I've always been a collector first, and just deal coins to pay for buying stuff for my collection. I was wondering what full-time dealers do, do they collect as well? Do dealers who collect have collections of what they deal, or do they deal in another area from their collections?
I have never dealt full time, but did work for a full timer growing up (grade school thru high school). I do know from that experience that if you collect in what you deal, you will never make enough money to survive. If you are collecting coins while trying to deal in them, it gets real hard to sell the nice, choice coins.. you will tend to keep them in your 'personal' collection thus tying up money that you've invested in them... money that you should be trying to recover with hopefully a little profit added in there. It's a little thing called "conflict of interest". Since the time I worked for that dealer, I have dealt part-time, setting up at a few shows though I haven't done that in several years now. I guess I am half and half as a vest-pocket dealer (one who goes to a few shows, dabbles with mail-order and online auctions) and a collector. Since I am not trying to make a living by selling coins, I look at the money I invest in my collection as purely recreational spending. I sell a few coins here and there, mostly weeding out the collection to use the money to upgrade. Most recently, I have posted a bunch of stuff up for auction, but it was mainly a result of housekeeping I'm sure that there are other views on this subject, but I speak soley from my experiences. Hope this sheds a little light on things.
