Down to just 21 coins now

Catbert · February 4, 2019 9:49AM

Looked at my collection recently and felt with satisfaction that every coin is a winner to me. Current value per coin ranging from around $200 to $3000. I have:

14 U.S. type coins
6 Conder tokens
1 C.A.R reale

Would I like to own other meaningful coins? Of course, but I don't feel a compelling need to grow imy collection much. My collection doesn't feel burdensome (either in terms of size or value).

I realize that I'm likely not the typical collector who likes to own lots of coins including mint products and bullion. Is there anyone here who has taken a similar approach (less is more)? I'd like to know your thoughts. Others can certainly chime in to tell me I'm crazy.

1630Boston · February 4, 2019 10:00AM

Congrats @Catbert
I'm at about sixty coins trying to get down to 48.

48 = 1 forty coin set and 2 four coin sets.

Downtown1974 · February 4, 2019 11:51AM

I agree with you. Less clutter and can be easily transported if need be.

DIMEMAN · February 4, 2019 1:16PM

I'm around 600 and growing!

bobsr · February 4, 2019 1:48PM

After buying and selling a lot of coins, I travel in a Motor Home. I took with me all my low to mid end coins and left the pricey ones in an SDB. After a year traveling, I came to the conclusion I was going to reduce my footprint. Most of the coins were avg run of the mil, I lost money on every sale. I broke even or slightly won on all sales of mid range coins. I made good profit on all upper range that I sold. Anything I put up in upper range went within minutes. Mid and lower range took days to weeks. Conclusion, Reduce everything to a box of 20, hold my money and let it build to buy better coins. I have seen coins exactly like some of mine that I paid 3000 for go for close to 5000 in the last few months. Better coins are appearing in much lesser quantity in last 6 months.
Conclusion:
Buy better coins for future investments, and don't worry about profit/ loss on what I collect for fun.
Bob Sr CEO Fieldtechs

CCGGG · February 4, 2019 2:18PM

There was a time when I thought quantity was the way to go, now I'm much more focused on the coins I really like (took me years to figure that out) and I much prefer quality. I probably have less than 10% the number of coins I once had.

ReadyFireAim · February 4, 2019 3:23PM

21 also (18 plus 3 dups I need to get rid of)

SimpleCollector · February 4, 2019 6:19PM

Many times, “less is more” is an evolution, and it can also come and go...for me, first it was accumulate US type coins, then that lead to learning which coins I liked, which lead to buying much nicer type coins, which eventually lead to selling any that I didn’t absolutely love... for true keepers, I now need to either love the coin or love the story about how I obtained the coin/history. Which has lead me to sell all my raw and duplicate slabbed coins to focus solely on a typed slab set...however as those holes become harder to fill, I have ventured to civil war patriotic tokens. I am purchasing many more tokens than I will keep, but the price is low and the learning is fun...I fully anticipate I will sell many of these and only keep a few that I love...then it will be onto the next step of the journey.

BustDMs · February 4, 2019 6:35PM

442/453

mirabela · February 4, 2019 6:53PM

My collection has around 150 items in it, but I admire and agree with your basic principle. These days I buy one really nice thing each year and sell more than that; I do pick up bullion with more or less leftover lunch money when I can do so advantageously, but in general the coin collection shrinks.

toyz4geo · February 4, 2019 6:59PM

I really need to do that.

JimTyler · February 4, 2019 7:02PM

I've got 2 but 2 good ones, Flowing Hair $ NGC VF25 and a NGC MS61CAC Type 2 $20. Too old to keep buying.

astrorat · February 4, 2019 7:04PM

@BustDMs said:
442/453

441/453 ... although I don't really count the additional '3' ... so it's 441/450

Musky1011 · February 4, 2019 7:05PM

Working on Dansco Dollar Date set 1878-
My 100 years before birth 1861 set
That is it
Well under 50 coins total

BustDMs · February 4, 2019 7:08PM

@astrorat said:

@BustDMs said:
442/453

441/453 ... although I don't really count the additional '3' ... so it's 441/450

Congratulations.

Where do you stand on your next set?

Walkerfan · February 4, 2019 7:11PM

I have between 80 and 90.

My collection hasn't diminished but the frequency with which I now purchase has.

Just a couple more that I'm searching for to finish my set.

I'm also leisurely buying Morgans and Standing liberty quarters. I'll pick up a nice Franklin, when I see it, too.

Yorkshireman · February 4, 2019 7:33PM

I agree with the idea.
Run of the mill coins will always be replaceable.
Buy something that is hard to find.

Hallco · February 4, 2019 8:05PM

I'm definitely in the less is more mentality after basically starting over. At one point I probably had over 300 coins...95% of it was just "Stuff". I started over with 2 and am at 14 items at the moment for what I am considering my "real" collection:

4 Mercury Dimes
7 Morgan Dollars
1 Peace Dollar
1 Daniel Carr item
1 Collectible Silver Bar

U1chicago · February 4, 2019 8:55PM

I've been inspired by the multiple box of 20 threads and am also working on minimizing....
maybe I'll settle on one box of 20 for each tpg...

