TIME TO QUIT??? posted by Eagles-R-it

[CSJournals-migration]

HHHHHMMMMMMMM!!!

 

How does one know if it is time to quit and liquidate or is it about taking time off to reflect, re-evaluate, and reconcile? THOUGHTS anyone.

 

See more journals by Eagles-R-it

[Electric Peak]

When is the time to liquidate?

1) When you need the money and don't have a better source,

2) When you no longer enjoy them as much as you think you will enjoy what you'd do with the money,

3) When you think the time is right to make a nice profit, if that's your motivation for having them in the first place

[Durham Collection]

Not sure if it helps answer your question but I will witness to my recent thoughts and actions on this subject. For me it wasn't a matter of calling it quits but moreso a refocus. I was well over 6-figures in coins and started realizing the cost to insure, upkeep, etc. was taking the fun out of it. I fell out of love with modern bullion vs. older coinage. I also started a set that I know I could not finish (US Type Set). There were a few key coins in there that required a Powerball win.

 

I also got frustrated with my Silver Eagles all Varieties set. It seemed like the maintenance of that set was too much. Each year, seems like I need to buy more and more. Silver Eagle (Struck at SF), Silver Eagle (Struck at W), Silver Eagle with W mintmark, Regular Silver Eagle. Don't forget about what's better...the early release holder, the first strike or brown holder? or another special holder? What a pain. The US mint needs to slow down. Modern silver has become RIDICULOUS. Baseball coins, Star Wars coins, Coins with Animals. I know...some of you out there are passionate about that type of stuff so I can't throw a stone per se.

 

I also had one of the #1 PF70 1 ounce Gold Buffalo registry sets. Each year, I would buy another coin (not cheap) and not to mention the recent reverse proof version that I predict will show up from time-to-time point forward.

 

I ultimately worked with dealer and liquidated my Eagles, Buffalos, Trade Dollars and the 77 of 92 coin incomplete US Type Set.

 

It was a breath of fresh air!!!! Yes I sold at a bit of a loss due to bullion being down but I will write that off on my taxes. I have no issues with the write off too. Fully documented. If the IRS wants to suggests that I am just a "hobbyist" and not an "investor," I would beg to differ! (Only "investors" can right off losses per se). That normalizes the sale to a wash I guess.

 

Since that sale, my smile has returned. I have become refocussed and have updated a few of my existing sets. I built a proof quarter set in one evening to match my Franklin proofs. I also sent in my 1907 High Relief that was in a chipped holder for years for a reholder. It bugged me so much. What dealers sells a client a High Relief in a chipped holder without disclosure! Thats not a small transaction. Not sure what took me so long...Probably keeping up with all the ridiculous bullion variations that was dragging me down. Also if you think people are willing to pay for the perfect grade on the bullion, think again. Most will not. You ultimately will have to eBay that stuff one by one to make good.

 

So my advice is to ask yourself the 3 questions mentioned above by Electric Peak (as they are good!). Do you want out because of money? Are you starting to fall out of love with your sets? (time for a "refocus"...Identify what you truly LOVE) or are you simply sitting on a nice profit that you can't pass that up?

 

Good luck to you! I think we all ask ourselves these questions. As suggested above any liquidation is much harder than you would think! It takes time....I can witness to that! From now I am only going to start a set I can finish (realistically). I love seeing that 100% complete next to a set. Its one of my personal goals and drivers. Identify what drives you in the world of collecting....that is key.

[RWB]

If you feel it's time to quit any hobby, first take a long break. That will help you adjust the time and attention elsewhere. Then you can better determine if this hobby is more rewarding for you than something else. I did that a couple of times and eventually discovered more satisfaction in researching coins and technology then in owning coins.

[Nutmeg Coin]

It never hurts to cull out the less desirable items and take you time trying to realize top dollar through the usual venues.

[Ultra Cameo Collection]

I took a 20 year break from collecting. What happened? I turned 21.

[Six Mile Rick]

HHHHHMMMMMMMM!!!

 

How does one know if it is time to quit and liquidate or is it about taking time off to reflect, re-evaluate, and reconcile? THOUGHTS anyone.

 

See more journals by Eagles-R-it

Delete all your sets including custom sets. Then stay off Collectors Society for 6 months. If you are happy after 6 months of no sets and communication with the society then you are ready to sell. If you can't stand the emptiness after a while then we will surely welcome you back!!

