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Collecting a Set vs Random Top Pop Rarities

Which is likely to be a better financial return in 10 year if sold at auction.


For example a big auction of a set of Large Cents such as the Cardinal Collection vs Joseph C Thomas collection. Cardinal Had a set of early copper vs a more random batch of coins sold in the Thomas auction.


It seems it would be easier to auction a set vs random high end coins. Any Thoughts?

Comments



  • << <i>Which is likely to be a better financial return in 10 year if sold at auction.


    For example a big auction of a set of Large Cents such as the Cardinal Collection vs Joseph C Thomas collection. Cardinal Had a set of early copper vs a more random batch of coins sold in the Thomas auction.


    It seems it would be easier to auction a set vs random high end coins. Any Thoughts? >>



    Ask Saintguru, rather than come up with a complete set of saints, he came up with a syrup collection of high end key date saints which I believe made good money.
  • DIMEMANDIMEMAN Posts: 22,403 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I like complete sets.....but that is just me and probably not the best as far as money return.
  • keyman64keyman64 Posts: 15,452 ✭✭✭✭✭
    It is my belief that keys and semi-keys appreciate much faster due to the steady increased demand. Why bog down a collection and tie up money that could be appreciating with common date dead weight?

    Don't get me wrong though, buidling a complete collection can be much more emotionally rewarding.
    "If it's not fun, it's not worth it." - KeyMan64
    Looking for Top Pop Mercury Dime Varieties & High Grade Mercury Dime Toners. :smile:
  • AblinkyAblinky Posts: 625 ✭✭✭
    There is always the old saying "buying the keys first" so one could assume that a bunch of those would outperform more common coins in a set from a purely financial perspective in my opinion.

    Andrew Blinkiewicz-Heritage

  • FlatwoodsFlatwoods Posts: 4,122 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I think there could be more reward in random high end coins. Also more potential risk.

    I enjoy building sets but I wouldn't want to buy one complete.
  • Walkerguy21DWalkerguy21D Posts: 11,115 ✭✭✭✭✭
    As long as the top pop rarities are relatively safe from grade inflation and/or many more be submitted and 'made' (i.e., not roll quantities in waiting) then I think those are the better bet. The common 'dead weight' coins would likely hold back significant gains.
    Now looking at the Cardinal collection, it was sorta both.....a set, that was composed of top or close to top pop large cents.



    Successful BST transactions with 170 members. Recent: Tonedeaf, Shane6596, Piano1, Ikenefic, RG, PCGSPhoto, stman, Don'tTelltheWife, Boosibri, Ron1968, snowequities, VTchaser, jrt103, SurfinxHI, 78saen, bp777, FHC, RYK, JTHawaii, Opportunity, Kliao, bigtime36, skanderbeg, split37, thebigeng, acloco, Toninginthblood, OKCC, braddick, Coinflip, robcool, fastfreddie, tightbudget, DBSTrader2, nickelsciolist, relaxn, Eagle eye, soldi, silverman68, ElKevvo, sawyerjosh, Schmitz7, talkingwalnut2, konsole, sharkman987, sniocsu, comma, jesbroken, David1234, biosolar, Sullykerry, Moldnut, erwindoc, MichaelDixon, GotTheBug
  • TwoSides2aCoinTwoSides2aCoin Posts: 43,796 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Top Pop Rarities in "random" fashion could be very lucrative with respect to strategic acquisition .
  • WildIdeaWildIdea Posts: 1,873 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I don't see that there would be much of a difference in respective returns if the coins were attractive. If a very nice complete set of something like buffalo nickels or Indian heads was offered and willing to be broke up I'm sure they would winnow away pretty fast to whoever needed them and saw them first. I see plenty of folks buying and selling nicely toned 81s Morgans so my point again, if they are nice they're not dead weight.

