In What Stage Are You As A Collector?

The normal progression for many collectors

1. Hoarding at the start, anything and everything;

2. Actively collecting and accumulating;

3. Becoming much more selective, new additions slow down to a crawl;

4. Not adding anything new in years, keeping collection intact;

5. Selling, slowly eliminating or all at once;

6. Moving on to something else;




What stage are you at as a collector?

Personally I am still in the accumulation phase. Getting a bit more selective but still adding lots of new coins to the hoard.

 

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I started in the collecting stage in 1948 and I am still there.

 

I'm at the point of 'I don't know'......stuck between 1 and 4.......

 

I’m at three. I’m also trying to learn more about the coins I have and not get caught up in buying as much.

 

At this point, I suppose I most identify with #3.

 

Hoarding... still haven’t checked what I have accumulated yet.

 

Between 1 and 2. Mostly a CRH guy.....so I save a lot of BU/AU coins I run across plus anything interesting / errors, die chips etc...........then every couple months I go through them, double check and decide what I'm willing to throw back. But I am getting a lot more selective. I purchase some new coins. I plan to purchase new rolls of the 2020 quarters from the mint as they are issued that way i'll have UNC rolls. I know it's it's a high premium to pay,
but I have yet to find a new box of quarters that contain all rolls of one type.....IE All SA Missions or RONR. The boxes I find are all loomis hodge podge.

 

No. 7 I think?

 

Between #2 and #3. I am actively buying, although not every month, and I like to think I'm very selective about what I let into my collection.

 

3 and 6. Much more selective and focused.

 

I’ve always been selective and focused about what I buy. Otherwise, knowing me, I’d be living in a pile of coins.

 

I guess by your definitions of a collector, I must be something other than a collector. I started at step 2., and never progressed. I've virtually given away many of my poorer selections, acquired when I was less able to purchase what I consider a "quality" coin. I still have at least a 6 figure amount of less than "mint state" coins.

I've collected for well over a half century, and hardly ever desired or bought the coins that I read the average individuals posting voluminously indicates they'd desire.

I just desire beautiful coins, as I define "beauty". Fortunately I've found others who accredit coins, that do the same. I now look for their accreditations, review, and possibly collect same.

I'm now contacting major auction houses, offering winners a quick premium for their coins that I deem a "good deal", under-paid.

I now have major auction houses wanting to sell my "collection", of which I have no interest, as I believe tangible beauty is worth more than fiat or bit-coins, etc.

I believe collecting has become easier if you understand how average "Quality" is defined (e.g. PQ, +, Cac, certified)?

JMHO

 

1 and 2 appear to be a rapid rise to....something...and the rest appear to be a downhill slide away from that....something.

I don't know that those six are the appropriate descriptions of the various and/or progressive stages of being a coin collector, but since that's what we have for our consideration, I would say, for myself, that I'm somewhere between 2 and 3.

 

Meow is at stage three. Still does a lot of CRH, but does not buy much from the Mint or fleabay.

 

E - All the above.

 

Gotta be stage 3. Still buying, but very selective. Although I just can't pass up a good deal.

 

@Joe2007 Absolutely missing a couple of important progression steps.

7 - realization that coin collecting is not an investment but a labor of love.

8 - accepting the above realization and waiting out this party to hand down the collection to the next curator of the hoard.

 

I'm in the learning phase and trying to figure out what coins I want to add to my collection

edit: I guess we're always in the learning phase, as there's so much to learn... always!

 

Other than not starting until 1962 I'm with the Inspector.

 

I'm opportunistically buying (including crude cherry-picking) and selling. I think that constitutes a separate, parallel path -- I added in Step 5 somewhere between Steps 2 and 3, which I suppose I wander back and forth between. It's been a while since I visited Step 4, but that happens occasionally, too.

So, my path is more like:

1) Buy anything and everything

2) Keep buying, but get a little more selective; sell occasionally

3) Buy only occasionally; continue to sell occasionally

4) Something else takes over my time and/or attention; coin buying and selling on hold

...then back to 2 or 3.