Hypothetical: A fresh start...
MrEureka
Posts: 24,419 ✭✭✭✭✭
Imagine that you sold everything and are starting fresh. For the foreseeable future, you expect to have no money to spend on coins beyond $200 a week in disposable income. What will you collect, and why?
Andy Lustig
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
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With a small budget and big collecting dreams, ide go for everyman's sets.
Lincoln's
Jefferson's
Roosevelt's
Ect.
It would be nice to see an abundance of coins coming in working within that budget.
The Everyman $2.5 indian set would still sadly be out of reach, but I can see turning this into a game seeing which set I could complete on the budget.
Keys would be damaged or holed probably
It's all about what the people want...
Within those constraints, I’d probably focus on Walkers. To be honest, there would be some risk of losing interest in the hobby. It’s fun to slowly transition to nicer coins as one’s budget increases. Going the other way might be tough.
I sold and put the money in the bank, I have been contemplating a beach house or a classic car. Cash is king so I’ll take my time.
11.5$ Southern Dollars, The little “Big Easy” set
Or just save the 200.00 income weekly and buy an expensive coin when you're able.
Same as what I collect now- whatever catches my interest. My preference is for coins that have some sort of a story involved, like Great Britain's 1745 Lima coinage or Mexico's reduced size Zapata 1915 1 and 2 centavos.
Patriotic CWT and/or old generic gold (liberty 1/2 eagles routinely go for very little over spot).
Patriotic CWT because there are abundant slabbed and also abu dang raw pieces, andmany are very affordable, but as you delve into it, there are some very rare pieces (one just went for almost $2k in a recent HA) auction. So you can set a stretch goal. Also, the masses have not yet drifted into this arena.
Old gold at bullion/spot pricing because, you can try to collect dates, if you get bored, it’s really just bullion. Sell the coins and move onto something new like crypto crypto described ( vacation home down payment or big person toy)
Your scenario is very similar to mine, and you have my answer. I am down to just my cc Morgan’s and about 15 key coins that I like, ever other type coin has been sold.
I buy lots of different things but with only $200 per week and a desire to do series I would start with absolutely rare with good return to rare to less rare but looks good and is fun.
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+1000%
A lot of truth in this statement and one which I don't believe many long time collectors or those with a bigger budget than most don't fully appreciate. I believe a noticeable proportion would quit altogether.
I actually did that about 10 or 11 years ago. Sold all of it. The collection I was attempting was too big of an undertaking both in cost and size. I was attempting a U.S. type set of every type of coin, one example from every mint, and an example of each variety (Not die varieties. I mean intentional issues like arrows & no arrows, or arrows and rays).
A number of years later I wanted to jump back in and decided the series I enjoyed the most was half dimes. I found the intricacy of their artwork intriguing along with them being part of our earliest coinage. My budget wasn't a problem since I didn't necessarily buy something each month or even every several months. There were only a couple of pieces I used credit for since I knew such examples fitting my price range may not be seen a long time if ever.
Great transactions with oih82w8, JasonGaming, Moose1913.
If my coin budget were $200 per week, that's noticeably more than I spend now. If my collection budget were a low fraction of this amount, probably a type set of what I collect now in lower quality, to the extent I can find it.
1) Anything silver
2) Anything with a classic design (1840s -1940s)
3) Circulated grades VF-AU.
3) Any coin design that when the coin circulates you get that great two-tone cameo effect.
Factoring in world coins, there would be a whole universe to choose from. Since I don't really care to set build per se, pricey key dates in any series can simply be ignored.
If I had the money I spent on coins back I would try to go around and buy the same ones again. There are a few instances that I let one get away or pass on that I wish I had bought and would like to have those shots back, but otherwise, I think this is a good indicator that I’m in the right pieces for me. 200 a week would take me 3-4 times longer to amass the collection again though.
Back to gem Lincoln’s with color, Fugios and large cents, interesting Foreign, mining history and related ore bodies, collectible bullion, civil war tokens and cast satirical medals from WW1 mostly.
I’m going nuts buying cap&ray 8 reales .😄
I give away money. I collect money.
I don’t love money . I do love the Lord God.
Type set or Walkers sound nice. Peace dollars could work as well.
Nice and accessible and rarities aren't too far of a reach on that budget.
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If I sold everything and started over, I would likely do things much the same... Poke along on a set of Kennedy halves, add the occasional Franklin....and buy coins that attracted me due to history, art or quality.... Cheers, RickO
I started with nothing, so I would do the exact same thing.
