How to increase your odds of making (or losing less) money on rare coins

[MarkFeld]

The article linked below was very recently posted on our web site. It is not, by any means, a cure-all, a guarantee or the only way to do things. It includes some opinions, generalities and ideas that I EXPECT some will disagree with. But, I think it is worth reading and hope that it will encourage some thought and hopefully, good discussion.

 

PS - it is directed at those who invest, as well as collect - regardless of whether we admit it or not, I think most of us have some collector AND investor in us.

 

Link

[MarkFeld]

CHIRP .....chirp......chir....chi....ch.....c.....

[andy007]

well, I really enjoyed it Mark. It's nice to see a well thought out article without spamming to buy your coins only. I certainly think of my coin purchases out as long-term investments, albeit only on a $50-300 or so dollar basis at this time and definitely not on the level of what most people might consider investment coins, however, with great help from a very select few of trustworthy individuals, have quite a nice collection going for being 25 years old in my opinion. Many of the coins I was actively pursuing have reached incredible levels within the past 2 years, so I am looking in other directions that also appeal to me, which is a great point you brought up in the article. Plus, it gives you time to pool your resources and study and make a well-thought out purchase that will be pleasing for as long as you own the coin.

[TomB]

Hey Mark, I feel your pain! I will respond to your thread if you promise to respond to the one I started and that only has one response on it thus far.

 

I think the points brought up in the Pinnacle article are quite valid and also think that the point about selling coins is one that many numismatists should read over and over again. Too many people, as far as I can tell, have the idea that they will never sell their coins and, therefore, don't have to worry about market cycles or values relative to other coins. Usually, folks find out when it's too late that they actually would like to move some coins. It's something to think about.

[Hoot]

Mark - GREAT article. Brief and to the point. I can tell you that this article was very timely for me, as I have some coins that I've been thinking that I need to part with - good coins, wonderful coins - but they simply do not fit my collection well right now. None are very expensive, but there was sentiment involved. Your article helped place that sentiment in perspective and fed my underlying belief that it is a good thing to part with some coins you like every now and then. (I think Sunnywood once said, it's easy to build a great collection and vastly harder to part with it. It's a good exercise in personal growth.) If I change my collecting habits in the future, then I can return to those series, but for now, it's best to place my resources elsewhere.

 

Thanks! I hope others can get as much out of the article as I did.

 

Hoot

[michael]

a great article! should be required reading for all on here every month or so!!

 

also tomb and hoot summed this article up very well

 

the article was well written and can actually make many people money who read it!! and take action !

 

sincerely michael

[Oldtrader3]

Good article, Mark. I think that many of we collectors have a combination of all-of-the-above types of coins. IMHO, it is kind of tricky for a collector to catagorize these holdings into their correct buckets, and therefore into the correct venue for sale. An honest dealer is certainly an asset in that process. Particularly for an estate liquidation.

 

Also, many collectors (myself included) have denomination sets (i.e. Saints, Trimes) which could be broken down individually or sold as an entity. Selling whole sets (or mostly whole) is an emerging market that may be much more prominent in the future than now. How to decide what to do, wait, sell, whatever!

 

I have not sold much material in several years (I have been accumulating). At some point, I will start to liquidate but there are many triggers (market conditions, health, future financial need) that need to be in place to drive this decision. I have a good bit of excess Type material at the moment that I should sell.

 

Most of this excess material is MS64-66, Certified collector grade coins. None of this material is really more than solid-grade, clean, collector Type. Problem is, that most of the more desirable (scarcer, higher grade) stuff is already in Registry Sets and I am reticent to liquidate them, yet. It would be nice though to divert this excess Type Coin money into others areas of my collection.

 

I worry about my children (none are collectors) having to deal with selling my coins, if I die prior to selling myself. Obviously, that makes it my duty to provide clear, concise, prior written guidance to help them make the optimal choices for disposing of my assets. I do not have a "major" collection, but it certainly is/would be a major asset within my estate.

 

These concerns are foremost because I was very ill recently. I am recovering now, after having very nearly died (my best friend was told at the Hospital that I would surely die within 2-3 days). Of course I did not die, but it certainly reminded me of my mortality and created a quandry of focusing on the correct collecting strategy for someone like me. Maybe, I should pull back my collecting ambitions, reorganize and make it more straighforward (more generic material, more investment material?) for my heirs?

 

This is a pretty specialized hobby and I would roll in my grave to hear one of the hobby's Trolls brag (as some have on the other Boards) about how smart he is because he screwed my heirs for $.10 on the dollar. It makes my skin crawl to read these leeches bragging about acting like it is smart business to be sub-human Gollum's. I personally would, just once, want to place pennies on one of these Troll's cold-dead eyes, after they died of apoplexy, having been screwed (themselves) in a coin deal.

 

I always tend to overdramatise my point, but you get the picture. What to do, what to do?

[gmarguli]

Good article, but I think it missed one major point. Buying the "money grade/wonder coins". The risk with these isn't addressed. I personally believe the risk is MASSIVE right now.

[dakra]

Saint Mark,

I love it and of course have a few comments I wonder if you dabble in the stock market or have dabbled in the past. Some of your thought can apply to the buying and selling of stock.

 

I have been building many different sets of coins, mostly silver coinage, some are fabulous looking coins. In my investment stratagy I figure if the value of the coin's go down, I will always have an investment in precious metals I will probably spend more than $2,500 when I finish my Peace Dollar collection (one more to go) and although I loved to learn about the Peace Dollars and put the collection together, if it was valued at $10k or 20k in a year, the investor in me would probably sell. Why? because if the market for Peace Dollars cooled from that point, I could put together another set for and still have a profit from the sale.

 

I'm not sure how you feel about Modern coins but since 1998 I have been buying two (or more) sets of everything, figuring one set is to keep and one set is to sell (hopefully at a profit) That way I always have money or the means to continue my hobby.

 

I tend to stay away from the rare coin market. With so many coins going for what seems to be astronomicalical amounts (which I have to admit are not in my budget right now) any downturn in the coin market and you could lose a good deal of money. (Same could be said about buying perfection in the modern market as well)

 

Right now I'm just working on my collection and selling old odd pieces here or there. It is the most fun I have had in collecting over the years. While my present state of mind is to collect, there's always that part of me that thinks of it as an investment.

 

Thanks for the article,

Dave