34-S. It’s a decent enough coin, but it’s average for grade and I spent a little too much for it. More time looking there would have been well spent. I actually would have rather spent $4k for a coin that really talked to me. To date I have a little more than $10k in the set. I figure I could probably sell it today for about that same amount, and maybe enough to cover the auction fees.
Having taken that set to a reasonable stopping point, I then set out to complete a 20th Century major type set. I took way more time with this and set a budget for each coin. I really don’t see the point in collecting anything after ’64, but I got decent examples of all the moderns to complete the series. I had a tremendous time finding good Barbers, the Liberty nickel, and the Indian cent. I also fell in love with SLQs and Walker Halfs. The Frankie, the Kennedys, and the Ikes are nice, but they did nothing for me – sorry guys. The Barber half and dime were MS63s but I kept almost everything else in the 65/66 range. I stuck closely to my standards and ended up with a total set average over 65. Some of the coins are real beauties and I had a great time with it. My kids also enjoy seeing the older stuff and are gaining an appreciation for the hobby.
So now, I’m wondering what next. I can keep working on the Peace set, but due to funds, progress there will likely be slow, totaling at best 1 coin per month. That stretches out the fun of opening the little packages just a bit too far for my attention span.
I’m also considering extending the type set into the 1800s. There are some tremendously interesting coins, but I know just enough to be dangerous. Nicer type coins in these dates get expensive and I don’t want to get in too deep without some real direction. In the middle of nowhere with no real access to a decent dealer I’m sorta stuck.
1900s gold? Another series? Nothing is really talking to me yet. The budget will probably be around $1-2K per month.
Ideas?
I’ve been dabbling in coins for as long as I can remember, having purchased a few US Mint sets and coins in Jr. High and High School. I sorted odd change for silver, wheat cents, and rare dates, but never really got serious about complete sets or putting together anything of real value.
Now that I have a real job, and a pretty good one at that, I found myself with the means to combine an investment opportunity with a hobby that is fun enough to keep my “head in the game”. I started off in ten random directions collecting some raw modern proof sets, a few modern gold pieces, some 20th century silver, but pretty soon I fell in love with Peace Dollars.
My first foray into serious collecting was putting together an album of low/mid grade Peace Dollars. Since I live in the middle of nowhere, with absolutely no B&M stores other than the odd pawn shop, the easiest source of product was of course the ‘Bay. I tried to educate myself on the attributes of a desirable coin, and in retrospect I actually didn’t do too badly. I spent around 50% above melt for most of what I ended up with. Right around then I started lurking in forums, reading up on the series, and educating myself on condition, grades, etc. It became obvious that I had a few nice coins, some real junk (whizzed, cleaned), and mostly respectable, but average sliders. No big deal. I gained a ton of experience and was smart enough (usually) to only bid on what was within my comfort level.
Then, I had the pesky 21, 34-S, and 28 to contend with. By then I was smart enough to know that I didn’t want to buy anything outside of plastic if more than $100 was at stake. I was also really starting to see the attraction of MS coins. About this same time I sold my small business and had a bunch of $$ floating around looking for a place to land. Does the formula NewB + $$ to spend = disaster?
I studied up and settled on putting together a Peace Date/Mint set in minimum MS63 grade. I easily found the common dates and probably got a bunch of average or low-for-grade coins. I planned on getting the cheapos first to build experience and get a better sense of grading standards for the series. I slowly worked into the better dates and automatically found myself buying less from eBay and more from people like JJ Teaparty, Larry Shapiro, and several others. I also started picking up a few on Heritage and a few with green beans. Instantly I saw a huge quality-for-grade improvement. That fact was not lost on me and I gained instant respect for a good dealer’s eye. I also made a decision to work on a PCGS registry set and limited my search to those holders.
Income from the business sale was greater than expected and I was no longer satisfied with my “training-wheel” ladies. I started upgrading most of the coins to the highest grade in each series before 4 figure numbers started to appear. The set is now complete and is within the top 40 of the 24-coin registry series. It was time to liquidate all but the 24 in the set.
I sent in the best of my raw coins to PCGS and had a few “genuine”, a bunch of AU58s, and a few MS 63s and 4s in common dates. Upon sale, the PCGS AUs actually did the best on the ‘Bay in terms of profit for investment, sometimes earning more than the same date in MS63. In total, I sold 50 or 60 raw and slabbed dollars. Once I accounted for grading fees, auction fees, and PayPal, I got back almost exactly what I had put in. Not bad considering how much I learned in the process. It also gave me a little confidence to see that the effort I put into learning came back with a decent return. At this point, not losing money was decent enough!
I also learned that my level of knowledge and experience was probably going to get me in trouble when I started to dabble in stuff that was truly rare. A mentor, time at shows, and looking at a whole lot more coins was going to be necessary. My biggest mistake to date has been with the MS63 34-S. It’s a decent enough coin, but it’s average for grade and I spent a little too much for it. More time looking there would have been well spent. I actually would have rather spent $4k for a coin that really talked to me. To date I have a little more than $10k in the set. I figure I could probably sell it today for about that same amount, and maybe enough to cover the auction fees.
Having taken that set to a reasonable stopping point, I then set out to complete a 20th Century major type set. I took way more time with this and set a budget for each coin. I really don’t see the point in collecting anything after ’64, but I got decent examples of all the moderns to complete the series. I had a tremendous time finding good Barbers, the Liberty nickel, and the Indian cent. I also fell in love with SLQs and Walker Halfs. The Frankie, the Kennedys, and the Ikes are nice, but they did nothing for me – sorry guys. The Barber half and dime were MS63s but I kept almost everything else in the 65/66 range. I stuck closely to my standards and ended up with a total set average over 65. Some of the coins are real beauties and I had a great time with it. My kids also enjoy seeing the older stuff and are gaining an appreciation for the hobby.
So now, I’m wondering what next. I can keep working on the Peace set, but due to funds, progress there will likely be slow, totaling at best 1 coin per month. That stretches out the fun of opening the little packages just a bit too far for my attention span.
I’m also considering extending the type set into the 1800s. There are some tremendously interesting coins, but I know just enough to be dangerous. Nicer type coins in these dates get expensive and I don’t want to get in too deep without some real direction. In the middle of nowhere with no real access to a decent dealer I’m sorta stuck.
1900s gold? Another series? Nothing is really talking to me yet. The budget will probably be around $1-2K per month.
Ideas?
0
Comments
Read enough books to find a series (or whatever) that really appeals to you. Start with the Red Book and move on to more specialized books as you find things that appeal to you.
If you find a series that appeals to you, join the appropriate specialty club and read their journal (for example, the Liberty Seated Collectors Club's The Gobrecht Journal); learn who the specialist dealers are, learn who the expert collectors are.
Join the several numismatic Internet message boards; learn who the expert members are and learn from them. Join Heritage and look through their archives.
Take the time and trouble to go to some of the national or regional coin shows - see a lot of coins (on the bourse floor, auction lot viewing, etc.) and talk to a lot of dealers and fellow collectors.
Finally, if you can, attend the ANA's Summer Seminar - there's no better numismatic education.
Check out the Southern Gold Society