Not sure where to go from here in this hobby

Agree with this approach except that I would consider selling unwanted coins and using the proceeds to buy coins I really wanted. But to do that, someone needs to define their goals.

This is what I did in 2006. Between 1998 when I resumed collecting and June 2006, I bought a lot of lower quality material because I was trying to fill holes in sets (no albums here though) and also just because I liked to buy coins regularly.

Then the Heritage Long Beach sale had a big collection with a lot of coins I really wanted buy. Coins I had never seen before and many only occasionally or not since. I couldn't buy everything I wanted but the only way to justify spending what I did (to myself) was to sell from my current holdings which is exactly what I did. I had never sold anything before and it was certainly a learning experience.

I ended up selling about 100 coins through eBay, overall breaking about even. I used the proceeds (about $6000) to buy nine coins which I liked a lot more. I still own all of them today.

Since then, I have accumulated other coins that I also would be better off selling but it is a lot of work and the pricing is weak. As an example, I have abandoned any attempts to mostly complete the full South Africa Union series because I can no longer buy the coins cheap as I did prior to 2010. I almost exclusively buy pillar minors with an occasional coin from my other series, such as Bolivian Republic decimals.

The prices are also higher since I started which is annoying but this is offset somewhat by better availability.

 

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The US is the largest numismatic market by a substantial margin. Financially, also by a noticeable multiple if Heritage is any indication.

From what I can see, the primary explanation for the incidence of collecting or lack of it is cultural. There is little correlation between collecting and affluence. Affluence is a necessary precondition but in and of itself has essentially no predictive value. This is evident first in the price level. Second, in countries where collecting is more popular the coinage is invariably a lot more common or very common because a larger collector base existed in the past to preserve the current supply which exists today. This is true of the US, the Anglo countries (UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) and most (or all) of Western Europe. The scarcity also impacts how popular collecting will be in the future because no one can buy what doesn't exist.

Variety is also very important which is a primary reason I believe US collecting is also very popular. No other country has equivalent variety over the same time period.

The combination of availability and variety make it feasible for any (prospective) collector to buy something they actually want and can afford in the US and other countries with long term traditions of collecting. This as opposed to say, South Africa where the variety is much less and a disproportionate percentage of the coins are unusually scarce (most Union and many ZAR).

 

There are a lot of good perspectives. I'm just kind of not worrying for now about completing sets and filling holes. Instead I'm doing other things and waiting until the coin bug bites again. I still like coins but don't feel much need to buy more right now, besides maybe digging through value bins once in awhile. So there's no reason to push it if I'm not feeling it. I'd like to sell some of the coins that excite me less but it really seems like a bear market for me lately. I don't know if it's eBay's search algorithms or what but my stuff just doesn't sell like it used to.

 

Try selling here.

 

If I can't sell to the millions of people on eBay it's hard to believe I'd have better luck here.

 

Hey, it's free and you can talk to us.

 

I know you know this but anything will sell at the right price. It just depends upon how badly you want to sell it.

If it is any consolation to you, I haven't sold anything in about six years. But I know that if I did attempt to sell the coins I'd like to unload now, I'd lose money on them. Not a lot absolutely but proportionately.

The coins I would most like to sell are moderately priced South Africa Union. I should have sold them back in 2010 when prices were much stronger but did not. At the time, I still had the intent to buy back most of the more expensive coins I sold since I knew (yes knew) prices were going to decline. I didn't want to "gut" my collection because, though the coins are much easier to buy than they were up to 2004, still not easy except directly from South Africa.

Since then, I have changed my mind. Many of the coins are far cheaper than when I sold them though the better and scarcer ones are more expensive than when I bought them. I'll probably just complete a better type set and randomly buy "key" dates.

Most of the coins I have that I'd like to sell, I'll probably just keep them because it isn't worth the bother for such minimal amounts. The primary motive I have is to free up space because of the slabs.

 

I also assumed prices would keep going up so I should buy as much as I could now to save money later. Of course no one can predict the market. For awhile I thought Brazilian coins would be huge, and then their economy crashed.

I do feel though that I probably have had more money and opportunity to buy coins in the past few years than I can foresee anytime in the future. Once kids and mortgages start coming I don't know when I'll feel able to spend frivolously again.

 

Hi, try collecting civil war tokens. You can get decent tokens for $25. Join the civil war token society and buy the Fuld book. Good luck!

 

Is there anything you really like but never bought because it is above your price range? Do you think you might be able to change your collecting approach to focus on a lower number of coins bought less frequently?

If the answer is yes, you should consider what I did in 2006. Identify what you can part with now, sell it for what you can get and use the money to buy a more expensive coin you wouldn't buy otherwise. You can also save up any coin budget you have over a longer period of time to buy something intermittently in the future.

 

I've always focused on filling sets instead of certain coins, so any coin I wanted was aimed at finishing the set. If I change my approach I'll need to see what else is out there.

 

The stamp posts parallel what I am doing: Get a coin from every country (also Dead, extinct countries, the stamp term, adds interest.) Then a first issue, same denomination (dollar/pond for example), etc. Using a coin site, for example: http://en.numista.com/ I have 113 countries and many more to go... Get a bulk bag of coins from eBay, buy the 5-15¢ material in the local dealer box, etc.

