How can I become a coin investor?

Oh I absolutely agree. I would hope that goes without saying but in this day and age I guess you have to spell it out for people.

 

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“Flipping” sounds like selling in a short time (and is used EXCLUSIVELY in that context), but still requiring the effort to sell. I don’t know where you get the notion that it is effortless. “Investing” sounds like waiting a long time to sell while still using the same effort to sell.

Have you ever heard anyone say “I bought this and flipped it 30 years later”? Yeah, me neither.

 

If you sell coins to a dealer expect to loose about 10-40% off the top, because they have sell your coins to make a profit. You will need to learn the market values as well. Not all the values in the Red Book or Krause world coin catalogs are accurate in values. Some are right on values and some way off values. Coins are very unpredictable. Coin trends are hard to spot. Asking dealers what's hot and what's not is good idea. If you want to sell U.S. coins then learn all you can about them. You must learn how to grade coins.

 

I'm sure these self made millionaires did not start out by flipping coins with the intent of becoming rich. They did apply themselves to the acquisition of knowledge and I'd be more inclined to believe they made their fortunes by publishing their knowledge, conducting seminars and selling other peoples coins. We are talking about Igor, who is 20 years old and just starting off. Does he have a good job, still living with his parents, thinking about starting a family, etc. Yes, there is the possibility he could become the next Ivey, Berk, Laurence or Halperin but at this age I would suggest he first start an IRA or a Roth account, attend and complete college, perhaps pursuing a business degree and think about and pursue the rest as he goes along. Or is this too, also nonsense. Or can we agree to disagree.

 

I've been lucky in small ways gaining a few dollars here and there. But mainly just for the fun of meeting other collectors. I did however get quite lucky in 1983 when I received from the U.S. mint not one... but 2 proof sets missing the mint mark on the dime. Unfortunately for me, one set had to go to my ex-wife. But.... just last summer I sold my set for a cool $500. My, "coin set" that is.

 

You also have to battle inflation before you buy and hold a collectible. Here in the U.S. inflation peaked in July '18 @ 2.9%, averaging 2.4% for the year. This means $100 was worth $97.60 by years end...Spark

 

And after a while it almost becomes an obsession.

 

I have been a coin COLLECTOR for 64 years. I started at the age of 6 (1955) picking blue berries and princess pine to garner some income. I would go to the bank and pick up a couple rolls of pennies and started filling the penny folder. It was a HOBBY and I learned a lot about coins and the minting process, their mintages, rarities, errors, grading, counterfeit and altered coins and many other aspects of the HOBBY from reading books. I went to my first coin show at age 7 and bought a good 1918/7-D Buffalo for $20. Expensive for me at the time and I still have it. I continued reading and learning about coins and continue studying the coin HOBBY to this day. And continued to work to earn money. I have over $4,000 in coin reference books by many of the well know authors. I tell every coin collector young and older to "Read the Book Before You Buy the Coin". Learn grading and learn the meaning of eye appeal. Over the past 20 years I have cherry picked many dealers at small coin shows. All coins have been added to my coin collection HOBBY. I had a Service station from 1975 till 1980 and bought silver and gold coins and used the bullion sales profit to buy RARE coins. I bought gold coins at $38 per ounce and have many of them in my collection. I bought my first 1799/8 VF Large cent at $525 and my first Fine 1893-S Morgan for $525. I bought 12 1903-O Morgan dollars at $12.50 each when they were released and flooded the market. Same goes for my GSA CC dollars. You hopefully get the idea, buy low, hold, and then sell when you retire from the HOBBY. Buy RARE and key dates first with extra money. Common coins will always be common. What is your objective? Do you want to be a dealer or a Coin Collector/Numismatist? Over what period of time do you want to make money on coins? Short term or Long term? Study every book you can get your hands on and study GRADING and EYE APPEAL. Remember TPG's make mistakes and they do suggestive and subjective grading. Buy the coin based on your strict GRADING and Eye Appeal and learn varieties. Enjoy the coin collecting HOBBY and if you want to be a DEALER, study, study, study every coin book and GRADING guide you can.

 

But rare coins may not always be rare, or even if they are, they may not be in demand enough to maintain their prices.

Suppose you'd been a wealthy adult, and bought those "rare and key" 1903-O dollars in 1960, when they were hundreds of (1960) dollars apiece. How would that "investment" have fared in 1965?

Or suppose you'd scrimped and saved to buy a "scarce, key" 1950-D Jefferson nickel. Whatever you paid for it in 1960, that's probably about what it would be worth now -- in nominal dollars, not inflation-adjusted. In other words, it would have lost most of its value.

I still see lots of people saying "buy rare and key dates first". For the reasons above, and others, I think that's a recipe for disaster. Wait and buy them once you've learned enough to know what you're doing -- and even then, you may still lose.