Use my knowledge to buy and flip, buy and flip, buy and flip, on and on and on ......
$200 per week is more than $10,000 per year. For me that's a pretty generous budget. I would probably do a type set; maybe six or seven years to complete though a couple pieces would require two years of saving which would be hard. I might do a really nice Buffalo Nickel set instead.
A more challenging situation would be $200 per month. On that budget I would build an attractive set of Peace Dollars in AU55-ish. It could be completed in less than a year. It would be beautiful, fun, and I could buy coins frequently enough that it wouldn't get frustrating.
LIBERTY SEATED DIMES WITH MAJOR VARIETIES CIRCULATION STRIKES (1837-1891) digital album
Generous budget for me too.
Really fun and interesting world coins, medals, tokens, papermoney, anything cool in the budget.
Working on downsizing my coin holdings to buy some more farmland. So far, so good.
Red brown Indian cents in 63-65
The medals I'm collecting fit within that budget. There are other areas of collecting interest, not all numismatic, that don't require a big budget. However, I would stop collecting US federal coins - I've been spoiled.
I would collect exonumia from places which are connected to my life in some way...hometown, places I’ve lived, etc.
I could buy the best and rarest pieces on that budget provided I could find them and I could actually be the best at something which provided an intrinsic personal connection to my collection.
Latin American Collection
I'd buy liberty head gold eagles and double Eagles in XF to AU and maybe a common Saint or two in 63 or 64.
Sometimes, it’s better to be LUCKY than good. 🍀 🍺👍
My Full Walker Registry Set (1916-1947):
https://www.ngccoin.com/registry/competitive-sets/16292/
This is an interesting question. $200 a week wouldn't excite me in regards to US colonials or anything federal. I would focus on foreign coins that circulated in 17th and 18th century colonial America. There are a lot of different avenues to take, the challenge being finding coins that look nice.
Bust half dimes, dimes, quarters or halves are really nice in that price range plus you can cherry pick die varieties after buying the books on the series.
old world coins. So much history and so many types
Edited (not that anyone is reading this, but I had more time to think)
First I would document better! Keep an up to date database with photos/reciepts etc!
Ancients (perhaps verge into medieval)
7070 (US type, which I'm sure you all know)
7010 (World Crowns, an open set that has slots of the standard 'crown' sizes and you pick)
7460 (Japan Type, which I've already done)
OFEC (one from every country)
Oddly enough, this is actually where my current activities are drifting...though my Japan coins are more extensive than a type set these days (and I've replicated it with nicer slabbed coins).
I'm about to buy the crown album.
I have a 7070 that is about 40% done and I do buy ancients.
I abandoned the OFEC a long time ago as it was too hard to 1. define 'country' to include and 2. it was too hard to focus. My initial attempt was using the 1901-2000 Krause to define my country list. But who can just get ONE Albanian coin??! Not me and I now have a nearly complete set of (non-proof/prova) Zog coins.
I'd just be jettisoning a few other sets. Hmm, not such a bad idea perhaps. This could be 'THE' retirement project and it could even be self funding as the other stuff gets trimmed.
I'd start a set of modern $5 gold commemorative coins. Most can be had at melt, low mintages and down the road, you'll have a store of gold and eventually, they will become popular.
If I couldn't have what I have, I wouldn't bother.
XF Capped Bust Half Dollars
I'd get an album for US Type Coins and fill it with crazy stuff like a Hobo Nickel, a 1944 Henning counterfeit, love tokens, errors, potty coins, double-headed "magician coins", Dan Carr fantasies, etc. It would keep me looking everywhere and at all kinds of coins, and it would keep me extremely limited in what I actually "needed". So at $200 a week, I could stay active and still sometimes have trouble spending all of my money.
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
Hmmm $200 a week is about $190 more than I have now per week so I’d probably do the same thing, buy books to learn from, read threads and ask questions on here to learn from, buy lots of different albums so I have a slot to fill the occasional coin I find that I like and can actually afford. Continue to admire and drool over others collections.
A couple mention the losing interest part, your not wrong, I never lose interest, but it’s often difficult to keep the desire going to learn when I can’t actually afford to buy anything. Maybe in the future I will have a $200 per week budget and hopefully I’ll have more knowledge to make good purchases with it.
Collector of randomness. Photographer at PCGS. Lover of Harry Potter.
This.
I dont spend $200 a week on coins as it is.
I buy what I like when I have extra.
If I find something I can turn into more seed money that works too.
RB or BN Lincolns, proofs or business strikes.
Nice color, would consider toned coins in RD holders.
