Rookie Advice Needed - Where to Find Coins?

[scroll]

Hi! Any suggestions on finding better quality coins on a smaller budget?

 

Guess I'm not buying today, as I caught the State Quarter bug and blew out the budget for a while., But I have been accumulating better Merc Dines, Peace Dollars. Franklin half proofs & circulated, and a few pre-1965 silver proof sets. I'd like to get into Barber dimes and Walking Liberty halfs but they seem a bit pricy for me right now in any good BU quality..

 

I've been very happy with my graded coins and unopened mint sets, but I don't seem to do so well trying to "read between the lines" on some of the ungraded eBay purchases, especially on the Peace Dollars. I get about 60% good; 40% ok; and 10% (IMO) overated junk. To be fair, of the 60% maybe 5 - 10% seem to be an excellent deal.

 

Any minor secrets or advice you folks want to volunteer?

 

 

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[michael]

hmmmmmmmmm a good question and not simple and easy to answer but i will try my best on here to try to steer you in the right direction

 

 

but first let me say welcome to the boards and if i can ever offer you some advice on usa federal coinage feel free tp private message me and i will give you my opinions which you take what you want and leave the rest

 

well it is hard to grade coins especially from scans impossible unless you havethe coin in hand sight seen and then it takes time and effort to look at many coins first at coin shops and shows or your local coin cli=ub collectors and the like

 

first you need to get some basic coin grading books and i bet if you live in a larger community or city the public had a great selection you can check out start there first

 

then join a coin club and meet some members that might be able to show you coins AND GIVE YOU GRADING tips also the club i bet has a library read all you can

 

also there are many online sites on this internet about how to grade and evaulate coins maybe some other members on here can give you some web sites to start with

 

ask many questions on here

 

the above is a good start it all takes time

 

good luck and again welcome to the boards

 

 

michael

[michael]

major shows is where you will see many coins

 

get a subscription to coin world many dealers with coins in your price range too

 

just count the pages in coin qorld the first 25 pages do not buy anything from dealers in the first 25 pages

 

you might leave out a good one or teo but you will certianly leave out the worst

 

 

michael

[spy88]

scroll,

 

Any suggestions on finding better quality coins on a smaller budget?

 

By asking this question, you've just publicly announced that you have reached one of the "Holy Grail"s of COLLECTING. This applies to anyone that collects anything.

 

Regardless of one's wallet size, this is one of the key questions we all ask ourselves at some point in our collecting expertise. But you will realize the answer soon though, as it just happens to come to you after asking it. And I can tell you that it is just a natural progression of your collecting skills.

 

All of us have resources available to us to find out just about anything, anywhere and at anytime. Once these have been taken into account, the rest is up to the individual and how "adept" he gets at having this information and using it!

 

"Do I want to know a lot about only one or two things or a little about a lot of things"? Specialize or generalize? This is another HG question you have either already asked/answered or will now consider having read it here.

 

You will encounter many, many many HGs in your persuit of collecting, and each one can only be answered by the collector asking it.

 

David

 

PM me if you really want to know my answer if it doesn't just hit you!

[topsman]

I know many bash on ebay, but that is actually my prime source for collecting, aside from my personal cherry picking while at work. *You just have to be careful of who you are buying from, and make sure to read every line of FINE PRINT*. After a few months making small purchases on ebay I found a few select sellers that seemed to be honest and sell quality products at fair prices. Now I mainly make purchases from them off of ebay, telling them what I am looking for at what price, or having them tell me when they have something I might be interested in. That is what fits my *small* personal budget and right not I'm happy with it.

 

Like spy said above, everyone has their own resource for collecting. You just have to find one that fits you the best.

[BillJones]

Coin shows are the best places to find coins IMO. You have anywhere from 10 to several hundred dealers in one spot, and they are competing against each other to a certain extent. Beyond that you local dealer can be a source.

 

Mail order and auction sites like Ebay are minefields. There are some very honest, dedicated and knowledgeable dealers in those venues, but there are a lot of sharks too. Some of those who run the largest ads in the trade publications are also the most dangerous. If you know other collectors perhaps they can give you the names of dealers with whom they have had good experiences.