[Walkerfan]

If you enjoy it and aren't in the poorhouse, then you should never give up. I hate to see people quit what they love.

 

 

 

[jackson64]

I'm with Roger and Rick---maybe pare down your holdings if they are becoming an encumbrance but mostly just give yourself a break for a few months and then make the decision

[Mohawk]

Hey Eagles-R-It,

I've been where you are a couple of times. There was a time when what I collected was mainly US Coins with some World thrown in. The weird thing is that I always liked the World stuff better, but I didn't pursue World as strongly because I didn't have as much information on those coins as I did the US coins.

 

Around 2008, after some difficulties with my US collecting, I just got fed up. I was having no fun anymore and I was ready to throw in the towel. Then something magical happened. My girlfriend gave me this absolutely gorgeous little Ottoman nickel 20 Para coin. I fell completely in love with it, and it pushed me into a new direction and era of my collecting life. I began to pursue the World coins I had always loved and doing my own research into the coins rather than relying on the Red Book or monthly publications like I did in my US era. The research piece of it added a whole new dimension to the hobby for me, and I'm enjoying it more than I ever did prior to my change in direction.

 

Then I had a similar thing happen with Registry collecting last year. I had a lot of changes going on in my life at the time, and I felt that I had to take a break from the Registry. I was away from the Registry for over a year. During that time though, I was still here on the boards but simply as a seller in the Money Marketplace. Over the last few weeks though, I began to miss sharing my coins on here, seeing the coins everyone else collects and the communication with everyone here.

 

So I've rejoined, focusing in on my favorite coins ( Ottoman, German and the coinage of Queen Victoria) and approaching my collecting with more focus. I've also purged a lot of my modern coins over the past year, things like Mexican Libertads and other moderns to focus in on my main three areas. Losing the "dead weight" made me feel more confident and ready to return to the Registry with better focus and goal orientation.

 

Sometimes we need a break, and sometimes we need to find a new path to go on. If you feel that you need these things, you should by all means pursue this path of action. I know that breaks and some purging helped me figure out what I really want out of my collecting and my participation in the Registry. It's something to consider and it may lead you to your answer.

 

I hope that my little bit of input is of some help.

Best Regards

~Tom

 

 

[Critter8880]

Hey Eagles,

 

I've had a couple moments where my confidence was pretty shaken and I considered walking away a few years back, and I’ve seen other collectors go through things too. Just give yourself time…and permission to learn, change, and grow…as we go through life we have new experiences and learn new things, and this translates into the fact that we don’t stay the same person all the way through…and of course our coins will reflect this. Sometimes as I’ve changed and grown in life I’ve sold and flipped previous purchases from when I was new at this into something that fits who I am now.

 

Here is what I dealt with... A few years back I was kind of thinking like you “Is it time to throw in the towel?” A fellow coin collector was going through it and it was sort of rubbing off on me, as we were in the process of breaking away finding another local coin dealer that wasn’t unscrupulous (long story short liked to alter coins to command more money. We got burned on a few purchases). My coin buddy and I hunted up reputable brick and mortar shops to do the bulk of our shopping with and forged friendly relationships with local dealers, and all was good again in our coin collecting universe.

 

I learned a few lessons from this experience 1) I need to buy pieces that really make me happy, 2) never settle, 3) good local dealers are great inspiring people with a lot of knowledge to pass along, 4) move on and learn from mistakes and negative experiences in coin collecting—chalk it up to hands on in the field lessons, 5) conduct your own research, 6) Mostly I quit trying to pigeonhole myself into buying pieces to meet the requirements of fulfilling formal sets. I know this isn’t for everyone as some people are really into having structure, but the eclectic approach might be worth a try.

 

I do some formal set collecting. I’m really into Buffalo Nickels, British Farthings, and Netherlands Cents, but I budget myself some wiggle room to experience all kinds of coins. My recent coin purchases in the past few months have been: a MS 1916 Buffalo Nickel, a few Victoria and WWI era Farthings, a 1942 Walker, some awesome original color German notgeld, 1914 toned German mark, a few other German Empire and Weimar one offs, a Canadian nickel from WWII, a Carson City seated dime with cool dark toning that I can’t remember the date on right now. I keep them in a box I call my treasure chest and it is filled with coins from all over the world that I bought just because “they spoke to me.” As I’ve gone on I’ve learned a lot of famous collectors bought piece by piece. Enrico Caruso was really into ancient gold and bought it piece by piece.