$200 buys two gem Morgan Dollars a week.
Could do that with a smile on my face indefinitely.
Not a bad idea, but it would be hard to spend more than 15 minutes a week coin hunting. Is that enough for you?
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
After going through a collection of my best friend's late father in law's mostly foreign coins, I'd go there. An Edward VII common date Canadian Large Cent in MS 63 RB can be had for $100. It's a big, beautiful, neat copper. Ditto for common date early 20th Century Australian Large Cents.
Some Unc. toned Queen Victoria six pence or shilling coins won't break the bank, either. Ditto re some late 19th Century Mexican 8 real coins. I think they are more attractive, and generally much cheaper than the Morgan dollar.
"Seu cabra da peste,
"Sou Mangueira......."
Must you spend the money every week? $200/wk. = $10,400/yr.
When most of us started as children, we collected common series except for a few keys or semi-keys which seemed out of reach. Ten thousand dollars isn't much money, but you could buy decent keys or semi-keys that seemed out of reach as children often with money left to spare:
1793 "common variety" chain cent in VG (maybe Fine if you NGC)
1909-S VDB MS66 RD cent
1914-D MS65 RD cent
1955 DDO MS64+ shot MS65 RD
1867/67 MS63 RD or maybe a MS64 RD
1877 IHC MS64 RD or MS64 RB
1909-S IHC MS66 RD
1908-S IHC MS66+ RD
1884 Trime in 63+
1885 Trime in 65-65+
1912-D V Nickel MS66+
1912-S V Nickel MS66 maybe even a 66+
1918/7-D Buffalo AU50
1916 DDO Buffalo in VF35
1937-D 3 Leg Buffalo MS64+
1916-D Low end Unc (60-62) FB Mercury Dime
1921 MS66 FB Merc
1921-D MS66 FB Merc
1932-S MS65 Washington
1932-D MS65 Washington
1916 SLQ AU58
1921 WLH in MS64-MS64+
1921-D WLH in MS63+-MS64
1921-S WLH AU53
1938-D WLH MS67
1893-S Morgan XF45
1921 MS66 (maybe plus) Peace
1928 Peace MS65+
1928-S Peace MS64+-MS65 (depending on auction data used)
1934-S Peace MS65
I'd start a mint error collection. Possibly a date and mint set of off-centers in one of the modern series such as Lincoln cents, Washington quarters, etc. Another possibility would be an error "type set", which could be done on the $200 a week budget.
The neat thing about any of the mentioned error sets is that it would take a good amount of searching to build a quality set, and would take knowledge. Error coins are very collectible on a budget.
My budget is $250/week so I'm living your fantasy.
OK...Maybe that came out a little weird
My Saint Set
I would save up for 7 or 8 months and then shop in earnest for a Fugio. Then I'd repeat the process with any of many series of classic U.S. coins I admire.
"Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working" Pablo Picasso
Jon said it well.
You can get extremely nice major error coinage in that price range.
IMO, error coins are underpriced for their rarity. You can buy Unique coins in that price range. Error coins hold value.
Error coins are great, but it's hard to compare them to non-error coins for value based on uniqueness. The thing about errors is that while any one error coin may be unique, there can be lots of errors for any given date/mm. Also, it’s hard to identify unique error coins because there isn’t a census for them, like how many of each type of error exists for each date/mm.
The lack of info may contribute to people not generally building sets of errors that would have holes that need to be plugged by unique coins.
Having the TPGs create pop reports for different error types would help.
It's funny that everyone took $200 a week in disposable income to mean a $200/week coin budget.
I would budget less than $200/week, and work on a carefully selected box of 20 great looking world crowns over the next several years.
Excellent point! If I had $200/week in disposable income I'd only allot (at most) $100/week for coins. I do like to eat out, go to the movies, buy the occasional unneeded fancy collar for my dog (I'm assuming things like vet bills are included in NON-disposable income), etc. Books are non-disposable too.
Aha. Sadly, I wouldn't collect anything at all if I only had $200/week for leisure or luxury expenditures.
I would save it all up for a year just to buy one five figure coin. And I'd do that every year until my box of 20 is full of what I found over the years in several series and denominations.
Edit to add (after reading other responses) : What Swampboy said, essentially.
``https://ebay.us/m/KxolR5
Capped bust halves. Many with great eye appeal, old, big pieces of silver, diverse die marriages and states, lots of collectors interested in them. I dropped out and sold my few to collect the harder bust quarter series. In retrospect, my collection would be much more eye appealing if I had gone for the halves instead.
Best, SH