What problems do you face as a collectible coin dealer, collector, or investor?
raritiesvalue
Posts: 48 ✭✭
As many of you may recall, we launched www.RaritiesValue.com a couple of months ago as a free tool to manage your coin collection or rare coin inventory.
We are now working on accounting software for dealers to help manage sales, expenses, profits and invoices. We hope to finish this module and push it live before the end of the year.
MY QUESTION TO YOU: What are problems that you face as a rare coin dealer, collector, or investor? What tools can we build to help make your life easier?
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As a collector? Not knowing when enough is enough!
more space
Insufficient funds.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
Wife who doesn't understand,
Money not Moneying
To know grading is right, and up to par...all these with CAC stickers so they are valued more?. Makes me wander if the grading companies are doing their job, why the need for a CAC grading sticker?..just asking
As a collector, selling is neither easy nor fun
Finding an original 1870-cc or 1871-cc quarter in VF.
Could always use help in finding new inventory without being overwhelmed with coins that I have zero desire to even see.
It would be nice to have a tool that tells me which auction houses are able to get the best prices for both buyers and sellers and what the fees are that are associated with them. For example, let’s say I want to sell an MS66 CAC 1920 Double Eagle. Which auction house is going to achieve the highest price based on recent historical data? Which one is going to charge me the highest fees? Which one is likely to net me more?
Similarly, if I’m a buyer, which one had the lowest prices for that coin, including the lowest buyer’s fee?
Government inflation eroding my coin buying power.
Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value. Zero. Voltaire. Ebay coinbowlllc
My biggest issue is what to do with my raw coins. My slabbed coins are easy, I put most of them on the NGC Registry list and download the list a few times a year. I add the price list from grey sheet and if I have the records what I paid for the coin.
For my raw coins I’ve owned many for decades that I don’t have prices paid. Or in
Many cases what I paid for them. When I sell I check grey sheet and price accordingly. If you could create a tracker that gets grey sheet for raw coins, I would use that as a tracker.
My current registry sets:
20th Century Type Set
Virtual DANSCO 7070
Slabbed IHC set - Missing the Anacs Slabbed coins
Finding inventory
Finding accurately graded coins! Not graded coins getting a free pass because of it's rarity
Many coins that are on the market seem to be coins that have problems and the good ones are in strong hands
Mike
My Indians
Danco Set
As us coin collecters/dealers grow older it's hard to keep up on (sorry if this is morbid to some) who is still involved in the hobby, who has retired, and who has passed.
"When they can't find anything wrong with you, they create it!"
I'm not a rare coin dealer, trader, grader or investor, I'm just a collector/hobbyist.
A tool (one stop shop) that takes me directly/right to the seller that has the exact coin I'm looking for.
I'd like to have a way to load requested series of coins into a spreadsheet, use it as a checklist, and have it automatically display updated PCGS and NGC pops, even for coins that I don't own. (Pop columns could be "All Grades", "My Grade", and "Higher Grades".)
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
Numismatics can be an addiction. It is sometimes difficult to learn how to control that impulse. Discipline and patience must be learned.
Sometimes, it’s better to be LUCKY than good. 🍀 🍺👍
My Full Walker Registry Set (1916-1947):
https://www.ngccoin.com/registry/competitive-sets/16292/
As a Collector: Champaign tastes with a Natty Boh budget... for coins. A "first-world problem" if there ever was one!
Successful BST transactions with: SilverEagles92; Ahrensdad; Smitty; GregHansen; Lablade; Mercury10c; copperflopper; whatsup; KISHU1; scrapman1077, crispy, canadanz, smallchange, robkool, Mission16, ranshdow, ibzman350, Fallguy, Collectorcoins, SurfinxHI, jwitten, Walkerguy21D, dsessom.