 

Sell your coins on ebay

 

Platinum. And wait 50 years

 

Just wondering if i may buffalo. I've seen your collection. It's a great one. Did i say Great. Yes better then unique. Kinda paddyman-ish. @paddyman98. I'm thinking the both of you could make a decent profet if you both sold your collections in with ever ways you choose. Might be tougher for paddy cuz he's got to have front and reverse of them all. Just wondering. Are you both cost effective or do you just got to have it. I'm thinking both of you would make a killing. Cuz you both have great stuff. MEMBERS. Do we agree.

 

Sorry but that just brings me back to 1. and 2. of my post. I have never read any Scott Travers books. But if anyone has successful methods for investing, and they published them, tell me, how long do you suppose it would be before it went viral on the internet? Then the actions of people who believe will negate the methods from working at all. Just as an accurate forecaster will eventually be killed by his followers who position themselves to take advantage of his predictions and then negate the predictions from happening at all. Thus killing his perfect record. The more accurate he is the more his reputation gets around and the bigger his following gets until they kill him.

If it were me I would just keep my mouth shut and make money.

 

Very good point Jeff. Like you say, "Wait and buy them (coins) once you've LEARNED enough to know what you're doing". Buy the book before you buy the coin. The KEY is LEARNING. A collector should study what most collectors are collecting. Many collectors started with the Lincoln cent. Then went to nickels, dimes, quarters on up as we young collectors earned money to buy coins. Most young collectors buy only one coin so if they paid $10 for a 1950-D Uncirculated nickel, in all probability they would not realize a gain nor loss in this day and age on their purchase. An educated collector would have read that this coin was hoarded due to low mintage and would wait for the price to stabilize. What are most coin collectors collecting. They're still collecting Wheat Cents, Indian Head Cents, but notice I don't mention Large cents. They are for the more advanced or specialist. Dimes, every collector wants a 1916-D. It's easy to collect a nice set of Roosevelt Dimes. A circulated set will set you back a little over silver value. For me at my age, it was 10 cents each from circulation. Silver quarters are easy except for the 1932-D and S. So I recommend to buy them first. Sometimes a collector can't afford to collect full sets. We then begin our Type Coin Collection. Again buy the BEST coin you can afford and that is what others are doing. Les and Sue Fox came out with Silver Dollar Fortune Telling in 1977. I read the book many times and bought the Key coins first as I saved money. I was always fascinated with the 1903-O but it was always very expensive until November of 1962 when bags were released along with bags of 1898-O and 1904-O which caused their price to plummet. This is why educating yourself is important. In my 64 years of collecting, VERY FEW RARE AND KEY COINS HAVE GONE DOWN IN PRICE. If I price average the cost of my coins over the past 64 years, I would never loose a dime and would profit from being a COIN COLLECTOR, learned HISTORY and made many friends. Coin Collecting is all in educating ones self. Anyone who wants to invest in coins must, must, must study and read about coin collecting before he or she buys a coin. The Poster wants to know what books to buy. Many respondents have made good suggestions. I hope he follows their book suggestions. I like Morgan Dollars and their VAM varieties. I do have "A Guide Book of Morgan Silver Dollars" by Q. David Bowers,The VAM book and a computer that goes to VAMworld.com. I encourage COIN COLLECTING, joining the ANA, and joining local coin clubs, and read the books before you buy the coins.

 

There is very little money to be made in coins, especially for the general public. I haven't sold too many coins, but I have almost always sold them at a loss. One of the biggest reasons is that while I was learning about the hobby I grossly overpaid for coins that ended up being cleaned or possibly altered upon further inspection. I know now that those dealers had to know that they were selling problem coins to me at insanely over the top prices. I was their perfect target: I knew nothing. At the time, I was very excited to buy the coins and I ran home and gazed at them in wonder and awe. Only years later did I look at them through a loupe and discover how badly I was taken. What I once enjoyed I now despise. Don't let this happen to you. In other words, don't let unscrupulous dealers sell you garbage. There are plenty of them out there. Of course there are good dealers, too, but until I actually learned something about coins I could not tell a shady dealer from a decent one. Now I can almost always detect them from across the room. I've had more than one dealer lie to me about years and types of Japanese coins, likely because they were confident that I didn't know how to read Japanese. One dealer handed me a Japanese coin that wasn't even a Japanese coin, but claimed confidently that it was.

My point is that it's very easy to pay too much for valueless coins because parts of the hobby prey off of people that don't know what they're doing. I was one of them. This caused me to take a very long break from the hobby and I'm surprised that I ever returned. I think this practice has as much a chance of ruining the hobby than any other often cited possible causes. The only way to make money in this hobby is either through extreme luck or by finding people willing to buy coins for more than what you paid for them. Not to mention that collectibles have a nasty habit of fluctuating horribly in value over the years. The value of coins depends only on the existence of people willing to pay for them. Nothing else. If such people go away, so does the value.