Timbuk3 · February 5, 2019 2:42AM

I'm sorry, but I'm still buying !!!

lava · February 5, 2019 3:33AM

You have six too many. Sell me your Conder Tokens and make your life even simpler.

ricko · February 5, 2019 8:21AM

In my younger years, I collected/accumulated many, many coins. Some are sets, many are individuals. Slabbed and raw. Mint and proof sets too. Some years back (a decade or two) I became more selective.... that selectivity has become more and more focused. Special coins, coins that make me stop and think 'WOW'... are now what gets me to open my wallet. Of course, I have not sold any coins... so I still have this large collection of coins that spans the mundane to marvelous spectrum. Cheers, RickO

Walkerguy21D · February 5, 2019 8:54AM

I've been selling a lot more than buying the past few years, not counting junk silver.
And I still have way too many coins.

I hope to someday just get down to my large cents, walkers, and type set....and maybe my Buffalos, and Canadian tokens, and early Spanish/Latin American material.....and large size currency.....oh who am I kidding!!

Soldi · February 5, 2019 8:58AM

The box of twenty seems to me to be a box of only "the best" and only "wow" coins. I personally, and I said; "I" personally just don't get it. There is something that bothers me about it. I think I can make a box of twenty, then of course I'd have so many other coins that have a meaning to me.
Perhaps the box of twenty is the future of coin collecting, No fifty states no Standing Liberty Quarters sets, no twentieth century type sets, no Franklin half dollars.
Just like Eliasberg he limited himself to one of every date and mint mark. <<<<<<<<<<<<<---think! That doesn't say every coin

TradesWithChops · February 5, 2019 9:00AM

I have a trade dollar with chopmarks set. - and a few gifted coins for birthdays that are mostly low-quality morgan dollars. That puts me at 43 coins in my minor variety collection + 1 ex-Rose coin.

https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/showcase/3058

TradesWithChops · February 5, 2019 9:03AM

@Soldi said:
The box of twenty seems to me to be a box of only "the best" and only "wow" coins. I personally, and I said; "I" personally just don't get it. There is something that bothers me about it. I think I can make a box of twenty, then of course I'd have so many other coins that have a meaning to me.
Perhaps the box of twenty is the future of coin collecting, No fifty states no Standing Liberty Quarters sets, no twentieth century type sets, no Franklin half dollars.
Just like Eliasberg he limited himself to one of every date and mint mark. <<<<<<<<<<<<<---think! That doesn't say every coin

The box of 20 is just a set-idea like any other set idea. You can do it, and do other sets too. If you limit yourself to just the 20-coin set, okay. You could just as easily limit yourself to a date/mm Peace dollar set.

What, specifically, bothers you about any collection/this one? I literally understand 0% of what you're talking about.

U1chicago · February 5, 2019 9:09AM

@Soldi said:
The box of twenty seems to me to be a box of only "the best" and only "wow" coins. I personally, and I said; "I" personally just don't get it. There is something that bothers me about it. I think I can make a box of twenty, then of course I'd have so many other coins that have a meaning to me.
Perhaps the box of twenty is the future of coin collecting, No fifty states no Standing Liberty Quarters sets, no twentieth century type sets, no Franklin half dollars.
Just like Eliasberg he limited himself to one of every date and mint mark. <<<<<<<<<<<<<---think! That doesn't say every coin

Like mentioned above, one can have a box of 20 (or 40 or whatever number you like) as their best coins/main collection. Then you can branch off and have side sets with other coins (like a raw album).

Soldi · February 5, 2019 11:06AM

@TradesWithChops said:

@Soldi said:
The box of twenty seems to me to be a box of only "the best" and only "wow" coins. I personally, and I said; "I" personally just don't get it. There is something that bothers me about it. I think I can make a box of twenty, then of course I'd have so many other coins that have a meaning to me.
Perhaps the box of twenty is the future of coin collecting, No fifty states no Standing Liberty Quarters sets, no twentieth century type sets, no Franklin half dollars.
Just like Eliasberg he limited himself to one of every date and mint mark. <<<<<<<<<<<<<---think! That doesn't say every coin

The box of 20 is just a set-idea like any other set idea. You can do it, and do other sets too. If you limit yourself to just the 20-coin set, okay. You could just as easily limit yourself to a date/mm Peace dollar set.

What, specifically, bothers you about any collection/this one? I literally understand 0% of what you're talking about.

I am sorry that you did not understand and I think "0%" is a rude remark. It was not my sentence structure that threw you off. Try reading the above listed postings prior to mine, focus and you might see that I interpret the box of (20) to mean that the posts/posters are vying to whittle down their collections to only twenty coins. Look at Ricko's response for clarity, as even he posts about how many coins his collection consists of.
I know this is old school, but perhaps you could try "hooked on phonics" Warm Regards, Michael

SmEagle1795 · February 5, 2019 12:25PM

I'm always trying to balance quality/quantity. I just "consolidated" 20 run-of-the-mill but nice coins into one super tough coin. The notion of a box of 20 doesn't necessarily mean exactly 20 coins (although some treat it as that: one in, one out) but a broader focus on buying fewer, better pieces.

Unknown · February 5, 2019 12:31PM

This content has been removed.

savitale · February 5, 2019 7:40PM

If price appreciation is most important to you, definitely focus on a small number of high quality coins as you seem to be doing. To me, it is more satisfying to complete an entire series and my budget doesn’t allow me to do that with high end examples. So I’ve gone the other way with a couple hundred mid range coins in complete sets.

Down to just 21 coins now

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