A coin collection is like a shark...
RYK
Posts: 35,799 ✭✭✭✭✭
"A relationship, I think, is like a shark, you know? It has to constantly move forward or it dies. And I think what we got on our hands is a dead shark." Woody Allen in Annie Hall.
Is a coin collection also like a shark?
Is a coin collection also like a shark?
2
Comments
easy to get, hard to get rid of.
<< <i>A coin collection doesn't ask you "we need to talk, where is this ___ going?"
myCCset
<< <i>Right now, I would say no- but later, after a bottle of pinot noir, I might think differently... >>
Try 2 and the movement will be downward.
Didn't wanna get me no trade
Never want to be like papa
Working for the boss every night and day
--"Happy", by the Rolling Stones (1972)
<< <i>"A relationship, I think, is like a shark, you know? It has to constantly move forward or it dies. And I think what we got on our hands is a dead shark." Woody Allen in Annie Hall.
Is a coin collection also like a shark? >>
No. A coin collection can move forward, but it can also be perfectly content to sit idle for months or years while it's owner carefully considers his next move. Or takes a hiatus. Or discover girls.
<< <i>
<< <i>"A relationship, I think, is like a shark, you know? It has to constantly move forward or it dies. And I think what we got on our hands is a dead shark." Woody Allen in Annie Hall.
Is a coin collection also like a shark? >>
No. A coin collection can move forward, but it can also be perfectly content to sit idle for months or years while it's owner carefully considers his next move. Or takes a hiatus. Or discover girls. >>
I think my wife would prefer that I stick to the coins and stay away from the girls.
Otherwise, I am feeling somewhat shark-like.
I like finding a harmonious balance between wine, woman, song, and coins....
<< <i> A coin collection can move forward, but it can also be perfectly content to sit idle for months or years while it's owner carefully considers his next move. Or takes a hiatus. Or discover girls
I like finding a harmonious balance between wine, woman, song, and coins....
wine, woman, song, and coins.... and Steelers football!
<< <i> A coin collection can move forward, but it can also be perfectly content to sit idle for months or years while it's owner carefully considers his next move. Or takes a hiatus. Or discover girls I like finding a harmonious balance between wine, woman, song, and coins....
Time to fess up myqqy. You said your back hurt so much you could only spend a few moments at the Portland coin show. Now it's wine, women, and song.
Hmmmmmmmmm.
OTOH, at the EAC, I spoke with one who is a very high end collector who, for a period of several years was not in the position to buy coins. Instead, he bought coin books and auction catalogs and read like crazy. When the time finally came, and his ship came in, he knew everything he needed to know and was able to aggressively purchase major rarities with great confidence. I would say that the coin collection, from an acquisition standpoint, may be dormant for a period of time, but the collector must continue to develop. Otherwise, like the shark and the relationship, the collection withers.
<< <i>A coin collection is more like a black hole for money!!
aint that the truth.......
TorinoCobra71
From my perspective, there is some truth to this. I was purchasing alot of coins about
30 years ago and then lost focus, and then interest, and then stopped.
I started back up again a few years ago because of a chance visit to a coin shop.
Of course It helped my interest immensely when I discovered my purchases of 30 years
ago being with some multiples of what I paid for them.
the chances it is sold and broken up just keep increasing so long as it's getting no at-
tention. As long as a collector is working on a set it is healthy. The more effort that
goes into it the healthier it is. This effort can take the form of money, time, study, or
work or any combination thereof, but there must be effort on the part of the collector.
yes.
If the series is highly collectible, and you have bought pq coins, the investment can just sit there, gaining in value every year, without any effort on your part. Like a rare beautiful oil painting.
But if the collection needs work--filling blanks or getting upgrades, then a lapse may be bad--interest may wane, and the market may become unknown.
I have completed 4 different series, more for many of you. 2 have been sold, and 2 are just sitting there, without the need for upgrades.
But if I stopped collecting anything-- a new series, and/or finishing the ones that still need help, surely interest would slow, and the passion would be gone.
A complete break? No way.
A coin collection is like a child. Not an investment, but something to be nurtured. It should be given attention, improved upon, looked after and, just as a child that has been treated the same, it will become something to be proud of.
<< <i>A coin collection is like a child. Not an investment, but something to be nurtured. It should be given attention, improved upon, looked after and, just as a child that has been treated the same, it will become something to be proud of. >>
OK, but a child also has to grow or die.
"Everyone knows that collectors who find nothing to buy quickly become ex-collectors."
<< <i>My point is that unless one is one the move, adding to and enhancing the collection, the collection starts to die. Not quickly, but the interest starts to fade.