    Set building though has its own limiting factors. For me it was holding back money waiting for the last dates I needed to surface and watching killer type coins come and go along the way. Decent exercise in discipline, so there's that.... I'm not currently building any sets myself at the moment, but open to excellent examples of type in grades that cost as much as a complete date mint set might cost. So I guess I do it both ways, but neither makes me nervous.
  • WildIdeaWildIdea Posts: 1,873 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Another point occurred to me while posting, that we get the impression that nice type is easy to find. Just making the decision to buy certain coins doesn't mean one can simply do so. I find it truly difficult to located what I see as a winner and they usually priced that way. Getting all the stars to line up takes considerable effort and patience. Because of this it doesn't happen very often for me. At then end of your ten year hold period, I may only have ten coins or so.
  • WalkerfanWalkerfan Posts: 8,897 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I say a set will do better, as it will have common and key dates and it will be complete and have many different choices for the specialist of that particular series, so it will garner more attention.

    “I may not believe in myself but I believe in what I’m doing” ~Jimmy Page~

    My Full Walker Registry Set (1916-1947)

    https://www.ngccoin.com/registry/competitive-sets/16292/

  • david3142david3142 Posts: 3,388 ✭✭✭✭✭
    The common dates can still be a challenge if you buy them in high enough grades. I would agree that those values will be more volatile, though as new Pop Tops can be made.
  • LindeDadLindeDad Posts: 18,766 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Life is a coarse of doing things, collecting and investing are just part. Seldom do they merge well.

    image
  • RedTigerRedTiger Posts: 5,608
    Doesn't matter. The reality is that most asking this question will lose money no matter what coins they choose. How much they lose will depend on their skill level. Financial return tends to be correlated to:
    1) grading skill
    2) personal connections
    3) market knowledge
    4) a little bit of luck

    If a person is interested in increasing their return on investment, focus on getting better at grading, developing personal relationships with dealers and collectors and an understanding of the coin market based on experience not opinions from strangers on the Internet, and carry a lucky pocket piece image

    A person can make or lose money in virtually any area of numismatics. The retail collector faces a steep uphill climb because he/she is paying retail and may have to sell wholesale. For low value raw coins that hill will be next to impossible to overcome because the percentage gap is so wide. With higher priced certified coins the percentages are better, but the mistakes that much more expensive, especially as one goes up the grade ladder.

    Collect what you like, what you have a passion for. If a person is passionate about their coins, their financial return is likely to get much better than some know-nothing buying what strangers on the Internet tell him/her to buy. Don't have a passion for coins? Keep it a hobby, with hobby money, because losses are likely to be a significant percentage. How big a percentage depends on your skill level, venue, patience. Why are losses almost certain? Because the non-passionate collector is competing for coins against many passionate people, that live and breathe coins. Many collectors and dealers have the dog-eat-dog attitude that any mistakes are a matter of collector education. Tuition is what beginners pay to become educated.

    Some may suggest a mentor. However, finding a good one is mostly a matter of dumb luck. A novice will have zero idea of what a good mentor is going to teach them. There are plenty of terrible would-be mentors. Trusting a bad mentor will make it a near certainty that the novice coin collector never advances far. Plenty of dealers may pretend to be happy to mentor. Mentor a person into buying what they are selling image "My coins are special, that's why you are paying so much for them." In some cases, those collector might try to sell a few of those "gems" and only then discovers that they bought a load of crap and might be looking at 50%+ losses in a short time period.






  • LindeDadLindeDad Posts: 18,766 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>Doesn't matter. The reality is that most asking this question will lose money no matter what coins they choose. How much they lose will depend on their skill level. Financial return tends to be correlated to:
    1) grading skill
    2) personal connections
    3) market knowledge
    4) a little bit of luck

    If a person is interested in increasing their return on investment, focus on getting better at grading, developing personal relationships with dealers and collectors and an understanding of the coin market based on experience not opinions from strangers on the Internet, and carry a lucky pocket piece image

    A person can make or lose money in virtually any area of numismatics. The retail collector faces a steep uphill climb because he/she is paying retail and may have to sell wholesale. For low value raw coins that hill will be next to impossible to overcome because the percentage gap is so wide. With higher priced certified coins the percentages are better, but the mistakes that much more expensive, especially as one goes up the grade ladder.

