77 Yr Old Collector leaving hobby shares advice (Hint: One piece of advise is very clear.....)

carew4me

numismaticnews.net/article/viewpoint-collector-leaving-hobby-shares-advice

Some good points of advice but one theme he hammers:

• Do not purchase anything from the United States Mint

• The U.S. Mint manufactures coins and commemoratives in such huge quantities that they are essentially worthless

• Personal safety deposit boxes and dealer shelves are overflowing with U.S. Mint items that will never come close to selling at their original issue price

mkman123

Well this is pretty much true except for some things like the 2009 UHR for example

1630Boston

Thanks for the article

ricko

For the most part, very sound advice. Cheers, RickO

derryb

Unless you're gonna hold for 100+ years or buy in bulk and grade/flip while they're hot, mint offerings are a bad investment. I did once catch the Jamaican mint selling Bob Marley gold coins for less than US spot; backed up the truck.

abcde12345

The special 2006 double stamped reverse imaged silver eagles were cool too and gained a lot of flipping power quickly and were super charged on eBay, tripling the flips original cost.

piecesofme

@abcde12345 said:
The special 2006 double stamped reverse imaged silver eagles were cool too and gained a lot of flipping power quickly and were super charged on eBay, tripling the flips original cost.

There's always a few exceptions, but you still take a chance in doing so.

jmski52

Well, there's collecting and there's investing, and then there's speculating. I do some collecting and speculating. I'm not sure how I would even characterize "investing" when it comes to coins.

Indeed, the market has changed in the past 15 years. It once was true that you could depend on a significant collector base to shore up your speculations (especially in bullion coins) from the Mint. Not so much anymore. The question is really whether the market is simply in a low point in the cycle, and whether it will morph back into something similar to its former self. Or not.

Depending on your time horizon, I tend to think that the cyclical view is more representative. To me, this means that collecting isn't dead and that premiums will eventually re-form around some of the low mintage coins in each series. This is contingent on whether the Mint actually kills the collecting market entirely with too many trivial issues and varieties. The odds on that one are about 50:50.

I'm still debating a collection of low premium modern gold commems, or maybe the Queen's Beasts series in BU. I might even take a swing at the gold spouses, pending a review of what the premiums are for 69 coins.

With all of the private mints, and a market full of bars and rounds, and the official mints all competing with new designs, it's not a bad time to pick & choose what you like in the world of bullion collecting.

cohodk

Very, very, very few collectibles make good investments. Be thankful that our little hobby offers a rare reprieve on occasion.

Baley

@cohodk said:
Very, very, very few collectibles make good investments. Be thankful that our little hobby offers a rare reprieve on occasion.

Generally, that's very true about "made for collectors" collectibles. Actual, real old coins, and other antique (and charming) everyday items that by some miracle survived, tend to hold and appreciate in value more than mass-produced crap that suffers very little attrition.