As a collector of Latin American coins the coins are truly scarce to much much rarer. The rarity is much greater than say the rarity scale of US coins. Scarce would mean a researcher saw less than 20 examples of the years. So I find myself buying lower grades many times until I can hopefully upgrade them. The best case scenario would not having to go this route but if I did that I would almost never be buying anything since so little shows up of the coins I collect.
NFL: Buffalo Bills & Green Bay Packers
US Dimes: 1793-1916 (G-04 to F-12)
Latin America: Early milled 1 reales
Expensive taste, limited budget.
People that will pay the money / have the income to spend on coins / currency. Buying is the easy part.
From a collector’s point of view I would recommend making sure there are sections for taking pics of receipts and tracking that kind of stuff for tax purposes. When someone sells something they could go on there and get a print of the receipts and have that ready for attaching to their income tax.
I agree that grading can be all over the place! I once sent in a coin graded PR67 which I thought had a shot at 67+ or 68, and it came back PF64 at another service! The coin only green stickered at CAC when I thought it was an easy gold. I can see one or two points off, but three between the two major services??
This is interesting! Would you be able to elaborate on the problem more? Where do you sell currently and what makes it not fun / difficult? Thanks!
Seated liberty quarters are probably my favorite series! It's remarkably tough to find the key dates!
This is very interesting, thanks for the comment! Could you elaborate more on this issue? Where do you currently look to find this new inventory, and what do you mean by coins you have no desire to see? Are they junk coins, fakes, or something else?
Also, are you a dealer?
This is a very interesting concept! I like the idea of comparing strength of types across auction houses. We tried doing something somewhat similar to this a while back but data sharing with auction companies proved difficult. I guess their data is pretty valuable!
If we are able to get some traction and users I would love to reach back to try and make these data partnerships. Then we could do exactly that
Very interesting! It would be great to be able to track greysheet pricing live. I think I could see a way for it to be done.
We will have to reach out to them and see if we can get any partner integrations. Thank you for your comment!
I'm very interested in hearing more about this if you don't mind sharing. Are you a dealer, and if so I assume by inventory you mean items to resell?
I see a huge need for sourcing inventory from dealers, it's something I struggle with myself! What features would you value? What sort of things would make you use it? Thanks!
That's certainly the case! I am lucky to be able to go through a lot of coins as a dealer. A small percentage of them are real nice and standout for the grade. At local shows I seem to see a majority of coins that have problems.
Do you shop for coins online or in person?
I appreciate the honest response! I would agree that there does not seem to be a comprehensive directory of collectors or dealers. I have seen attempts like MyCollect try and solve this, but I don't know that it caught on.
Perhaps there is a way to make coin collecting more social with technology, after all collecting is better with friends!
I also think part of the problem could be the fragmentation of the market. There seem to be a large number of places where collectors and dealers interact, which can get confusing.
This is interesting, and it seems that you have gotten a few others on this forum to agree with you! We actually built out a "coin directory" of sorts a while back but never got around to launching it. The idea was to be able to shop across marketplaces for specific dates and types of coins. I will have to talk to our developer to try and work this into what we are building now.
As a dealer, I am always looking for whatever is a deal across different types, but I can certainly see the value in saving collectors time by allowing them to shop for specific dates or grades.
My question to you: What series of coins do you primarily collect?
First, thanks for taking the time and replying to everyone's feedback. Not an easy task and I know you can't please everyone. You started an excellent thread here, thanks!
I realize that half the fun here for this hobby is doing the research and hunting down the coins you like. I've done this for the vast majority of my collection over the years filling hole in albums.
However, things began to change with the key dates and higher ticket items. My request or search was a bit deeper then just specific dates and types of coins. I was looking for a specific date, type, grade and holder.
Looking for a 55DDO, AU55 in a ANACS soap bar slab motivated my post here. Searching on-line dealers, eBay, NE, Heritage, Stack's, etc....was not easy for me. Plus, I have no patience... Walking in circles for hours, going from table to table with zero results at shows! I eventually found the coin but it wasn't easy. It would be nice but I realize a one-stop-shop across all marketplaces and platforms is probably not practical.
