Dealers give us collectors your best advice
GOLDSAINT
Posts: 2,148 ✭
I think its time for all the dealers here to dig down deep and give us their best advice on what us collectors should be looking at to put our hard earned money into over the next couple of years. I for one would like to hear from all the dealer/ experts here just what they are thinking is a good area for collecting as an investment, as well as which coins should be harder to come by in the coming 24 months. I read in one of the other threads today that there are many dealers that no longer post here, perhaps they still read, and would honor us with thier comments.
I would also invite all the dealers to give us their true feelings about the market, and where we are, without being shy about giving advice to stay out of certain coins if they think this is wise. I am also asking for advice here on coins that are affordable enough for
average collectors to purchase, and not the R3 to R7 coins.
So what do you dealers think how about some tips from the gut, not what you might be selling today, but what you really think about the market, its future the next couple of years, and the coins that many of us could buy and look back to say, WOW am I glad I bought these.
I would also invite all the dealers to give us their true feelings about the market, and where we are, without being shy about giving advice to stay out of certain coins if they think this is wise. I am also asking for advice here on coins that are affordable enough for
average collectors to purchase, and not the R3 to R7 coins.
So what do you dealers think how about some tips from the gut, not what you might be selling today, but what you really think about the market, its future the next couple of years, and the coins that many of us could buy and look back to say, WOW am I glad I bought these.
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Comments
First, dealers give their best info to their best customers. Makes sense.
Second, dealers do not want to be targets for abuse (nor does anyone else). Joe Dealer comes to the boards and says, " I think you should buy Liberty Nickels in MS-64 to 66. It's an undervalued series that deserves better prices blah-blah-blah." Collector A replies, " You elitist pig! I can only afford VF/XF Lib nickels." Collector B replies, "The only reason you say that is that you have 200,000 Lib nickels in your inventory. You are just talking your position." Collector C says, "You told us that last year, and you were wrong. Why should I believe you now?" Collector D says, "That's ridiculous. What planet are living on?" Collector E says, "Buy what you like. Not what someone else tells you should be bought." Collector F says, "TTT", and so on.
If you want to know what a dealer likes, develop a relationship with one or two, and they will be more than happy to share their views with you. After all, if you called Merrill Lynch and asked for "a broker" (one whom you did not know) and asked him for stock picks, what do you think you would get?
Camelot
<< <i>and the coins that many of us could buy and look back to say, WOW am I glad I bought these. >>
I haven't regretted one of my Half Dime purchases yet. You need to seperate your "collector" from your inner "Investor" and if you're lucky the two will meet.
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Ever think about a little stock in the grading companies?
Kinda covers all bets, no?
With that said, my local dealer said that the early bust halves are undervalued right now and a good deal, as few people collect them. Also, if you collect the best of any series that you can afford, you stand a better chance of making a profit.
Check out a Vanguard Roth IRA.
<< <i>what us collectors should be looking at to put our hard earned money into over the next couple of years. >>
Coins that you love. Coins that you want to look at all the time. Coins that you want to fondle and lovingly caress. Coins that you find fascinating and beautiful.
Russ, NCNE
First POTD 9/19/05!!
I'd hate to see it overvalued.
<< <i>Just pick out one date and hoard it! >>
Collectors who do that are weird.
Russ, NCNE
Russ, do you know of anyone who does that??????
19th and 20th century silver type - MS/PF 64 and up
19th century large sized copper type - MS64/PF64 RD
classic commems in 65 or better. The very common ones in MS66 or 67.
Dated Barber material 64 and up
Better date Morgans in the $500 and up range - MS65 and up
Generic gold - 63-65 Saints and $20 Libs, probably MS64 and higher
late 19th century and 20th century gold type.
Even Peace Dollars in MS65-67...they've slept so long they are going
to get promoted at some point soon. Watch. Within 6-9 months
or so they will become little darlings again.
Probably MS/PF65 and higher 19th century nickel type too. The stuff is common but these are entry level US type coins on the cheap.
These aren't the only areas that should do well in the near future. But areas that I am more familiar with than say proof gold, patterns, colonials, territorial gold, paper money, etc.
roadrunner
<< <i>Yet a choice Bu saint costs 1.5x face value! >>
Where can you buy Saints for $30?
Russ, NCNE
1. Select Shield Nickels
2. Select Barber coinage
3. Select Patterns
4. Select SLQ's (heating up of late)
5. Select Mercs (a lot of collectors have sold out over the past couple years)
6. Select Silver Commems (some of these coins have mintages in the 2,000-5,000 range and sell at prices that still surprise me for "one grade under top pop" coins).