    Collect what you like, what you have a passion for. If a person is passionate about their coins, their financial return is likely to get much better than some know-nothing buying what strangers on the Internet tell him/her to buy. Don't have a passion for coins? Keep it a hobby, with hobby money, because losses are likely to be a significant percentage. How big a percentage depends on your skill level, venue, patience. Why are losses almost certain? Because the non-passionate collector is competing for coins against many passionate people, that live and breathe coins. Many collectors and dealers have the dog-eat-dog attitude that any mistakes are a matter of collector education. Tuition is what beginners pay to become educated.

    Some may suggest a mentor. However, find a good one is mostly a matter of dumb luck. There are plenty of terrible would-be mentors and a bad mentor will make it a near certainty that the novice coin collector never advances. Plenty of dealers may pretend to be happy to mentor. Mentor a person into buying what they are selling image "My coins are special, that's why you are paying so much for them." Then some of those collector tries to sell a few of those "gems" and discovers that they bought a load of crap and might be looking at 50%+ losses. >>



    image except the " little bit of luck" YOU NEED A LOT of luck.
  • roadrunnerroadrunner Posts: 28,303 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>There is always the old saying "buying the keys first" so one could assume that a bunch of those would outperform more common coins in a set from a purely financial perspective in my opinion. >>



    I consider it an "old saying." While there are "keys" that continue to advance in popular sets, there are also "keys" that have stagnated for years. When I first began collecting seated quarters I passed on the big dollar "keys" figuring that the 2nd and 3rd tier semi-keys and scarce dates would outperform them. It generally turned out that way too. The 78-s is certainly the key of seated half dollars. But does it have the potential to double and triple from here as some of the 2nd and 3rd tier coins do? If I were collecting circ Barber quarters today I'd pass on the 3 expensive "s" mint keys and go after all the other "O," "S" and "D" mints I could get my hands on. Dates like 97-s, 97-0, 98-0, 98-s, 99-s, 99-0, etc. would probably produce more bang for the buck. I'd have no problem with a partial set of killer VF-XF Barbers lacking a 96-s, 01-s, and 13-s. "Key" dates, especially in the late 19th century, and early 20th century tend to be coins with huge demand, but also a fairly large supply. A supply that includes a significant percentage of keys sitting in dealer and speculator inventories.
    Barbarous Relic No More, LSCC -GoldSeek--shadow stats--SafeHaven--321gold
  • rickoricko Posts: 98,724 ✭✭✭✭✭
    From an investment perspective, RedTiger nailed it and Roadrunner wrapped it up.. For me, collecting is a hobby and I enjoy it that way... not worried about resale. Cheers, RickO
  • I'm just thinking from highlight auction perspective it would seem easier to market a set rather than random rarities
  • jcpingjcping Posts: 2,649 ✭✭✭
    At the time to break your set to sell/auction, it is all matter of individual coin demand and supply to decide the price at the moment regardless whether you have a complete set. As many folks said here, key date might not perform the best, ROI-wise; again, it depends on your acquired cost. To me, profit is decided at your buy price, not your selling price.
    an SLQ and Ike dollars lover
  • BAJJERFANBAJJERFAN Posts: 30,977 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>I'm just thinking from highlight auction perspective it would seem easier to market a set rather than random rarities >>




    Very few sets ever sell well intact. Sunnywood's toned Morgans are one exception. Generally one should focus on the key and better dates as these are generally tougher to find. One has to think that most of the best/better ones are already salted away in someone's collection. The commons are almost always readily available so one can get those any time. However, if one happens upon exceptional examples of the commons, it would be wise to snap them up.

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