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“Average” coin collection?
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66 posts in this topic

GBrad and Hogsheads.  Well my friends would you mind a third musketeer ?  I too, am wanting some gold. Tenth oz is fine. Their around $200+ but I never seem to have it when I need it. That said there must be a way for 3 coin collectors to buy some gold. Perhaps a think tank( in my case tank is a little bit large, maybe a cup)   Anyway maybe trading may be a way to go. Just thinking 🤔 

Good night my friends. Tomorrow is a new day 😉

Edited by James Zyskowski
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Sure gold and silver coins are great to have as staples in every coin collection or as a hedge against ultra high inflation - which inflation is near a 30 year high currently. However, the problem is gold coins graded NGC AU 55 or higher will in some cases cost around $300.00+ per coin. Personally I'd rather collect what I can afford (without going broke in the process) and like the design of. At the end of the day we all collect coins for various reasons or wants thus there's really no "Wrong" or "Right" way to collect coins - unless you're doing it just to try to make a quick buck to get bailed out of a bad investment that you've made in the markets during the trading day.

Edited by Tony Follis
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On 12/7/2021 at 8:59 PM, James Zyskowski said:

Well guys. There’s always this but I keep thinking of that commercial “whimpy,whimpy, whimpy “😉

23DAD93F-2F76-4EC5-8AE5-19B900EAF70E.png

Ive got a 1 gram gold bar from PAMP. Ive also got around 3 or 4 grams of  raw nuggets and flakes. Ive been wanting to add a gold coin to my collection. Im the type that dont care if it makes me money later on down the road or whatever. I just want one for the collection. Have no plans on ever selling it when I do get one. Im just a collector with no plans on trying to make money off my collection. Money dont mean nothing to me. Sure I need it and would like to have alot of it. But my collection means more to me than any dollar amount I can get from it. That being said I cant wait to enjoy admiring my first gold coin when I can save up for it. 

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Hogshead.   I relate exactly to what your saying. I picked up 10 - 1 gram valcom’s some time back and they are nice but they ain’t a coin. I too, will keep and love it, never (hopefully) sell it.  This’ll be fun supporting each other and whopping it up as we get our coins.  😉

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On 12/8/2021 at 12:37 PM, James Zyskowski said:

Hogshead.   I relate exactly to what your saying. I picked up 10 - 1 gram valcom’s some time back and they are nice but they ain’t a coin. I too, will keep and love it, never (hopefully) sell it.  This’ll be fun supporting each other and whopping it up as we get our coins.  😉

Nothing wrong with having some items that aren't coins.  I have six of the Egyptian Gods High Relief 2 oz Silver Rounds from the Sunshine Mint.  They're not coins, but they're gorgeous pieces that mean a lot to me.  That's ultimately what a collectible should be, in my opinion.

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I understand wanting to have gold coins. What I do not understand is buying bullion coins for that purpose when US business strikes are often available near melt. I generally hold back my opinions about bullion coins, but in this case, if you are at least a collector of actual US coins, good lord. There's your chance.

In case you're shopping for them, here was my experience at the coin dealership: gold sucked. We hated it, and we hated most of its buyers and sellers. Why? Short version: bad attitudes, and we couldn't make any money.

Gold buyer's distilled attitude: "Uh, I'm here to spend four figures so that you get a monstrous profit. You should smooch my backside as I am Mr. Moneybags."

Reality: He would expect to pay melt for a Saint, maybe a bit less. We'd charge melt + $20 for a coin we bought for melt - $20. So he'd think we were hosing him, and we'd know none of it was worth our time. If he paid with a credit card we'd lose even our pathetic profit.

Gold seller's distilled attitude: "Uh, I am bringing big shiny moneys to sell so you can make a monstrous profit. You should smooch my backside for this."

Reality: He would expect to be paid slighly above melt for a Saint. The idea that we'd pay less would almost cause him to stroke out. He'd be sure we were hosing him, and we'd know none of this was worth our time. In the meantime, a lot of capital would be tied up in that gold coin, capital that if spent on quality foreign coins would generate revenue quickly--ultimately doubling our investment.

The moral of the story is that if the coin people don't sport prodigious erections when you come in talking about buying gold, and don't give you big discounts on it, it's because gold sucks for them. But they can't tell you any of this, because they're pretty sure it'll trigger you (it would trigger most buyers/sellers). So they just get through it.

