Coin collecting!
PTVETTER
Posts: 5,995 ✭✭✭✭✭
I view coin collectIng as a hobby NOT a money making venture!
If you are ONLY. Interested in making money then you are not a coin collector.
Your thoughts?
Pat Vetter,Mercury Dime registry set,1938 Proof set registry,Pat & BJ Coins:724-325-7211
2
Comments
Granted, but many coin collectors hope it is NOT a money LOSING venture
Absolutely. If I want to invest, US coin investment is in the bottom of my investment list
What about the intensely serious collector who turns pro?
I have always been amazed how many spend $5000.00 to $10000.00 on vacations.
Come home with a tee shirt and a phone full photos.
I may not make money on my coin collections but I enjoyed the ride and still doing it!
That's great. But there's a difference between 'only being interested in making money' and 'being interested in not losing a lot of money'.
Most middle class people would not be happy if a $200 coin is worth $100 5 years after they bought it, regardless of the pleasure they derived from owning it. As baseball said, there has to be a hope that coins will be a decent store of value. If there isn't, it limits the field of potential new collectors.
As for +$1000 coins, I would have loved to buy some but after discussing the issue with a lot of pros (probably 30+) I decided that the investment potential just isn't there for someone at a beginner level. Maybe top level dealers who know the markets and have well-heeled clients could invest but I can't. This weakens the market for +$1000 coins because although I could participate, I decided not to.
I love Gettysburg, so much history.
There is just something about that battle I can't get information about.
Being retired from the military and some of my experience keep drawing my back!
There should be a thread about that and the commemeritive half dollar
Why not collect and try to make money? I am not talking about supporting your family but maybe a little extra to upgrade a coin. I have upgraded coins in my collection and when I sell the coin being replaced I always try break even or possibly turn a profit. Although lately I have been keeping everything. Not sure how long I will be able to keep that up!
All I ever do is make money and I collect coins too. I don't get the connection.
...I started off just buying and slabbing for my own collection...I slowly sold most everything off on eBay, but I still buy about a coin per week just for fun...crack it and send it back to PCGS to test my skills (after a batch accumulates)...then sell them off to collectors one at a time on the bay...90% widgets but it's fun for me...none of my family or friends think it's fun or cool so I assume anyone in my position would have to hold a love for coins to keep wasting so much time and money with them...I consistently lose money on eBay selling most coins but some hit a nice profit to help make up for lost wages (USPS, PCGS, CAC, VIG)...it's all about the Action for me...I also sell coins that I would have bought when I was putting together my set...best appearance for the grade and usually the grade right before a price jump.
The Key: I consistently lose money buying and selling most coins...and I'm happy as ever doing so...I suppose I really am a middle-man-collector...I can think of 20 different things to park money on for better appreciation than coins...but all 20 aren't cooler by any means to me
I am a collector but whenever I am roaming the aisles of a coin show or looking on e-Bay I am simultaneously looking for coins for my collection and coins that I can resell for a profit (to buy more coins).
+1
I am strictly an amateur collector...I have the body bags to prove it
Me too. I never think about making money in connection with my coin buying. I just figure I am making money when I buy a coin. Like everything else I do. Like everything I've ever done. Since I was a little kid. Just comes natural to me. That's why I'm so fabulously wealthy now.
Before I buy any coin,token,bullion etc. will I be able to resell it tomorrow for at least 90% of today's price? If not,I'm paying too much and not buying "right". No one has a crystal ball but with some experience and due diligence , a profit is likely. There are times when I know I'm paying too much but buy anyway .
Those times are rare
Few here are "only" interested in making money on coins. Many dealers have extensive personal collections.
Interested in:
Money only = investor
Coins with no loss or a gain of money = collector
I
Fan of the Oxford Comma
CCAC Representative of the General Public
2021 Young Numismatist of the Year
I think part of collecting is taking pride in knowing you own some special item that is valuable. Our perception of value can be measured in many ways, but monetary value can and never should be just thrown out the window for the sake of being known as a "true collector." I have overpaid many times for something I needed for my collection, knowing I needed to act decisively to avoid losing an opportunity that might not repeat itself. But I didn't blow the family's grocery money in the process. And I hope that when it comes time to sell, someone else finds the same "value" in the items I stretched for.
Dead Cat Waltz Exonumia
"Coin collecting for outcasts..."
This was meant to be funny as I work for my money and I make money doing so. Now, coins is what I collect. I know it's left up to the reader, but I really wasn't trying to be too flip.
I'm an avid collector as well as an avid cherrypicker. I thoroughly enjoy collecting coins but it doesn't hurt to make a few bucks cherrypicking, too, not only with doubled dies and such but also with undergraded and high color coins. I have a tendency, tho, to keep much of what I cherrypick. My heirs will benefit from that.
This is exactly how I look at it also.
Donato
Donato's Complete US Type Set ---- Donato's Dansco 7070 Modified Type Set ---- Donato's Basic U.S. Coin Design Set
Successful transactions: Shrub68 (Jim), MWallace (Mike)
Pat, I just got back from a trip to Quebec. Before I left, I completed a basic French course involving a book and CDs, was in Montreal for a few days, then rented a car for two weeks and drove roughly 1,200 miles through the province, picking up more French along the way. I have about 500 pics on my full frame digital DSLR camera, which I will put onto my computer, edit, and then onto a flash drive for backup.
Between the people I met and communicated with in a new language, what I saw and what I did, I got more out of that trip than I have gotten out of numismatics in the last year. I am not slamming out hobby, but different people place different value on different activities at different times of their lives.
I am old, and this has been a new, exciting, entertaining learning experience for me. I always want to continue growing, and I find to do that, I have to get out of my comfort zone. I have been collecting coins for many years; finding a new coin for my collection, regardless of how difficult is for me to find such a coin, is not out of my comfort zone
"Seu cabra da peste,
"Sou Mangueira......."
What REALLY HURTS is when you sit down with a major auction co VP and give him copious information and details regarding a rare five figure value coin.....and the SOB ignores it ALL, miscatalogs the coin, and you lose Eight Thousand Dollars. That sickened me, physically, tears and vomit. NOW, you guys see how much money I throw into coins.....hardly any. They slaughtered my interest. Period.
i'm a part time coin dealer and collector, i see no real issues with being both at once
1997-present
I am a collector... have been for many years. Coins I purchased decades ago may - or may not - be worth more now than I paid. I stack gold and silver.... and have for decades... now that I consider investment. My coins are a hobby, never sold one....do not really care about value. I do not intend to sell my coins. I purchased coins with my fun money, so therefore I do not consider it an investment or a loss. Cheers, RickO
Pat, here's how i see it...collectors/investors are interchangeable if one removes emotion out of the equation.
However, numismatists are different. One can say QDB was a numismatist, he acquired pieces for edification, study, history, pleasure of collecting, and the thrill of the chase of acquiring something rare or unique. Sure, his pieces will be sold eventually (as some of his tokens are coming up for sale soon), but his motivation for acquisition of pieces was not financially driven as a primary reason.
So I would refine your statement to say...
"I view numismatics as a hobby, NOT only a money making venture. If you're primary interest in acquiring coins is to ONLY make money, then you would probably not be categorized as a numismatist."
Maybe buying coins is a losing market... but as someone addicted to getting new packages in the mail, it's still a better return than a lot of the stuff I would buy otherwise!
Rare coins are a much more interesting and enjoyable place to park some money than a bank or stock funds.
You rent a storefront and scrawl WE BUY GOLD on a piece of cardboard and I'll state categorically that you will have a VERY good return on your ....investment.
But think of the enormous savings account interest you will be missing.