Or how to collect coins on a budget

From a money standpoint January is always a thin month. Between a teacher?s salary and the cost of Christmas, there is usually very little money left for anything other than rent, bills and groceries in January. This year was no different. My darling wife cheerfully allows me to indulge in collecting coins with just a few rules. 1) Do not spend money we do not have, 2) do not dip into our summer savings and 3) do not use any credit cards. Given the fact that we have already survived one bankruptcy, I gladly comply with the letter of the law. Needless to say, my budget is extremely limited. As a result I have learned to become extremely picky and I only buy coins I can get at a deep discount to book value. I will not pay more than 40% of the book value for a coin with the exception of some inexpensive proof pennies and I try to keep my overall spending to about 25% of current book value. As you might guess, this is a very challenging endeavor.

As luck would have it, January has been a pretty darn good month and tonight has been especially good. Here is a list of my PF70 pickups for the month of January.

1) 2006 S PF70 UC Clad North Dakota State Quarter (Jan 01)

2) 2008 S PF70 UC Silver Alaska State Quarter (Jan 02)

3) 2005 S PF70 UC Clad West Virginia State Quarter (Jan 15)

4) 1999 S PF70 UC Silver Roosevelt Dime (Jan 28)

5) 1999 S PF70 UC Silver Kennedy Half Dollar (Jan 28)

Given the current public feeding frenzy for coins I am surprised at my good fortune. My total expenditure for these five coins (shipping included) was less than $142. Fortunately, tomorrow is payday so I can pay for the two 1999 coins I picked up tonight in the morning after my paycheck gets put in the bank at midnight tonight.

I?ll admit it, I bottom fish. I watch the various auction boards put in hundreds of very low bids and fortunately I have the will power not to chase coins I really like. I have watched quite a number of coins go by at good, but not great prices, this month. Of course, I also watched a lot of coins go by at absolutely insane prices. The price of the month belongs to a 2003 S PF70 Silver Alabama State Quarter that managed to get bid up to $80.00. I?m still scratching my head on that one. You almost never see a State Quarter go at or above book value. You can add the fact that precious metals are taking a beating of late. There were a couple of 1999 S PF70 Silver Delaware Quarters I saw go by the boards with one going for over $3800. But let?s face it, a 99 S PF70 Silver Delaware is a special case. Oh well, I sure can?t afford those prices. Anyway, I will keep watching those auctions but unless something really spectacular presents itself I probably won?t be buying any more top end coins for a while.