In the way of moderns,
1. Select Modern MS Jeffs (the 1965-date series is full of surprising tough issues in high grade, especially with FS).
2. Select Modern MS clad quarters (ditto)
3. Select gold and platinum Eagles (there are some shockingly low mintages hiding out within these series)
4. Select $5 Modern Gold Commems (the return to the Gold Commem after a 60 year break - some have very low mintages)
5. Select Modern pre-1977 Proofs - if anyone doesn't believe a coin like a 1971(s) Lincoln cent in true PR69DCAM grade is not a scarce coin- you haven't been looking for them. BUT, this is a $17,000 coin (last Heritage sales price) which can still be plucked from a $5-$10 proof set with some extreme luck - now that is what I call "fun" collecting!
6. Select misc. MS clad coinage, ranging from early MS state quarters to Ikes, to SBA's to clad dimes. Many of these coins can be COLLECTED through the HUNT and $10 spent can potentially yield a scarce coin - again, now, that is fun!
Wondercoin
Value of one choice MS63 Saint = 1.5 x (price of gold/oz.) = $567
note that face value = bullion value due to the inflation of the past 70 years.
roadrunner
Russ, NCNE
<< <i>
If it is a Type coin and has a mintage of LESS than 1,000 and a cost of LESS than $1,000.00 buy it! I especially mean PR63+64 Type. It such a simple thought.
q]
That makes a tremendous amount of sense. I was a kid way back when....so I didn't keep up with 19th century proof type coins. But, wasn't 19th century proof considered much more rare back before the pop reports were published. It just seems like I heard this somewhere and I don't remember seeing a lot of 19th century proof coins at the shows when I was a kid. Or course...even then there wasn't a whole lot of 19th century proof in the dealers' junk boxes.
It just seems like 25 years ago that seated proof coins were selling then for a few hundred dollars.....about like now. Of course it was difficult for a novice to tell the difference between a "Choice" proof and a "Gem" proof back then.
Am I crazy? I mean about the proof prices? Anyone?
POTD, IMO
Liberty: Parent of Science & Industry
I learned many years ago to stick to key and semi key coins in the best grade I can afford. Think of it as if you were going to a dealer to sell your coins, which ones would they want, and which ones might be considered so common that the dealers don't need for their stock.
I have recently completed a set of Mercury Dimes (I usually don't do sets). It was and is very enjoying to complete the set. I know many of my dimes will not rise in value, while others will make up for it.
The best advice anyone can give in collecting is to buy what you like. Now these coins may no go up in value, but there is a good chance if you like it someone else will, too. If the coin is ugly, others will think it is ugly, too.
Collection should be about having fun. Investing or making a profit is a different game.
President, Racine Numismatic Society 2013-2014; Variety Resource Dimes; See 6/8/12 CDN for my article on Winged Liberty Dimes; Ebay
Personally I think sets are very interesting not only for the challenge of the treasure hunt but from a value standpoint.
Most of the large institutional coin people like Heritage say that you are better off buying just a few very rare coins and not building sets. I think this makes sense only in the bottom of the coin market cycle, when the blood is in the streets. In today’s market those people buying the rare coins for the hobby aspect, but more so for the investments aspect, are entering a rarified market full of fickle buyers and sellers. Perhaps many of these folks just don’t have time to collect and shop, but when the market breaks it always breaks at the top.
The most interesting thing about sets it what happens to coin values through time. Mintages are often deceiving, common coins are the ones melted, or lost, or just not sought after until someone discovers that there are just not many in high grades around. Hedging your bet with coins that already have published low mintages, like our dealers here suggested, is even better.
In my Barber halve set the proofs were so cheap that I just put a proof in the hole rather than an MS coin. The Ms 60 coins were nearly double the price of the proofs, and the proofs had issue amounts of a few hundred compared to total business strike issues of hundreds of thousands.
You should only buy coins that, when shown to other sophisticated collectors or dealers, elicit this response: "That's a nice coin! What do you want for it?"
Such a coin can always be sold - no matter how cold the market, and, depending on how much time has passed since you bought it, can usually be sold for more than you paid for it, even if you "overpaid" for it!
(Unless, of course, you bought a reasonably generic gold coin when gold was $800 and gold is now $375.)
Check out the Southern Gold Society