Anybody ever sold everything?
FadeToBlack
Posts: 7,847 ✭✭✭✭✭
...And regret it later? I'd imagine I'm getting a bit of... non-confirmation bias by posting here because you're obviously still interested in coins if you're here.
No, I'm not thinking about selling out or losing interest, just interested in other viewpoints on this. It's crossed my mind at a couple junctures (sell everything and buy a handful of super-nice coins) but I have always ended up writing it off as irrational and too costly.
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Yes I have, and only once in a great while regret selling my Walker collection, which was assembled over a 15 year period.
no what i sell it's mostly stuff that i don't need or want, so there is no regrets about selling them
2003-Present
I did in sportscards in the course of two auctions. They were 6 figure consignments and I did well but I do miss the action and the cards . I regret it but it was the right thing to do. I did it go pave the way for some home remodeling and coins
mark
Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
I often think about when the time comes, and I am fairly close to retirement, or something else where I need the money, if I would ever sell everything off to get there quicker. I am nowhere near that point yet, so maybe I won't have to, who knows.
I've been glad that I've sold the vast majority of the things I've sold. There are a couple of things I regret, but with declining prices I could still buy something similar for the same or less money than I sold it for.
IG: DeCourcyCoinsEbay: neilrobertson
"Numismatic categorizations, if left unconstrained, will increase spontaneously over time." -me
I sometimes do consider selling a majority, maybe 90% or so of my holdings. I go back and forth with this so much it drives me crazy
I've definitely thought about this since I drool over 5 figure coins and it would be my only path to owning one but it's so expensive to sell coins and when I start going through what I have it's a lot of "can't let that one go, not this one either, this one maybe - wait no there's only 100 higher at PCGS not that one..." type stuff.
I'm only 32 so I have a long time frame I figure I'll just hold onto everything for awhile and when I complete a set here and there maybe sell it off for a couple high value coins at that time.
That said if I could chop 5 years off my working life like your situation it would be easier for me to let go of most everything.
Yes I have sold a few of my beautiful pieces that I later very much regretted it. Now, I don't like selling anything as I love my collection and I'm hoping my son will carry the torch when I'm gone.
I'm in the process of slowly doing this now... So far I regret none of my sales but there are a few purchases that I regret.
Great thread topic, something for us all to ponder for a moment
Successful transactions with : MICHAELDIXON, Manorcourtman, Bochiman, bolivarshagnasty, AUandAG, onlyroosies, chumley, Weiss, jdimmick, BAJJERFAN, gene1978, TJM965, Smittys, GRANDAM, JTHawaii, mainejoe, softparade, derryb, Ricko
Bad transactions with : nobody to date
Not everything, but I did sell my Peace set. Value-wise, it was roughly 50% of my collection. It is currently being transformed into a nice home addition that no doubt we will enjoy more. Made a small profit. Made the wife happy. Still have the memories of the hunt, relationships with great dealers, and excellent photos. Win-win.
I sold 90% of my coins over a two year period. I have never regretted doing so as it provided the extra $$ which allowed us to move full time to an area where we had vacationed for some 20 years.
Sold all of my record albums 2 decades ago when I moved across the country. Miss them but not enough to buy a turntable and replace them.
I did once when I was 18. (Now 52) I needed to buy an engagement ring and other things necessary for marriage. If I only knew back then what I know now. I just wish I remembered exactly what I had and sold. I do remember a set of Morgans that were in a family for 3 generations, that I got from a kid who inherited them. I got them real cheap! I sold them real cheap. The payout to me was a couple grand from some random coin dealer in Chicago.
Now that I think about it, I am glad I don't remember what I sold!
I sold off 90% of my coins by value in 2015. Kept the very nicest ones. I miss a couple of the coins, but wish I had sold off even more while I had the consignments going in. Very good timing as these coins have tumbled 20%+ since then. Invested the money in acreage that we'll build on next year, so overall I'm pleased.
My wife and I are in the process of buying a piece of land to build a house on. We are paying cash and have had to sell of a few coins in order for us to get there. I don't regret selling any of them. None of them were earth shattering buy my box of 20 has taken a pretty big hit.
Never have but probably should. At least some of the less interesting and some dreck.
Successful Trades: Swampboy,
Nope !!!
Nope. Never looked back
Had to sell my Dansco Lincoln Cent collection. I meticulously put it together coin by coin. All the Keys....just about finishing up on the more common ones at the time.
It broke my heart.
Pete
Yes.
Yes, medical bills.
bob
No. I have to keep some junk for my children to go through when I'm dead.
