I buy most of my coins from auctions within my state. I love dealer liquidation auctions and buying in bulk. I've gotten many great deals on these auctions and never bid more than, as previously stated, around 50-75% of bluebook (depending on how much I like the coin) which is generally a good price on any given coin within my budget. Or it will be by the time I'm ever ready to sell. I buy raw coins. I buy coins I like and for those will come out of my shell when buying from an individual. I check auction results archives and commit as much as possible to memory. I learn all I can on forgery/counterfeit detection. At this time I do not buy slabbed coins due to budget and the fact that I'd like to one day have a slabbed collection made from finds I've submitted. Who knows, maybe one day a person will be on CoinTalk all proud of their new purchase of a piece from the "Silentnviolent Collection". I'm a greedy hoarder and the reasoning behind it is that if I continue the trend for 30+ years I hope to have the experience, knowledge, and an inventory to open my own B&M when I retire. If I keep it up I believe I can have the shelves filled with my personal inventory rather than taking out a loan to get it. Everyone says not to get coins for investment. And I agree to a point. There are rarely any chances of a quick flip, unless you happen to cherrypick (guilty). Maybe I'm wrong and I'll fall flat on my face when the time comes and then everyone can say "I told you so" but until then I like doing it the way I do, and I have fun with it. Haggling is fun, and I do that too as well as bartering. I like the game and I like to go big but for me that means buying when I deem that the price is right, or I come up empty. I'm not in a hurry. I have all the time in the world to find the deals I like.
Complete the Dansco 7070 type set Finish the Capped Bust series (lowball grades) for an old Whitman I have Finish the pre-decimal Australian silver types Attain the last couple Canadian halves for the complete set of 1937-62 Find a nice 1909-s VDB to wrap up the Lincoln cents Begin the Indian Head cent set Complete my 41-47 Walking Liberty short set in all AU or better Begin the Seated Liberty Coinage sets for Half Dimes, Dimes, Quarters and Halves ...I think this will keep me busy until I start collecting social security.
My goal is to learn more about my 3 favorite types : toned Morgans $20 Liberty, and $10 Indians. Hopefully by slowing down and only buying a few coins per year I'll have the most eye-appealing collection possible for my budget. Right now I buy too many cheaper coins, which takes time and money from my core interests.
Buy a few books, learn a lot more so when I have the $$ and opportunity, be able to make smart purchases. And inthe meantime try to focus on a direction to collect, or else my OCD will have me all over the place.
Complete my Jefferson Nickel NGC Registry Set (6 coins to go) Upgrade my set until I am ranked #2 Upgrade my war nickel set until I am ranked #1 Sell off all other coins in my collection.
I think someone in Minnesota went to jail for something of late. Anyway, I doubt there are many such auctions in the former great North Western Territories and that some people can seem to do super human feats in email.
Yup someone running a high end B&M in St. Paul got nabbed making trips to China and contracting fakes, then selling them in fake PCGS slabs in his shop. There was an thread here on it somewhere. I'm in the NE quadrant; I suppose you are more in the metro area, medoraman? And you are right areich; these auctions have really come to a dead stop lately, save for one that ended yesterday that consisted of a complete Morgan collection. Every one was there but the 1895 proof. The 1893S was in high VF to low XF condition and went for under $1500... Wish I had deeper pockets
Complete my writings. Submit an article to the ANA in hopes for a scholarship. Complete my collection but we all know that ain't going to happen
My current "plan for numismatics" I too tend to be opportunistic & keep re-focusing on smaller sub-sets in the collection. My current "plan for numismatics" is to coordinate transportation & hotel for the ANA's World's Fair of Money in Philadelphia. I need to decide on either taking my car or Amtrak. (I could even turn the trip into a real adventure & take metro north & surface trains through CT, NY, NJ, and PA). Then there is the hotel selection...... If I don't get lost along the way, I will be attending on August 9 & 10.
I am in the process of pairing back my large cent collection and expect to sell of all my early, middle, and non-rare late date varieties over the coming months. I want to focus on picking up late date cuds with the occasional mint state examples.
I've been gravitating toward an idea posed to me by CT member, krispy: 20 coins. That is, limit, or refine, your collection to 20 coins—however you choose to define it. Your set might consist of 20 Morgans, 20 gold pieces, 20 coins from 1888, 20 from the 20th C, 20 toners, etc. I really like the challenge this poses. In my case, I'd like to build a really nice set of 20 of my favorite types (I'm partway there) and then, ideally, keep upgrading it. And I suppose, if you couldn't possibly limit yourself to 20 coins, you could have an "A" set and then whatever followed (depending on how much discipline you have ).