Are You An Impulsive Coin Buyer?

Getting moving this morning and thinking it is a good day to go see my dealer. Worked hard and deserve a reward.... So I am mentally inventorying my spare cash hidey-holes which coincidentally are among my coins. It occurs to me that probably 50% or better of my collection were impulse buys.

See, I’ll go in to his shop with a goal. I may see a cool piece here on CT and go to his shop with that particular coin as my goal. As it happens our negotiations take place over his main display case. My brain goes into a fog and all I see is all the wonderful coins under glass begging me to give them a home...... Man, I am a staunch businessman and never waiver doing a deal. But at that coin dealers counter I become soft as mud and buy way too many “fluff” coins.... And love em all.

Is it just me? When you do a deal are you solid as a rock when you see your dealer?

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Used to be very impulsive. But one day realized I had acquired way too many coins that I didn't really want to keep.

Probably the biggest change I've gone through over the years as a collector is to tap the brakes, dump all of the excess baggage, and become very slow and deliberate with purchase decisions. I can now leave a coin shop or show with nothing in hand and not feel like it was failed endeavor.

 

I'll admit it. I'm an impulse buyer of everything...not just coins. That's why I never carry money or credit cards with me when I go to the grocery store or the mall with my wife. I let her make the decision deal or no deal.

On coins, however...if it's pretty and the money is in my pocket, it's mine.

 

I am working on being much less impulsive when the impulse mechanism rears it's head. I do really like some of the impulse purchases I've made, but some I wished I had not purchased.

I think sometimes you have to buy in impulse because it is not possible to know ahead of time the coin you will see be available, but to limit just buying a coin because one is available. There is a difference, I think.

 

Like others here already, I went through a period of extreme impulsivity and bought pretty much everything that even slightly interested me. This led more to hoarding than to collecting and I found myself not even knowing what I had in my pile. In the long run, this was just frustrating and unsatisfying. I knew I had reached a tipping point when I looked at a coin for sale and asked "do I already have one of those? I don't know!" Some people may find mere accumulation interesting, but I found out the hard way that I don't. Not to mention that I sold many of those impulsively bought coins at a loss (which is pretty typical for the average collector in this hobby). So I not only wasted time, I wasted money. It's important to set limits, otherwise the often irrational human need for base acquisition will run amok.

 

When I was younger I used to buy everything.
But age has changed that. I now concentrate on a particular series and try to buy the best I can.

 

I buy whatever I see good!

 

I don’t usually plan for coins; they usually find me. But I don’t willy-nilly buy coins; I am selective. I guess that puts me in-between.

 

Just two IHCs since 12/24, a '75 and a '76. I've bid on more than that but I stick to prices I consider about right for the photos in the auction. Prior to that, just one more IHC, a very nice '83, that I got for next to nothing earlier in December.

 

I started with impulsive, but when I have accumulated a few pieces, I became selective.

 

I recently purchased a SBA in plastic on impulse. 5.$. Though PCGS says the coin is only worth 3.$. I am already at a 'loss' for it. But it is still something that perhaps can be used later to give to someone else or kept for now to fit a spot in a 'collection' I am doing (some modern coins). Sort of like a hole to fill that was cheap. So not too much downside for it. Also can use this to help decide if the raw coins I have with SBAs would top a MS63 and if so, I will go through those and keep any and if not, they will now get spent. I really can't see keeping any SBAs that are less than MS63 (unless it happens to be a (edited out, was a mistake), a '79 wide rim, or a '79 or '81 type II S) or shows a visible other collectible error. So in the long run, may be not that bad for me to have right now.

Also, sometimes impulse purchases lead to me re-considering other coins I've purchased and make me ask the question "do I really want to continue having those other coins in my collection?" or "does that (unfinished) collection really bring me joy now"?