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Gold bullion is often bad for dealers, Jonathan.  You're dead on.  When I worked at the coin shop, my bosses viewed gold as a necessary evil and one that was very easy to lose money on, which the shop did.  My favorite local coin shop in my area all but went out of business.  They went from being open six days a week to only one, and they changed what they buy and sell.  Why?  Gold (and silver to a lesser extent) was killing them.  They'd buy gold and silver bullion coins for inventory and then the price would drop and they'd instantly lose money.  They couldn't keep taking the hits on bullion and bullion coins.  Those things DO suck for dealers, it's the truth.  Many buyers do think coin shops make a huge profit on gold.  That's definitely not the case.  Margin-wise, the shop I worked at made more profit on the candy bars we sold than on gold bullion a lot of the time.

Edited by Mohawk
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When I get my first coin I dont care what kind it is. Id love it just the same as any other. I really like the older gold coins. I like the old Indian heads the best. Either Gaudens or Pratts designs both I find very appealing. But I will settle for a modern gold coin also. That will probably be more of what I can afford. A modern $5 gold eagle coin. But I will be very grateful when the day comes I get to add any one of them to my collection. I dont own any gold coins at all and I will be satisfied wigh what I can get. Id like one I can take out and admire and be content. Maybe in the future I may be able to own both one of these days but as of now trying to put a kid thru college and raise another and pay an awful amount of payments and bills has me restricted to barely buying one or two silver GW quarters a month for my complete set Ive been trying to put together. 

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JKK. I understand and feel your pain. I don’t know what drives me. Perhaps I feel guilty for all the dang stupid stuff I bought. I know I should get a real proper coin but I’m with Hoghead on this one a $5 tenth oz age would be just fine so would a maple or Aussy WW2 commemoratives or you get my point. This is a first time thing and will be cherished ( I’ll try to get a cool one but there’s no hurry). Jz

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Thats probably what Ill go after when the time comes. Ill probably go for a business strike. More than likely will buy online. We dont have no local coin shops close by. Just pawn shops and the 2 or 3 we got are really proud of their inventory. They ask crazy prices. You can go online and buy a higher grade of the same coins they offer for half the price. Was trying to buy a 1956 GW one time in ms65 the one place had. They wanted $150 for it. I tried to haggel them down and they wouldnt budge a cent. I showed them a nicer looking ms65 on Ebay for $40. They told me to go buy it off them. They said someone will eventually come by and buy it. Told me they have no trouble selling their coins. I told them I dont see how. Must be people who dont know much about them. I priced checked several of their coins with ones online. They are rediculously overpriced on several. There was nothing special looking about them either. No appealing toning or anything that would make them worth more. This was just the graded examples. I never price checked the ones ungraded laying under the glass countertop. Didnt waste my time. They wont work with a person. Never tried the other pawn shops. They both have smaller invetory. Way over priced common proof sets i had no interest in. Never asked if they would come down any. I wish we had a regular coin shop here close with honest people running it. 

Edited by Hoghead515
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On 12/8/2021 at 8:27 PM, J P Mashoke said:

It took a lot of thought and question asking around here from members { And I thank you all for your help } before I purchased my first gold coin 8 months ago and in the end I chose to go with the a older gold coin not bullion I am not a investor I am a coin collector. If I had bought a bullion coin the value would be roughly about the same today, Not to say it may go down tomorrow but because I bought a real coin it has gone up almost $450 more than what I paid for it. I am not a rich man just a working guy that likes coins and had some money put aside. I figured it was better in a coin than in a bank account getting no interest LoL  I got lucky and my first gold coin I got was Beautiful and a good deal. The coin has a story also, it was in a local collection and was bought from the wife of the estate by the coin store I go to and get my deals. It was raw and he sent it out to be graded knowing it would be at least MS He just got it back from PCGS  when my wife and I were there that day because we wanted to get a gold coin and we happen to be one of the first to see it in the slab. My wife said that was one of those meant to be things and I better buy that coin. So my wife and I are the first owner of this coin in a slab I think that in itself is kinda cool. Here is a Trueview photo of the MS 63 coin my wife made me buy.    

MS63 PCGS.jpg

I used to have one exactly like this one when I 15 years old. In my case I was walking to work (I couldn't get my DL until I was 16 years old) on an old railroad. I put it in my pocket and went to bed after work. The next morning I went to school and by the time I got home from school my stepmom had went into my room and stole it. I asked her why she took it and she said "I needed to buy a pack of smokes". After she did that I stopped collecting coins for 29 years and I'm slowly "Tip toeing" back into the hobby which is why I consider myself a newbie.

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On 12/8/2021 at 10:27 PM, Tony Follis said:

I used to have one exactly like this one when I 15 years old. In my case I was walking to work (I couldn't get my DL until I was 16 years old) on an old railroad. I put it in my pocket and went to bed after work. The next morning I went to school and by the time I got home from school my stepmom had went into my room and stole it. I asked her why she took it and she said "I needed to buy a pack of smokes". After she did that I stopped collecting coins for 29 years and I'm slowly "Tip toeing" back into the hobby which is why I consider myself a newbie.