 

Maybe you should in a week or two set a little coin fund aside and just go into a brick and mortar shop in your area. When you go in don’t force anything like I need this date for X set, just see what speaks to you in the cases or boxes. Another idea is to seek out a few coins from your background or maybe a time or place you find fascinating. Maybe you are interested in America’s Old West, French Revolution, WWI, Industrial Revolution, Weimar Germany, Meiji era Japan, Imperial Russia, British India, Victorian England, etc—find coins from them and actually hold part of that society. Doing these things might lead to an entirely new path.

 

Wherever your journey leads best of luck, peace, and happiness

 

[CyberspaceVoid]

Oh no ... not more "Dark-Siders"!

 

Yeah, world stuff can be pretty amazing after you have experienced only US for years and years, and as a bonus it introduces you into a wider understanding of history and various cultures around us. However it can be difficult to learn how to focus your collecting as the possibilities are endless. Before you get too involved I advise you decide on a theme. Another choice would be more esoteric 'stuff' like medals and tokens (my favorites).

 

Take some time to share your interests by joining a club or introducing the hobby to scouts etc. You just might find that in itself is more rewarding than anything else.

[Critter8880]

Solid advice CyberspaceVoid!

 

Hey I hope you know this isn’t anything bad aimed at you as you seem like a super cool laid back dude, but the term “Dark Siders” totally coaxed another layer to this from my brain that I thought I should share, as it was a real defining learning experience for me that I was initially a little hesitant to share as so many people have solid fixed viewpoints on their coin collecting identities…but this was lesson 7 for me and it was the biggest one I’ve lived…

 

Back when my story went down… the former dealer put himself solidly in the US collector camp, and regularly went out of his way to belittle non-US coins. For a while because of this my buddy only saw himself as a world collector and was a bit jaded and bit by US coins and some of their collectors. One of the biggest lessons from my confidence being shaken was an identity crisis that when I came out on the other side--I realized I didn’t want to define myself as either a US or World collector. I think we as collectors need to stop having camps, and have the only real purpose behind those classifications should be in the grading offices at tpgs.

 

This soul searching experience made me stop putting labels on my coin collecting, as I didn’t want to contribute to divides in our fun hobby. I also didn’t want to miss out on a cool coin as “it’s not what I properly collect”. As I’ve learned in my anthropology classes identity is something that is fluid, and not static. I became a happy coin collector when I flipped all identifying labels other than “coin collector” a big fat bird. All I want to be is a free thinking rebel coin collector. I am a world collector in the sense that I live here on planet earth, and collect coins from my back yard and across the globe, and past and present societies. I am a curator of time and space, and my treasure chest is a documentation of people and how they have built their societies. Nationhood and race are social constructs. We have our differences as people, and that is what gives us our own distinct identities, but at the end of the day we are all human. We only get to be human for a little bit of time in the grand scheme of things, and all peoples have something beautiful or something valuable to learn from their societies. It is amazing to see through coins the documentation and stories of humankind—so flip all labels the bird and be a free thinking coin rebel. Thinking and making choices for yourself will make you happiest. Thoughts should be free!

 

Schön ist die Welt!

 

[Mohawk]

Both times, the Critter has hit is on the head! Those are some sound words that we can all follow and live by. We should all embrace the community that we are a part of rather than building walls up and segmenting ourselves. We all do something important with whatever we collect because we are the custodians of it and we're ensuring that whatever coins we collect are preserved for generations to come. They can still tell their stories in the coming years, decades and centuries because we have collected them so they can do that.

 

We should all just be numismatists, and embrace this great and large community that we are all a part of!

 

And CyberspaceVoid you give great advice as well. We should share what we do with others. It's how this great hobby continues to grow and lasts for generations. That's why I came back, to share my coins and enjoy everyone else's coins. It's great to see all of the different things we all do!

 

Well said Critter and CyberspaceVoid!!

 

~Tom

[James_OldeTowne]

When is the time to liquidate?

1) When you need the money and don't have a better source,

...

In my experience, when you "need the money" is usually about the worst time to "liquidate", regardless of the available sources!