 

Hiddendragon, you and I have been around this site for a long time. I too branched out several years ago with the intend of collecting as many coins from as many world countries as I could. It got pretty large and filled up a lot of binders. I can't even begin to guess how many hours, weeks, months, I spent putting them all in 2X2s and cataloging them all. I finally drifted away from all that and began to focus on being more selective in what I collected. Silver has always been a factor. I still collect World Silver coins, bullion and circulating coins, and probably always will. I think if you were to pursue the 20th Century Type Set, you will find that you could completed the set without spending a lot of money on the individual coins. Heck, you probably have most of them already. Go to this link:

http://typesets.wikidot.com/mexico:20th-century

Download the Excel file and start filling in the blanks. I was able to complete the 96 coin set with only 1 coin costing me over $50 and it was $55. My average cost on the 96 coins was $8.99.

The other thing I did was start collecting World Mint and Proof sets. That way I get uncirculated coins at a fraction of the individual cost per coin. I pick up a lot of cheap Silver along the way. it's a little most expensive but you are buying better quality coins.

I would not stray from you bugs and animals. You probably have the best bug collection going. Why not photograph them, do some research, and put them in a book> Won't cost you anything, you already have the coins. You'll have fun learning how to photograph them and the book process will consume a lot of time. It'll keep up you interest in the coins and you won't have to spend any more money for a while.
Download the software from Blurb and do the book offline. Cost is only about $40.

http://www.blurb.com/photo-books?googaud=brand&gclid=CMi2gNeSn88CFdgJgQodT60BNA

If you decide to "clean house" like I did, go through you inventory, select the coins you want to keep and sell the rest as a "collection". I sold about 2,000 bulk coins on Craigs list for $200. I put together about 700 coins in 2X2s and cataloged, put the Excell spread sheet on a DVD along with some other coin collection programs I had. Added an extra DVD Copy of Krause World Coins and created a "package". I sold the lot on Ebay for about $170. I got rid of a lot of coins I really had no more interest in and spent the money on coins that I did.

Thing is, you don't have to do anything today.

Congratulations on the new baby to come.

 

Thanks for the suggestions and the congratulations. I looked at the Mexico type set file and I already have almost all of them actually. Like you said, the good thing is I don't need to make any decisions immediately so I'll probably just wait awhile and see what I feel like later. I purchased a few animal coins today which were my first in quite awhile. Probably will be the last in awhile too, but those I don't think I'm going to get tired of.

 

Not qualified you say? And what makes one qualified? Possession is 9/10ths of the law, you have them, study them. Write what you know and add opinions . stories if how you acquired some. Before you know it, people will tell you your an expert!

 

My favorite game: Ancients, Ancients and More Ancients.

 

Come over to the dark side—Ancients. I became an ancients collector in 2008 and it rejuvenated my life and gave me purpose. LOL This is my first comment on the World Coins page. I'm just visiting.

 

We all worry about financial commitments, job security etc. but a hobby helps one overcome some anxiety and feel good. I started collecting GB silver several years back and then switched to sovereigns and other nice examples in the yellow stuff .

For me eBay bidding was a great learning curve. I bought some really bad stuff, some fakes (unintentionally) and some good stuff. My worst hit was on a fake 1847 Gothic Crown worth $$$ purchased from a so-called reputable dealer with an impeccable positive feedback profile from many thousands of buyers. I learnt not to rely on feedback profiles since most eBay buyers are not qualified to comment on fakes. Later I switched to more reputable dealers and auction houses with slabbed coins simply to get away from fakes. It worked for me.

What I have also realized over the years is that selling coins is not that easy. One has to wait several years to make it worthwhile after deducting selling costs of between 12-20%. It is very difficult to sell something you've cherished in the past, at a loss. Also like all things, coins also go through a cycle, so you have to wait to catch it near the peak when selling. I have seen coins achieving much higher prices in 2013-14 than in the current market. Just my observation.

You are obviously one of the younger members on this forum and therefore, I suggest you pace yourself. Try to see which part(s) of your collection no longer interest you and sort those out for 'selling'. Sell them when you feel they are achieving the desired prices on auction sites, including eBay. Concentrate more on getting that one special coin or type that you've always wanted, from the sale proceeds.

In the meantime, just participate in forums like this and enjoy the coins that other members post, if those are of interest to you. I never feel I have to own a coin to appreciate it or comment on it.

Finally, with a baby on the way, you will be elbow deep in soiled nappies in a few weeks/months and will yearn for a full night's sleep. For the first few months I doubt if you'll have any spare time to even visit us here, leave alone search for particular coins. So just enjoy the experience and spend quality time with the family.

Hope everything goes smoothly and you are blessed with a happy and healthy baby.

 

Thanks for your thoughts and the kind words. Much of what you say goes along with how my thoughts have been going recently. With the last few coins I've bought I focused on getting coins that were special to me instead of just mindlessly filling a hole in the collection. And I've been too busy to really worry about buying stuff, since in the past I tended to browse eBay when I had some free time. The baby is three months away now so this is the calm before the storm.

 

"With the last few coins I've bought I focused on getting coins that were special to me instead of just mindlessly filling a hole in the collection"

That's the way to do it!