Wanting to Start a World Coin Collection, Wheres' the Best Reference for this ?

[James G. Berline]

Good Morning,,, Its' nice to see Ngc is expanding out more, I was surprized

to see the acceptance of World Coins.

 

So now,not knowing which way to collect in all this, I need to read up on the Best References on this ! I would like to cut thru and save time by just looking at what Series in World Coins that would be the Best Investment for future gain. Trying to find the Low Population of coins would be one of my priorities, in obtaining the rare coins. Is there anyone who specializes in this field? Any help would be greatly appreciated... Jim/jb4gpo

[cladking]

It's hard to find much support for investment advice on a coin message board and it's going to be even tougher on a world coin forum. Simply stated there is a large tendency for investors to get burned because they buy coins for the wrong reasons and end up with the wrong coins. "Good investment" coins are very difficult to find in the millions of types, dates, and grades out there but common coins are... ...welll... ...very common. You could get the best investment advice possible about specific coins and still lose your shirt. Collectors tend to do pretty well because they tend to seek one of everything. This means they're likely to have an example of a coin that does very well because they paid up for it when it was available. An investor will have passed on the exact same coin because it was selling at too high a price or he'd just bought a whole bunch of coins very similar to it and wanted something different.

 

With this warning I'd suggest you just find something that you have fun collecting and see if you can learn to spot the bargains and the rarities. Start with the Krause catalogs.

 

The biggest increases in the past couple decades have been in base metal circulating moderns. If you can learn to appreciate any of these then this would be a good place to collect. But do collect something you enjoy. Generally I prefer high denomination copper nickel but there are some better bets if you're looking at the longer term. This would be aluminum probably.

 

Whatever you decide or collect try to go slowly at first. Don't commit lots of money while you're still learning. Try to get an idea of the history of the coin as well as the price history. Learn to pay attention to the things that affect the coins and their values.

 

Try to have fun. Frankly, watching prices escalate can be almost as much fun as having it in your collection but I don't think you're supposed to say that.

[World Colonial]

I would start with the Krause guide to decide what you think you would like to collect. I did so which is how I picked my current series.

 

I would not assume though, that the prices in Krause or most other guides are usually accurate. For the coins I collect, they are not. Also, do not think that just because a coin has a "low" mintage, that it is scarce or rare. Most of them are not and that is assuming that the mintages are even available. Sometimes they are but not always.

 

Also, if you have been collecting US coins, mintages that are "low" by US standards need to be adjusted in evaluating the price-scarcity factor. By my standards, most US coins are not remotely scarce but many world coins that appear to be scarce are not either or even if they are, the demand is equally low or even practically non-existant.

 

Just like with US coins, what matters from a scarcity standpoint is attrition and survival. Generally, coins with "low" mintages have higher survival factors and frequently, many or most of them also survive in higher grades.

 

The only way that you can know whether coins are "scarce" or "rare" is either by getting this information yourself through collecting experience or from someone who has already done so. And the same applies to finding out their current market value. If you do not do this and make your purchases strictly considering their "investment" value, you will almost certainly lose money.