Where does the money come from??

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As a newer collector on modest means I have pretty much been sticking with dimes and modern commeratives, though with some exceptions. I can only admire the those beautiful big dollar large coins from afar.

 

I much doubt that every collector owning the big dollar, dollar coins started out with deep pockets. So I'm wondering how these collections tend to get assembled?

 

Are these being handed down and added to over time? Or perhaps they come from years of experience in choosing high quality coins which appreciate and get sold off and possibly repurchased at a later date?

 

I have seen quite a bump lately in commerative prices on eBay. Coins & sets I purchased even 2 months ago seem to be enjoying quite an increase and I'm tempted to sell some off to feed my Mercury collection, except even the slabbed mercs seem to be going higher in price as well.

 

I may be wrong, but it seems a bit early for the Christmas season to be a factor and the stock market seems to be kind of blan, so I'm figuring the coin market is probably gaining popularity among new collectors attracted to the hobby from exposure to the quarters and commeratives.

 

So other than winning the lotto or selling my house, how do I work my way up to some of those big dollar gems?

[Morgannut]

For the big dollar (read $500,000 up) most are aquired my very successful

businessmen just as a high dollar Picasso picture or Townsend made piece of Newport furniture. Same reasons too. I started collecting circulated morgans at face

when they were circulating and have sold two complete collections but obviously that can't be done anymore. Why not keep 10 to 20 percent of your long term

retirement savings in rare coins (certified) and your collection will grow just as a balanced stock and bond portfolio. It really adds up over 25 years. Try reading the

Rosen Numismatic Adviser advertised in Coinworld.

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My aim was at a bit more modest "big dollar" sets. For example, I am working on obtaining some lower grade Barber dimes because I can't afford hundreds on BU coins. But sets where many of the better examples are in the $1k+ range is but a dream for me today. The $500k club will likely never be a club that I could enter, though I suppose anything is possible in America.

[gmarguli]

So other than winning the lotto or selling my house, how do I work my way up to some of those big dollar gems?

 

The same way you work your way up to everything big in life. You save up for them. Do without something here and there and set your priorities.

 

Sorry, but there isn't anything more to it than this. No magic way to get nice coins.

 

And overall, I'd say that almost all "big" collections have been put together by their current owner rather than handed down over time. Very few are handed down.

[topsman]

You just have to set the money aside that you are willing to spend. The more you set aside the greater your buying power is. Unless your making like $250,000 you really have to scale down and decide first what you can afford, and second out of the coins you can afford you need to decide what you want the most. Think about what would make the best collection for YOU, and then just keep hunting for the best deals. And you don't have to purchase on a regular basis, patience is virture (or something like that). Sometime I'll hunt for weeks until I find just the right coin and just the right price, and bang, I buy it!

 

To add my personal experience, I'm an 18 year old college student with a part time job. I pay everything I need to for the week, toss a few bucks in the bank and whatever is leftover next pay day goes into the coin fund. I manage to set aside about $50 or so week. And for me that is plenty, I'm finishing up pieceing together an up to date PR69UC set of state quarters. And once I'm caught back up, I'll move my collecting interest to a new series, and just keep working on it until I've collected as much of it as I could / could afford. Not to keep blabering, but I also stress consistency in collecting. Find a series and stick with it. At first I would buy a Merc or two, then a few kenndys, and sometimes I would wonder where my collection was heading.? But once I decided on a solid set to collect I could focus the moajority of my attention on that set alone, not to say I would'nt grab a good deal if it came along. But after pieceing even just a small recent date collection together from scratch, I'm actually proud of it, and feel it is a solid set, and not just scattered pieces of one.

 

And I will rambel onward and upward. Another big part of my overall collection is cherry picked coins. And working at a grocery store really helps me in that aspect. I know they are circulated coins, but still to buy a silver washington in any condition for 25 cents, or an indian penny for a penny, there is no way to lose. The only downfall of cherry picking, is it is very tedious and has many dry periods with no finds.

 

Ok now that I've talked your ear off... what I'm basically saying, is look at what you have to invest into coins, and make the best choice for your dollar. Just stick with it. As almost every coin book printed reads "Never assume you will build a million dollar collection". Coin collecting is a hobby plain and simple. And although it is now used as an investment tool, it should still only be looked upon as a hobby. Never think about how much this coin will be worth 20 years from down, (I mean look at the stock market), Look at what the benifit will be of adding the coin of choice to your collection. When you put the $$$ before the hobby, you are looking for disaster.

 

Sorry guys, didn't mean to ramble so much....

[Morgannut]

The last post clearer than mine. Yes you save a little money at a time and you

will make out great and have fun hobby. I never owned an uncirculated expensive

Morgan until 2001. I stared collecting circulated dollars a face from money mowing

lawns for two bucks in 1959. Now that's like $20 per $1 coin today but, still I also bought two 1893s

and four 1894-P in VF to AU. The last two '94p's were less than $250 in the 70's , I still own both my PCGS AU-53 and NGC-55 and last show was offered $3,500 for the pair.

The other two were auctioned and thats where I got the money to buy a PL morgan that is tied with 8 for highest graded.

Why not save up and buy a few circulated 03-S, 01-O or a 95-0 barbers? (over time)

(NGC or PCGS only). The total dumb reason I bought extras of some keys was a list of lowest mintages in the back of the RED BOOK. Now you've got pop reports

which is a lot easier. The only mistake has been selling coins and not upgrading sometimes. Have Fun