Finding extremely nice toned coins in mid to high MS grades in small ANACS holders.
Morgan’s are easy to find but trying to find an Ike has been impossible so far.
I am a dealer looking for new inventory which is extremely time consuming.
For obviously reasons I will not give you my sources.
Yes, I do not want to see junk coins, fake coins, details coins, coins graded lower that AU58, overpriced coins, or coins that lack absolutely the best eye appeal.
As an example, on eBay, there are 666,465 error coins listed and I have 4 on my watchlist. I have probably seen all 666,465 listings which is a huge time waster.
Honestly, I do not think you could make software for my needs.
I will give you my search criteria... USA mint error coins, AU58 or higher, raw ok if it's worth getting slabbed, with amazing eye appeal at wholesale pricing.
100% online as there are no shows close to where I am
Would love to be able to go to one site, plug in my search and find results. Right now, like others have said, I spend the day going from site to site looking for coins, very time consuming
Mike
My Indians
Danco Set
In order to do that, someone would need to create an inventory control system that is used by both dealers and auction houses that then interfaces with a collector portal that has want-lists. Ideally, that collector portal would also have a registry so that it could automatically alert you to coins that will fill empty holes in your sets or coins that will be upgrades. Also, it would be nice if that feature allowed you to tailor your alerts to either specific grading companies or more broadly to multiple grading companies. The key would be to convince a plurality of dealers and all of the major auction houses to participate. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be that useful.
More or less like Collectors Corner.
I do believe that this can be achieved with the cooperation of "everyone"
Mike
My Indians
Danco Set
My only problem as a collector is that I like more coins than I have the means to buy.
Not a third-world problem, I know.
I buy many pieces where there no or little pricing data - slabbed low pop world matetial. Coins and currency (many got graded myself). So it comes down to a playcall at line of scrimmage. I look at auc results, eBay sellers (if any have one), of course cost plus. Then u get into a zone what is a good price for a top pop. Considering the moon money many US stickered coins, toners go for its easy to come up with a play call. Look what people pay for entertainment (another analog). The worst case scenario is you have a lot of room for negotiation lol. I have one big buyer he wants a 30 pct discount on anything. Dirtto for another guy. So in that case one may price accordingly (reading the defense). Whatever just be sure leave yourself ample room to work your angle.
I'd like to be able to scan a CACG, NGC, or PCGS barcode, a entry in an Excel spreadsheet populates the date, MM, denomination, grade, any designation, and cert #. I can then enter a cost code and sale price. When sold I can scan the barcode mark it as sold and enter a sold price. I don't need an invoice generated or any other bells and whistles.
I have been looking for three expensive coins to complete my type set for years. Have only seen one I liked, the dealer was asking moon money for it, and is holding onto it until someone (not me) pulls the trigger and gets buried in it.
I have not tried this myself, but if you have a smart phone, you could use Google Lens to read the text on the slab directly, which will get you all that info. Otherwise you could scan the barcode, but your app would need to be able to access the public APIs of PCGS, NGC, or CACG. For NGC you need to supply the grade to the public API, so just the bar code is not enough. To get from your smart phone to a laptop with your Excel sheet you could use Bluetooth pairing.
Given the text from the slab, it should not be too hard to write an Excel function in VB to parse it and get it into the columns for a new row when adding inventory. And another function for selling that looks up the cert number in your sheet so you can enter a sold price.
I said this ATS, too..... Solid, current pricing references on Civil War Tokens. I would love to collect them more deeply, but if I cannot understand the pricing, my wife and kids will have no chance after I am gone.
I am a newer collector (started April 2020), and I primarily focus on U.S. Half Cents and Type Coins. Early copper is my favorite.
Real simple.
Grading consistency.
Student of numismatics and collector of Morgan dollars
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Dantheman984 Toyz4geo SurfinxHI greencopper RWW bigjpst bretsan MWallace logger7