For example, I originally a number of years ago started a MS64/MS64 Franklin collection, only Philadelphia issues and only business strikes, in PCGS plastic. I was really into getting that collection when I started, though I was very happy to not try to do that right away. But over a decade on (and it still is not complete), I am not sure that completing it is my goal, and am considering selling most of my Franklins. Just not fitting in with where I am going in coins, which mostly seems to be exploring more into Ancients and maybe some world coins. Though I do like a few of my US ones very much still and have an interest in perhaps getting some IHC sometime.

Lastly, I still do have some coins I will be glad to sell as they were true impulse purchases and even shortly after buying them I realized that they weren't what I truly wanted. Not to say that others would not get a lot of joy out of them, just not what I wanted to focus on. So, I am slowly selling some of those. Still very nice coins but just not for me anymore.

 

I'm somewhere in the middle, I think. I definitely was the kid in the candy store when I started. Then as I read about the "right" way to collect I got too obsessed with quality, and was frustrated at how few coins I could afford. Seems like I need to make frequent purchases to keep my itch scratched. So I just pick up mostly older circulated type coins and world coins that are nice and that I like. I often browse, not looking for anything in particular, until something says "Buy me! ".

 

Having been raised by my Dad who was a "get it in change or from the bank at face value" collector, I almost never "buy" a coin. But with that mentality it's easy to hoard coins because, "Hey, I can always sell it back to the bank for what I paid!" And my Dad definitely fell into that trap with circulated rolls ad nauseam of coins that are still worth face value. Since he passed away a couple of years ago, I have been gradually buying or disposing of his collection for Mom. The few times I have impulsively bought a coin, I usually have buyer's remorse. Now like @bud250r , I am concentrating on a series (Morgan Dollars). I have bought most of the easy and inexpensive ones from a local dealer who typically sells them to me for 10-20% under Grey Sheet value. He's a high volume, low margin dealer and buys them well below Grey Sheet evidently. However, I've had to pull the brake on the more expensive ones and buy them on rare occasions or I bust my coin budget. The fear I have, like many on this site, is that my heirs won't understand or appreciate the value of my collection and sell it all to the bank! As a result, I am trying to get rid of the non-essential coins. That's hard for me though as I am my Father's son.

 

Interesting comment.

I pretty much know what coins I'm interested in and will wait patiently until I find one in the grade I want at a price I'm willing to pay.

But much like you, I find that I stumble upon those coins by accident at least as often as I find them as the result of a purposeful search.

 

I am generally a selective buyer, but I should have been more impulsive when I passed on a Fine 1893S Morgan and a VG 1871S seated liberty quarter among others in the past 25 years.

 

I'm sure this is just a simple oversight, but the Cheerios variety is a Sac dollar, not an SBA.

Chris

 

Hey Chris, I've noticed some recent posts by you. Good to have you back!

 

I can't resist interesting coins . My first visit to a Coin Store in '76 resulted in a impulse buy of 1878 S Morgan 7TF(only Morgan I collect) . Coin stores are problematic for me last time I went to mine with intent to trade in two 1913 $5.00 & a 1914 $5.00 Indians for cash to purchase a 1907 $10.00 Indian , I left with a 1874 $3.00 Indian Princess & my 1914 still no $10.00 Indian collected yet . Still an impulsive buyer of coins I guess . I'm still more of a hoarder/Accumulator of 1852 & 1952 Coins , coins minted with holes , Civil War Tokens and anything with Thomas Jefferson or Benjamin Franklin depicted , Capped Bust & Seated Liberty coins . I don't have any slabbed coins or trying to complete a set I'm still fascinated with coins and just having fun with the hobby (my Daughter is beginning to show interest in coins now) .
One impulse buy of a 5# bag of Wheaties is being distributed back into circulation slowly by paying in exact change with 1 or leaving 1 in Take-A-Penny tray and share them & the hobby anonymously .

 

I'm glad to be back. Thanks!

Chris

 

I have my ideas, such as I want to buy more of one series of denomination but I hardly ever know exactly what date I want