Man, Tony, I'm sorry.  That's a terrible story.  I see why you were away from the hobby for a while and I'm glad you found your way back.  

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On 12/5/2021 at 2:08 PM, VKurtB said:

Correct. Stop following. Do what makes sense for you, what interests you, and stop trying to turn a buck. 

Yep.  This exactly.  I'm certain that I'll never make a profit collecting what I do, but I like it so I don't care.  I do it for fun, academic interest and to network with fellow collectors.  It's also something that my fiancée and I do together since we both collect.  Those things are their own rewards for me and much more important than money.

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On 12/8/2021 at 8:27 PM, J P Mashoke said:

It took a lot of thought and question asking around here from members { And I thank you all for your help } before I purchased my first gold coin 8 months ago and in the end I chose to go with the a older gold coin not bullion I am not a investor I am a coin collector. If I had bought a bullion coin the value would be roughly about the same today, Not to say it may go down tomorrow but because I bought a real coin it has gone up almost $450 more than what I paid for it. I am not a rich man just a working guy that likes coins and had some money put aside. I figured it was better in a coin than in a bank account getting no interest LoL  I got lucky and my first gold coin I got was Beautiful and a good deal. The coin has a story also, it was in a local collection and was bought from the wife of the estate by the coin store I go to and get my deals. It was raw and he sent it out to be graded knowing it would be at least MS He just got it back from PCGS  when my wife and I were there that day because we wanted to get a gold coin and we happen to be one of the first to see it in the slab. My wife said that was one of those meant to be things and I better buy that coin. So my wife and I are the first owner of this coin in a slab I think that in itself is kinda cool. Here is a Trueview photo of the MS 63 coin my wife made me buy.    

MS63 PCGS.jpg

I like the coin and I like the story, JP.  It's got both things going for it.  I've owned a couple of $5 Indians in my time, but I'm very poor at keeping them.....I always seem to end up selling mine to put the funds into currency or ancients.  Typical me, right?  But I hope your coin is with you guys for a long time.  It's a good one and maybe if mine had been as nice, they'd still be around.

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On 12/2/2021 at 9:23 AM, The Neophyte Numismatist said:

But… what do you think the “average” collection looks like?

There are lots of different collectors.

I am a "Type" collector who collects various types of coins that represent different patterns, coin types, years, commemoratives, bullion, etc.  The bulk of my coins and $$$ are probably in Morgan Silver Dollars and Saint-Gaudens gold coins.  After that, American Silver Eagles and Gold Eagles...plus various buillion coins and commemoratives.

Every coin I own either (1) has artistic or aesthetic appeal to me (2) serves as a bullion investment if prices ever go parabolic or (3) represent a classic coin with part of American history behind it.

That's what I like so I do that. :bigsmile:

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I buy the nicest and best I can afford but primary buy for what I like or find interesting.  Typically US coins from the 1800's (but I do have some from the early 1900's).  I don't have any completed sets at all.  My goal is to have at least one of every coin type.  So while I look for what I don't have I also upgrade on what I do or add to those types when I come across something nice.  Then there are coins I'll just never own like a Flowing Hair Silver Dollar or '1856 Flying Eagle which come to mind for starters. 

The real goal is just to enjoy and admire and one pass on to my nephews and niece.  Hopefully they'll appreciate whatever I end up acquiring in the end.

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Here's what I know about collecting: Before anyone sends a coin in for grading, they should ask how much coin they could buy for the grading fee, and then ask whether they'd rather have that. For example, I could send a bronze late Imperial piece in, pay what is it, maybe $80, and receive it in plastic. Or I could spend that $80 on a rather nice Caracalla silver ant. Let's see...which makes the most sense? It's even worse with the dipped_in_animal_waste modern junkers. How fantastic an example could one get for $60? The answer would be many fantastic examples, because few modern coin issues are valuable and most can be had in amazing condition for little.

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On 12/11/2021 at 1:59 PM, MN1 said:

I buy the nicest and best I can afford but primary buy for what I like or find interesting.  Typically US coins from the 1800's (but I do have some from the early 1900's).  I don't have any completed sets at all.  My goal is to have at least one of every coin type.  So while I look for what I don't have I also upgrade on what I do or add to those types when I come across something nice.  Then there are coins I'll just never own like a Flowing Hair Silver Dollar or '1856 Flying Eagle which come to mind for starters. 

The real goal is just to enjoy and admire and one pass on to my nephews and niece.  Hopefully they'll appreciate whatever I end up acquiring in the end.

Aren’t all the 1856 Flyers considered patterns? There was a full blown production of 1856 large cents and 1857 was the transition year from large to small.

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