Collecting for Free

stevereecy · June 28, 2017 6:25PM

Hey gang,

I've realized I'm doing something and I thought I'd share: I'm a long time collector, and I'm finding that I have enough coins that I can potentially collect forever without putting another cent of my "butter and eggs money" into it. How is that possible? Well, I've found I have so many coins that I have been running across new coins (or currency) that I forgot I even owned. While it's cool to run across stuff like that, clearly the items I find aren't that important to me (otherwise I wouldn't have forgotten them). So what I've been doing is selling stuff that I care less about, and then buying things I like that can get a good deal on. Since there aren't too many things that both (a.) appeal to me and (b.) I can get a good deal on, it really slows down my purchases. However, when I make a purchase, it occurs to me that when I do sell that coin later...since I took a profit when I bought it...I can either buy a nicer coin at a bargain price by reinvesting my profit, or I can buy more comparable coins (like one and a fraction).

I mean think about it. Pretend that there was a certain series of coins that you could sometimes buy for $80 and sometimes sell for $100. There's enough wiggle room there to collect them perpetually as long as you sold as often as you bought. And selling isn't painful if your collection is large.

Now I know, that some people might find this objectionable, but it could be a solution for someone on a fixed income, or someone like me who has a bunch of ungrateful kids in braces who will need college soon, etc. Provided your collection is large enough, there really isn't a reason to stop buying when funds are tight as long as you are disciplined about what you buy and as long as you're willing to sell once in a while.

Thoughts? Tweeks?

Steve

GoldenEgg · June 28, 2017 6:29PM

That sounds more like dealing than collecting.

yosclimber · June 28, 2017 6:38PM

I've definitely rediscovered and cherrypicked from my own collection, so I'm with you on that.
Finding coins you can resell for a short term profit is difficult in a market where prices are declining, though.
If you are talking about holding long term and selling for more than you bought the coin for,
that might still lose money when you factor in opportunity cost (foregone interest).
Usually we collectors buy at retail and sell at wholesale, so it's not a profit making operation.
You might not make money, but if you buy and sell wisely (instead of leaving it to your heirs to sell) you should lose less money than spending your spare cash on, say, lottery tickets.

stevereecy · June 28, 2017 7:34PM

@GoldenEgg said:
That sounds more like dealing than collecting.

I guess so, but many of us collectors buy and sell. I'm just saying that if you pair the sales and buys and then buy carefully you can avoid spending money.

Yosclimber does make a good point that this wouldn't work in a declining market if you hold a long time. I guess as long as you "took your profit when you bought the coin", you'd be OK if you kept your holding time short enough to where your profit didn't completely evaporate.

Steve

BruceS · June 28, 2017 7:51PM

I don't think you would define it as dealing. collectors sell dups and lower graded stuff all the time, to get an upgrade here and fill a hole there, its part of collecting for most of us. I think it's a good stragety if you don't have any attachment to them or they don't fit in with your current sets.

Dealers buy with the sole purpose of resale for-profit. Most of the time.

ricko · June 29, 2017 5:40AM

That sounds like many collectors here...It borders on dealing, without the official title or store....I have not tried it... I just like my coins too much. I did find some I had totally forgotten about last week when I was looking for something else.... Surprised me... Dang, I have a lot of coins...Cheers, RickO

Collecting for Free

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