Coins...investing...prices

[Skrimpy]

Ok. I've been doing a lot of reading, looking at values, occasional MDing, made a few posts here, and done lots of thinking. From everything I have learned, I gather this still makes me a novice. I was thinking of collecting but was wondering where to begin. So I have some questions for the experts here. Again, this maybe novice but I use the terms collecting/investing interchangably because I assume the only way to collect is to treat them as investments.

1. Is it better to buy and sell slabbed, buy non slabbed and get them slabbed, buy non slabbed and sell nonslabbed or is it something that is situation dependant?

2. I see several sources mentioned as good places to get value information from. Blue book, Red book, Ebay, and the online PCGS. This is all well and good but there is information missing here. What about how the value of the coins have changed over time. Wouldn't this be a nice piece of information to have when deciding to purchase a coin?

3. If I purchase a coin that is NOT graded at what potential value should it be graded? Do most use a hard value? $200? $300? Or is it something more intangeable and depend on things like what type of coin it is, how old it is, how much I spend on it, or if it is just such a nice looking coin that it should be graded?

4. At what point does a collection become worth more than the sum of it's parts or doesn't it? Also, what constitutes a collection? A set of coins showing an example of each year mark, and mint mark in the life of a certain design (ie Indians from 1850-1909 with all mintmarks and all doubled dies/errors)? Or, is a partial series considered a collection?

5. Probably belonging with the last question, should key dates or high value coins be bought and sold alone or as part of a set?

Again, forgive me for being such a novice but I appreciate any help.

 

[l.cutler]

First collecting and investing are very different. Collecting involves aquiring coins that interest you, whether historically or artistically, and usually with some order or pattern. Investing is simply aquiring coins that you feel will offer the best return over time. Decide what you want to collect, a certain denomination, a period in history, or type set of different denominations etc. there are as many ways to collect as there are collectors. When you know what you like, the next step is to learn. Knowledge is the single most important factor, buy books, subscribe to magazines or papers, join a club, etc. As far as slabbed coins, the usual advice is buy the coin not the holder. While grading companies are very good they are not infallible, mistakes do happen. If you can grade your own coins you can spot over or under graded coins whether slabbed or not. Go to coin shows where you can see many different coins in one place, meet some dealers and get a feel for who you may want to deal with, but most of all have fun it is a great hobby!

 

[djui5]

1. Is it better to buy and sell slabbed, buy non slabbed and get them slabbed, buy non slabbed and sell nonslabbed or is it something that is situation dependant?

Yes, coins are a great investment. The best way to make money with them is to find good coins that are not slabbed, have them graded, and sell them for a great profit. 1000% profit is easy when your doing this. The trick is to know what to look for, and to find them. Graded coins always sell for more $ than non-graded, plus you have some rock solid pricing information, where with ungraded coins it's kinda "you get what you can" for them. So the best thing to do is to learn what coins are good, and go find them ungraded. This involves some luck and some skills.

2. I see several sources mentioned as good places to get value information from. Blue book, Red book, Ebay, and the online PCGS. This is all well and good but there is information missing here. What about how the value of the coins have changed over time. Wouldn't this be a nice piece of information to have when deciding to purchase a coin?

I don't know of any place that tracks the history of a certain coins value, but that's a good idea. You must be a stock investor.

3. If I purchase a coin that is NOT graded at what potential value should it be graded? Do most use a hard value? $200? $300? Or is it something more intangeable and depend on things like what type of coin it is, how old it is, how much I spend on it, or if it is just such a nice looking coin that it should be graded?

It really depends on the coin. Some coins you can buy in places for $10, have it graded and find out it's a super rare error, only to find out it's value is in the tens or hundreds of thousands. It's happened. What you should do is get a 2008 Red Book, and go through the coin values for each coin type. Note what coins are worth a lot, and go find those coins. If you find one's that are un-graded, then that's all the better because you can get it cheap and have it graded. Un-graded coins are worth about 10-20% of the prices listed in the Red book, unless the seller knows it's value and you both agree to a fair price. Also you need to really learn what certain grades of coins are, what to look for. You don't wanna buy a valuable coin that's worn out, because it'll be worth very little. It's somewhat expensive to grade coins, so always keep that in mind.

4. At what point does a collection become worth more than the sum of it's parts or doesn't it? Also, what constitutes a collection? A set of coins showing an example of each year mark, and mint mark in the life of a certain design (ie Indians from 1850-1909 with all mintmarks and all doubled dies/errors)? Or, is a partial series considered a collection?

A collection becomes worth more than the sum of it's parts when you have any coin in the collection worth more than it's face value. You could easily make a good profit by just finding silver coins in bank rolls. A guy on here found a ton the other day, and made over $2,000 in just a single day buying rolls of coins from the bank.

A collection is any amount of coins really. If you have 5 coins, you have a 5 coin collection. Some people collect entire series of coins, and that's fine, so you'd have a collection but it wouldn't be COMPLETE until you had every year in the series.

5. Probably belonging with the last question, should key dates or high value coins be bought and sold alone or as part of a set?

Again, forgive me for being such a novice but I appreciate any help.

Alone usually, but sometimes very rarely they're sold in a set. If you have an entire series of coins and the key dates are in great shape, it could raise the value of the set a bit. Entire series of coins are worth a lot of money usually because they're hard to put together. Finding every year in a set it rare. Keep in mind though, some key date coins are worth more, sometimes many times more, than the set, so it wouldn't be worth it to put a great condition key date coin in the set. You'd want to find one that's not in such great shape if you wanted to complete the set.

Best of luck. Coins are a great investment and a lot of fun. Look for the gold and silver coins

 

[Skrimpy]

First collecting and investing are very different. Collecting involves aquiring coins that interest you, whether historically or artistically, and usually with some order or pattern. Investing is simply aquiring coins that you feel will offer the best return over time.

I understand this but I have a feeling that no matter if I am saying that I am collecting or investing at some point the coins will be bought and kept for a period whether its a days, months, or years and at some point sold by me or an heir, making them an investment. So I can only see a collection, no matter for a hobby, or to make money as an investment.

Thanks for the help from both of you.

 

[fiatboy]

Good answers. I can't add anything.

Best of luck, Skrimpy.

 

[oldplacesnofinds]

If you want to use your collection as an investment, do it with gold and silver. They at least will always be worth their weight. If you want to collect coins, become an expert in one type to start. I started with indians. I love indian head cents and I became an expert just by reading up on them and collecting them. I also buy them in large lots and pull out the errors and have them certified. I have most of the slabbed errors that I found plus some less valuable ones I just put into 2x2's. I love looking at the double dies or the double dates. It is more gratifying to me since I found them. Kind of like hunting or raising a garden. Building and keeping a collection can get very expensive. I had over half of the early commemorative coins but had to sell them when my wife got ill while pregnant. Pick a good run of coins to start with like indians or if you want to go silver try mercurys. Both have some big time key dates that will cost you big bucks but they also have a lot of cheaper ones you can get started with. Good luck.

 

[chong2]

i like the large cents, alot of errors and varieties. problem is i have not been able to tell a "cleaned/dyed" cent untill i get it in my hand, pisses me off.!!!!!

 

[chong2]

oh, one good example, look at the chain cents in about good condition in the 2004 redbook, now look at it in the 2008 redbook, this is about condition too.