This is a quote that a fellow CTer made back in 2008. You may recognize his name as he is still an active poster. At the time, his quote hit a nerve as I was trying to "find" myself numismatically. I taped it to my wall so that I can read it every day. I wanted to share this with the group. 5 years after it was written here on CT, it still holds true. Numismatics is a hobby for me. Prices only affect my buying. If prices go up, I won’t be able to afford as many or as good coins; If prices go down, I’ll be able to afford more or better coins. It’s unlikely I will ever benefit dollar-wise from my collection. Whoever gets them in my Will, will be the beneficiary. My benefit is the pleasure of collecting and appreciating. Kanga 2008
I love the quote, and practice the same. I know there is quite a bit about pricing in this hobby. Its a large part of the "game". If you are a dealer, vest pocket dealer, flipper, etc this is very important to you. Fair enough. However, I make money at my job, and wish for my hobby to be just that, a hobby, a recreational pastime I enjoy. So, with that in mind, I try to educate myself, buy well, (so I can afford more coins), but I buy what I LOVE. The major problem with trying to only buy what you can make money off of is then you just turned it into a job. I do not WANT another job, mine is stressful enough. I want to enjoy myself. So, I KNOW many coins that give me great enjoyment I probably overpaid for. I will probably never be able to sell them for what I gave for them. However, I can do that because I do not care. The ENJOYMENT is worth it to me, and its enjoyment I would never have known if I only limited myself to buying coins I could profit on. Neither choice is wrong. If you want to "wheel and deal" and try to make money in this hobby, good luck and god bless. Good for you. I simply do not take that path, preferring to buy what gives me personal fulfilment without worrying about resale value.
It's good advice, but like anything, you can go overboard. Not being savvy about the market can be dangerous to your wallet. Also, I'm mystified by the occasional comment such as, "I don't care what happens after I die. I'll will my collection to my family and they can deal with it, etc." Why are some collectors so cavalier about their coins? What if the family members know nothing of coins and only manage to get pennies on the dollar for them? Would you treat any other asset in such a nonchalant way? Any of your property? If none of my family members ever take any serious interest in coins, I will sell them off myself before I depart this mortal orb, and use the money to pass on something they are interested in. Enjoying a hobby and being smart about your spending are not mutually exclusive. It not an either/or proposition.
Just as a response, I would say I said to educate yourself on the market to avoid overpaying, (unless you intentioanlly wish to do so). I talked about leaving the coins to my family, but never said I do not have typed instructions in the SDB on which dealers to send US coins/ancient coins/books to. So yes, of course be prudent and leave loved ones advice. I simply like to say collect for your pleasure to get people to realize they ARE going to lose monetarily most likely coin collecting, like most hobbies. We might have a better "residual" than some other hobbies, but its a money losing game for most of us, and we need to remember that. The "investment" aspect of coin collecting 99.9% of the time I view as salesman puffery trying to get people to spend more than they can afford on a coin with the lure that its a good purchase for your heirs. Its not, its for YOU, for YOUR pleasure, so any purchase should be justified as such.
I'm right there with Kanga's quote as well. My wallet never feels an impact because it's money I have set aside for the hobby, not anything else. As far as what happens after I'm gone, I keep a book with written instructions on exactly what I have, it's estimated value and how to go about getting rid of it the best possible way if thats what it comes down to. I have similar books for all my investments, whether they be stocks, property, art, books and so on. It takes very little time and your family will appreciate the effort someday.
I see some pessimism here on occasion on collecting coins as an investment, but I think coin collecting is a legitimate store of value, at the very least. In my case, considering I invest mostly in silver numismatic coins, the melt value of my coins provides a nice buffer in terms of the value of my collection. If the coins maintain or appreciate in value, that's an added bonus. Also, with the advent of eBay, it won't be too hard to liquidate my collection if I ever decide to do so. Overall, I should at least be able to retain my purchasing power.
Well, getting into PM is a whole other argument, (one that is argued endlessly on the PM forum). PM is a different animal. My comments here sir were addressed thinking of things like BU wheat cents, my flowing hair silver dollar, roman sestertii, etc. Items where PM value is meaningless to its overall value. But.....if a person "collected" for their pleasure items mainly valued for their PM, then I agree it seriously lessens potential losses. Its a strategy I have advocated endlessly on the PM forum, to get "collecting pleasure" out of PM holdings, that way you are getting the best of both worlds effectively. Me, for my PM I get "hoarding pleasure", kind of like Scrooge McDuck.
Yes, I see. One must distinguish between precious metals and base metals in numismatics. Collecting base metals seems to be more risky from an investment standpoint. Still, there is always going to be some risk in investing in rare coins.
Why ? It's simple, and there are 2 reasons - 1 because they don't do it for the money so they don't care about the money. And 2 because they have recognized and accepted that it is a fact that 95% of them, or more, are going to lose money on the deal anyway, so why bother worrying about it ?