 

The most important thing is to have fun. Don’t spend a lot of money until you have learned the ropes about the areas of your interest. Don’t buy with the idea of making money. Many casual collectors don’t make money. To do that you need to buy higher quality, popular collector coins that are properly graded and fairly priced. And usually you have to be willing to hold the coins for a period of years.

 

Coins are not an investment tool for most people. They are a source of enjoyment.

[kryptonitecomics]

Anyone know of any dealers in Orlando?

[TomB]

Look at as many coins as possible in-hand. Also, speak with people who have been around the hobby/industry for a while and try to learn from them. Go to all the coins shows that you can and visit whatever dealers are local to you. You should also read the fine numismatic books that are available that may be in your area of interest. Over time, all this will creep in and things become much more clear. Good luck.

[scroll]

Thank you all for the warm welcome and good advice!

 

Building a good relationship with a seller, be it eBay or a local coin shop, sounds like the best advice of all. Also avoiding the 1st 25 ads in coin world is something I wouldn't have known.

 

Another excellent bit of advice was about looking long term. While I hadn't actually considered the profit motive I have felt that coins, unlike baseball cards, would retain most of their purchase value and could be liquidated in the event of an extreme emergency. (I still have a lot of 1980's card sets mainly gathering dust and monetarily worth a fraction of what I paid) But it's nice to finally own something that at least CAN appreciate over time. Of course the rising value factor makes me want to go out and complete all my desired sets overnight before the prices go up.

 

I was at a coin/ jewelry shop that was moving and had a big banner "Prices up to 80% off - everything must go!" I thought I'd see what he had. The short version, no coins were discounted at all and no graded coins at all in my sets of interest. Really nothing much tagged over MS63 even on a later Franklin half. Not even coins supplies were what I would call "on sale" though I did buy a couple of used coin albums. Anyway, I'll try to keep an open mind about dealer shops and keep looking for a few better ones.

[AEATON-migration]

I'm also new to this,

And also havn't found a good dealer shop yet.

Havn't found a local club yet either.

 

And am also not too impressed with some of the junk on e-bay. many of the better coins seem to sell themselves, they often don't even need much representation.

 

The dealers around my woods all tell me that what I have is worth zero, and what they want to sell me (I've seen so many finger-prints it's heart-breaking) is worth more than their fee (keep throwing the catalogue at me!). It's all a learning curve. The dealers here are probably no different to any other, who knows. But I particularly wasn't impressed when I called a dealer to ask where his store is and his response was "Why do you want to come to my store" ...(where did customer service go?) sorry, I won't come then

 

Coin shows are great if you're collecting your own coinage - much less available on world stock. (where my focus is). e-bay seems to be my next bet from flying around the world.

 

Good luck.

 

Collecting World Mandela Legal Tender coins

[kryptonitecomics]

While I hadn't actually considered the profit motive I have felt that coins, unlike baseball cards, would retain most of their purchase value and could be liquidated in the event of an extreme emergency. (I still have a lot of 1980's card sets mainly gathering dust and monetarily worth a fraction of what I paid) But it's nice to finally own something that at least CAN appreciate over time. Of course the rising value factor makes me want to go out and complete all my desired sets overnight before the prices go up.

 

This statement isn't entirely true. Yes, Baseball card prices are down right now, but that's a Product of over production in the 90's along with card companies flooding the market with hundreds of brands and super rare insert sets and RC's, which the market could not support.

 

Couple that with prices that continued to soar unchecked from 1990 until roughly 2001-2002 and you can see that a market correction was due. So the walls came crumbling down and my $45,000 baseball card collection was probably sellable for only $10,000 when the dust cleared. I have since sold off most of them at a loss, because I wasn't patient enough to wait for prices to rebound.

 

Now as for coins....the same thing happened back in like 1989 where the market prices on coins had risen to such levels that the coin collecting population just couldn't support it. Common Date Morgan Silver dollars in MS65 were selling for thousands of dollars and now can be had for $100-$200. So if we look at the history of both hobby's they have both experienced some big crashes. Coins recovered and have been seeing nice increases for sometime. Does that mean that we are due for another market adjustment only time will tell.

 

As for Baseball cards....since I am currently still selling off my collection on Ebay I can state for the record that I have seen a small up tick in prices from November until now. Will it continue or will cards reached the lofty heights they were once perched at......not for quite some time if ever.