OTOH, at the EAC, I spoke with one who is a very high end collector who, for a period of several years was not in the position to buy coins. Instead, he bought coin books and auction catalogs and read like crazy. When the time finally came, and his ship came in, he knew everything he needed to know and was able to aggressively purchase major rarities with great confidence. I would say that the coin collection, from an acquisition standpoint, may be dormant for a period of time, but the collector must continue to develop. Otherwise, like the shark and the relationship, the collection withers. >>
I fully agree with this. When I get bored because I haven't been able to find something I want for my collection, I buy books/out-of-print auction catalogs (I picked up ca. 200 in the last 4 years). These literature items are a big help in maintaining my interest, especially since I keep them at home (unlike my coins) where I can routinely use them.
RMR: 'Wer, wenn ich schriee, hörte mich denn aus der Engel Ordnungen?'
CJ: 'No one!' [Ain't no angels in the coin biz]
But I think a coin collection is only like a shark for some people.
Some of us are generally content to go a long time between new acquisitions.
That said, sometimes it's like a switch gets flicked in my head and all of the sudden I want a new coin and I want it now!
<< <i>I just love getting half way through the posts in a thread only to realize it is 4 years old.
But I think a coin collection is only like a shark for some people.
Some of us are generally content to go a long time between new acquisitions.
That said, sometimes it's like a switch gets flicked in my head and all of the sudden I want a new coin and I want it now! >>
Me too!
I don't know about the shark analogy, about any type of collection. I have a lot of fun "adjusting" my collections. My coin and postcard collection are always in a state of flux, but my antique English creamware mould collection can sit, as it has the past 18 months or so, dormant until I find something that is nice enough to make the cut and go into the collection.
I think a collection that you were "finished' with would not be much fun, at least IMHO. How about a bird?
"Bongo hurtles along the rain soaked highway of life on underinflated bald retread tires."
~Wayne
To me it's like a character in Steinbeck's The Red Pony -- the Leader. He led a group of pioneers in a wagon train across the mountains to the West and the most important thing to him was the journey. Once he got to San Francisco, he just stared out at the ocean, mad that he couldn't keep going West. That's like collecting for some people -- it's the journey that matters, not the destination. (Okay, I may have messed up what Steinbeck was talking about but we're all allowed to interpret things our own way).
"Look up, old boy, and see what you get." -William Bonney.
"I think we're gonna need a BIGGER BOAT"
Successful BST xactions w/PCcoins, Drunner, Manofcoins, Rampage, docg, Poppee, RobKool, and MichealDixon.
"Everything is on its way to somewhere. Everything." - George Malley, Phenomenon
http://www.americanlegacycoins.com
A bear.
Camelot
<< <i>I always have had a different perspective: A coin dealer is like a shark... >>
And the coin dealers are the ones that die if there is no activity. To me it sounds like another dealer friendly cliche designed to help generate churn and business.
A great collection is more like a great Cathedral, years of planning, decades of construction, buckets full of money, with money often running short before the project is completed to satisfaction.
<< <i>"Everyone knows that collectors who find nothing to buy quickly become ex-collectors." >>
I find things to buy for my collection(s) often enough to keep up my interest, but any one individual collection may go for some time with no new additions. And suffer no ill effects due to the inaction.
But then, that's just me.
<< <i>With the dearth of coin shows and B&M's in this area, I have found myself buying a few books as well...seems to 'fill a void' so to speak. Still have not found the Peace Dollar book... this Barnes & Noble does not maintain a well stocked coin section. Cheers, RickO >>
...just curious, ricko. which peace dollar book?
<< <i>Did someone call me? >>
yes,
from what I understand,
you are hibernating now.
I'm in a dormant period between ships coming in. Big boat in 1999, happily sat in dock through 2005. Next one, still out to sea, maybe arrives 2014? maybe sooner
Liberty: Parent of Science & Industry
<< <i>
looks like where I fish
As my collecting gets more specialized I might only feed a few times ayear...but the meal is always big and tasty.
Is a coin collection also like a shark?
A collection doesn't necessarily have to move forward in composition if it can move forward in appreciation. And with rising PM prices, there's no shortage of appreciating coins now.
Update: We DO indeed have a dead shark on our hands here.
I don't know about the collection itself but a decent number of the market participants certainly are.
Change your perspective.
How cool would it be to be able to drive a nice car and then be able to get tired of it and get at least 80% of what you paid?
My coins are cool cars.
Except without the utility...
I'm sorry for being such a pessimist.