Multiple times
I sold a good amount of my collection between 1993-1995 to relieve my Mothers financial worries when my Father was battling cancer.
I had sellers remorse on some which generally kicked in 3 months after being sold.
I did. I regretted selling a couple of the pieces. One in particular I'd love to have back.
Great transactions with oih82w8, JasonGaming, Moose1913.
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If you're not maxing out your retirement contributions already, then that's worth considering. If this hypothetical additional retirement savings would be in non tax advantaged accounts, then I'd view the coins as just another asset class that may or may not appreciate over your investment timeframe. Keep in mind your 'investment' is in them is already a sunk cost. The question is whether to sell now, or later.
Something something something time value of money...
To buy my first house, yup. No regrets.
I remember in the late 1960's I think that a certain prominent LA dealer bought EVERYTHING a certain Pacific NW dealer owned, coins, car, clothes and even his girl friend went in the deal.
The coin business has had camp followers and groupies, but I don' think I've ever heard that story.
My one coin collecting interest for the last 15 years or so has been modern errors. I once owned over 1000 coins. For the last few years I have maintained a "box of 20" that was never totally full, but close. Within the last couple of years it has been whittled down, and as I type this I have just 3, and am willing to sell 2 of them. So, I could soon have a "collection" of just 1.
I have no regrets, for now.
I haven't sold yet. I'm looking at age 65 to bail, 20 more years. Maybe the bullion, prob not the coins, looks like they're going down with the ship, haha, maybe not. It's about having options. I was just looking at some of mine yesterday and what I saw made me want to buy more, not less. Be looking at Atlas Numismatics later tonight.
I don't think I operate from the side of the brain that cares what the money pencils out to be.
Sold all my baseball cards a couple of years ago. Over six thousand cards. Only got a fraction of what I was offered for them when baseball cards were "hot." No regrets. I did keep my special stuff. As a kid I wrote letters to baseball players who played during the 1890's and early 1900's. Those guys were great. The letters and little tokens that they sent to me are priceless. I have them and will never part with any of it. Anybody ever heard of Al Bridwell, " Wahoo Sam" Crawford, or Zack Wheat? They don't make ''em like those guys anymore. Real gentlemen.
Interesting perspective.
Retired years ago... still have my coins.... not planning to sell....
Cheers, RickO
I sold most of my raw stuff for higher grade certified coins but that's about it.
I don't plan to sell my core coins anytime soon.
Sometimes, it’s better to be LUCKY than good. 🍀 🍺👍
My Full Walker Registry Set (1916-1947):
https://www.ngccoin.com/registry/competitive-sets/16292/
I sold all of my coins twice to fund business start-ups...I have more coins now and some better like my Barber half set, but I can likely never afford to replace what I sold back then. XF-AU set of seated halves, XF+ date run of Bust $, etc. I put a lot of my copper sets back together, but not in the grades of my old sets. If I'd known then what I know now, I would have found a way to borrow the money and not sell.
If I have any inclination about @ricko 's work ethic, I bet he works more being 'retired' than most 'full time' workers **work **now a days
JMO
Successful transactions with : MICHAELDIXON, Manorcourtman, Bochiman, bolivarshagnasty, AUandAG, onlyroosies, chumley, Weiss, jdimmick, BAJJERFAN, gene1978, TJM965, Smittys, GRANDAM, JTHawaii, mainejoe, softparade, derryb, Ricko
Bad transactions with : nobody to date
@1630Boston .... Well... kind of true... although I loved my career before retiring..... between consulting now, teaching at a state certified firearms school, and hobbies.... yes... I often wonder where I found the time to work at work.
Cheers, RickO
FTB, only 2 points to add from a standpoint of if it was me. 1)If you hang onto the coins no doubt you will be able to sell them when you retire. The value/market for them by then is the unknown. If the market is "hot" for what you have,well you strike, as the proverb states "while the iron is hot". 2)But more importantly what price/value can you put on time and your physical/mental health of working those extra 5 years. Stress to your body/mind during those 5 years, are the coins worth that? You can never regain the wear/tear to your body/mind, especially as you age. Regeneration is not in the cards. Nor the lost time working those extra years. The key being TIME. Coins can be replaced. Time never. Who knows, by then you may have moved on to different interests, and the coin collecting that you thought you might have missed may be far away in the the rear view mirror of life. Good luck on your quest.
Depressing, but true!
I've sold many of my collections over the years. I only regret selling two of them, being NJ colonials and 1877 pattern half dollars. I regret selling them because, in retrospect, their availability and values would have made them great, perhaps completable, lifetime projects within my means. Everything else was either too easy, too hard, too cheap or too expensive.
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.