 

 

Look at it this way...if you collect coins you will at least have the bullion value for the gold and silver ones.........what's cardboard selling for by the pound these days

 

(Note: The above commentary is my personal opinion, not subject to debate)

[papag]

Welcome to the Boards and from a somewhat Novice myself you will find a lot of Great Answers here.

 

As to your question I find IMO that I look at the Scans of coins on Ebay that are slabbed and what grades they are given from NGC and PCGS (sorry Guys) and then I compare them to the scans of coins that are selling out of the slabs. I also make sure that even on the slabs, I make sure there are both the obverse and reverse scans of the the coins and then especially those of the raw coins that interest me. Sometimes I get a good deal as the coins did match the scan and description and then I send them off to NGC to be graded and I have had about a 60-70% same grade as described in the auction and about a 70 -85% on maybe a grade below what was stated. Believe you me though it takes a lot of time and Patience to sit and go through maybe 100 to 200 auctions and compare these coins and don't rush to look at the pictures but take your time and look carefully for defects and lines, and nicks,improper cleaning or artifical Toning. I may only buy 1 or 2 of the many auctions I have compared and looked at. As was said by other members its a Great Hobby and does take time and experience. Again welcome to the boards and enjoy the Hobby.

PapaG

[scroll]

 

This statement isn't entirely true. Yes, Baseball card prices are down right now, but that's a Product of over production in the 90's along with card companies flooding the market with hundreds of brands and super rare insert sets and RC's, which the market could not support.

 

Couple that with prices that continued to soar unchecked from 1990 until roughly 2001-2002 and you can see that a market correction was due. So the walls came crumbling down and my $45,000 baseball card collection was probably sellable for only $10,000 when the dust cleared. I have since sold off most of them at a loss, because I wasn't patient enough to wait for prices to rebound.

 

Look at it this way...if you collect coins you will at least have the bullion value for the gold and silver ones.........what's cardboard selling for by the pound these days

 

(Note: The above commentary is my personal opinion, not subject to debate)

 

Yes, I realize over flooding the market took its toll. I got caught up in the emotion of the Sosa/ McGwire frenzy. Fortunately, those particular cards I bought low, sold high, and re-bought lower.

 

But I did make the mistake of keeping team sets and update sets and much doubt there will be real interest to the kids coming along today. Add to that that baseball seems to halt its own success by talking about strikes everytime the sport gains back some popularity. It's getting so that I could care less about the "sport," or should I say business.

 

Anyway, yes the fact that gold & silver are unlikely to be replaced by cardboard did factor into my getting into this hobby.

 

OTOH, a lot of people like collecting, say clad state quarters (and me included). Well, at least we know they will always be worth $.25. And at least they are pretty to look at too.

[scroll]

What is: ENV DAMAGE? I'll be receiving a 1926-S Peace Dollar back ungraded with that notation.

[michael]

environmental damage

 

improper storage over time can destroy the surfaces of a coin when a coin displays the negative results of a hostile storage environment but the exact cause is not known it is said to have ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE

 

examples are corrosion from humidity and heat and salt water atmospheric polluntants sea salvaged and treasure coins are aften victims of environemntal danage

 

glue residue or a stained coin which displays discoloration

 

i would need to see the coin to tell you exactly

 

michael

[scroll]

Thanks for the explaination. I will have to look into this more.

 

So what does that do to the value of an early Peace Dollar? Does it become bullion melt value, or does it still have a collectable value?

 

I'll try to attach a scan, though I don't know how much you can tell from it.

[scroll]

This is the reverse:

[michael]

hard to tell from a scan i need to see the coin sight seen in person

 

 

but for me i think this can be removed from the coin again i would need to see the coin in person sight seen to tell you more and for sure

 

sorry

 

 

michael

[scroll]

I understand that. From the eye it looks white, so the scan is already misleading.

[BillJones]

Anyone know of any dealers in Orlando?

 

There is a very good coin show coming up on October 1, 2 and 3, The Central Florida Coin and Money Show. It will be held at the Expo Center in downtown Orlando at 500 W. Livingston St. accross from the TD Waterhouse Arena. There will be quite a few Central Florda dealers there, including yours truly.