Everyone says not to buy coins for value and to buy them for enjoyment, but I'm having a harder and harder time enjoying things that I'll ultimately lose money on, despite how much I like the objects themselves. I've started selling some coins and the old reality is hitting hard: I can't sell them for what I thought I could sell them for, with very few exceptions, even on Ebay (and Ebay's fees make it an even larger losing proposition). In the end, the secret to making money off of coins is simple: don't buy coins.

 

We’ll overall I’d have to most certainly agree with almost all the post here on the subject.
However I really can only validate experiences I’ve personally encountered with making some true big dollar profits in selling coins. And may I add, I still consider myself nothing more then a amateur.
Maybe it’s just because of the locale I reside in, (Northern Mn.), or the gullibility and decision making of certain individuals? But, I attend auctions as much as possible. Not saying coin auction always but general Estate Auctions, etc. And quite often one will discover on the auction bill that old coins and or currency will be listed within the auction bill flyer. Well I very quickly discovered that absolutely every single coin or currency item(s) would be auctioned and totally undeserving (HIGH) prices were always achieved for the final bid. Common examples as follows:
Any and all common date Morgan or Peace Dollars, minumin $30-$70.00 each with a grade between VG-3 to VF30, 10 mixed dimes of Merc’s -Rosev, AG4-F, $27.00, a mixed bag of 55 Wheat Cents-dates from 1940’s-1950,s $13.00
One should get the idea, it just goes on and on for any and all coins/currency. Absolutely ridiculous bidding prices for even dateless Buffalo Nickels.
So, I have, and continue to periodically consigned some coins I’ve purchased elsewhere, letting whomever bid and pay for them, regardless of what they may bring with a “No Reserve” bid.
I don’t consider this as taking advantage of anyone in anyway, form or manner. The coins/currency are always open for hands on inspection and viewing for many many hours prior to auction start.
Needless to say I’ve done extremely well when the hammer price fell. Maybe it’s the excitement of the auction and getting overwhelmed in the bidding process for these people, I don’t know? But when all’s said and done and I receive my check form the auction company, minus their commission, I’m a very happy seller, maybe in awe but with a considerable fatter wallet.
So yes, it’s very possible a individual (May) make a decent profit from the buying and selling of coins and currency. Like most anything being bought and sold, it’s worth whatever someone wishes to pay for such? I been extremely fortunate, taking my (HUGE) profits and invest in coins of my choosing for my personal collection. But be careful if you try what has thus far worked out excellent for me, one never really knows just which way that final hammer may fall? Just saying!!!

 

I love some of the advice you've gotten here. As a wiser man than I said long ago, "Be a collector first." The wiser man was Q. David Bowers, and I've quoted him many times in my writings. Believe it or not, coins have been a good investment for me. However, I started out as a collector and still consider myself a collector/investor/occasional dealer/lover of most things numismatic. What does it take to be a successful investor in coins? How about 65 years of experience during which I've won some, lost some, but have come out ahead more often than not. A lot of it has been luck and good timing, not any special skills I possess. If you're looking to make a fortune overnight, you're in the wrong place to do it. Bottom line: Be a collector first and don't think of the coins you buy as investments. Think of them as fun additions to your collection.

 

The easiest way to turn your investment in rare coins into a million dollars is to start with 2 million dollars.

 

Look at how many people that think they are going to get rich in the stock market. Same odds.

 

@Cheech9712
This is a tough one...

As far as how I buy, I try to complete as best an error type set as I can with as many denominations and series as possible. I like coins with dates, no Details grades, and nice eye appeal (more important than a grade actually, though VF is the lowest I go). I do this because I know it is what most error collectors would want, will be far easier to sell, and will sell for more money. I have overpaid for some one-of-a-kind pieces or those with 10-12 known examples, and in my opinion likely wouldn't get back what I paid unless that one person wants it who would lose sleep knowing it exists and won't find another.

Would I MAKE money on many I own? ABSOLUTELY.

Would I LOSE money on many I own? ABSOLUTELY.

The issue that I have, and I imagine @paddyman98 as well, is I did not buy or acqire my pieces with the intention of selling them. I have sold a few pieces that I upgraded and made waaaay more than I paid (I just sold a 1998 broadstrike quarter a week ago on eBay for $115 more than I paid for it. Last year, I sold a broadstruck 1990s dime for $145 and only paid $12.50 for it. Also sold a 10% Off-center SBA for $80 more than I paid 2 weeks ago). But that is not the norm.

Error coin sales are volatile. An error that sold for $12,000 might not sell for $6,000 15 years later. Not true so much with rare non-errors like a 1916-D Mercury dime.

So, the answer is, I have no idea if I would make or lose money tomorrow or 15 years from now. And if I ever started a business as a dealer, I would definitely lose money as I would be my own best customer.