A question about US coins. What is the most you would spend for a raw classic?? Copper large cent - ???? toned silver - ????
No offense, but I don't buy copper - only silver. I don't generally buy toned silver either, but may some day. What I would spend on it would depend on the date, mintage and toning - colours, scratches, condition, etc. However, I can say that I would never go overboard on any one coin unless my money tree starts to produce. I generally try to stick with below what they are valued. You did not mention what you would spend.
I was basiclly asking if you would buy expensive coins that wern't slabbed. I don't buy slabs but i also don't collect coins that need to be slabbed. I only spent over $100.00 on one coin.
Buying slabbed coins I don't generally buy slabbed coins either. However, if I ever have a need to slab a coin, then I probably will. I think I do have a couple of slabbed coins, but don't remember what they are. Can you tell I am scattered. I have decided today that I am going to concentrate on the Peace Dollars, and the 64 Kennedy's - maybe some Morgans. I like the coins to be nice, but don't really have the need - or budget to buy the most expensive ones. However, I do find myself desiring better quality coins than I used to. I have too many types of coins, and collections that are unfinished. I am trying to shoot for a nice, pretty slightly above average coin - slabbed or UN-slabbed - dependant upon the "moment", bargain-hunting and the coin itself. I DO try to stick within my budget. By concentrating on one type of coin, I am hoping that will cut down on my scatterdness - another reason that I am looking for inventory software and a good organized storage plan! :?
I buy most of my coins out of the 1/2 off bins at coins shows i go to. you can find some great deals in these usually some of the dealers with more expensive stuff or the ones that specialize in one thing have these because they had to buy a whole collection to get a few coins they wanted and whatever is left they just want to get rid of it and get some of the money back. These are also a great place to cherrypick coins if you like collecting/buing varieties.
The most expensive con I have bought is $50 and most of mine are 10 times cheaper. If I got to the 100 plus dollar level or was buying a heavily counterfeited coin, I would be looking mostly at slabs. However, there are some dealers who I would trust enough to buy even those items sight unseen.
This place seems more better for me. The PCGS boards seem to rich for my blood. There it seems if you don't spend 4-5 hundred on a coin you don't fit in.
To finish my Lincoln Cents I bought PCGS certified 1909S VDB and 1914D coins. For the pair I paid $850. I spent another $150 for a 1909S and 1931S, both raw. With the exception of these four keys the collection was complete. My daughter laughs when I talk about buying 4 pennies for $1000.
The most I have spent is about 4K. In my series you can't limit yourself to slabs, you really have to learn to grade them and open yourself to all the options.
It kind of depends on the dealer, and my money situation, so far the most I have spent for a raw coin is 150, for a cbh.
I guess the most I ever spent on a coin was $404 for a 1 oz. Krugerand back in the day. I spent almost that much on a Classic doublon 1793 minted in Mexico City. Traci :kewl:
The most I pay depends on where I'm buying from. On ebay I really don't like ever going over $50 bucks unless I am buying gold, which I've only done a few times on ebay. In person I am comfortable paying up to $100 for silver and up to $300 for gold. I am not a copper collector but I do like pennies I just don't know anything about them. If I have to pay more than that, I would most likely want to sleep on the idea and see what I come up with in the morning. Coin dealers and doing alot of research qualifies most ppl to make decent purchases. With that said, we all have our own scruples and ideas (oh and wives)LOL when spending on coins. I try to move slowly when I buy coins as an impulse buy is usually a careless buy and a careless buy is usually a wasted money buy and I've had enough lessons learned. Wish I could say I am beyond making a bad purchase, but I am still new to this and I have many more lessons to learn. :bow:
I personally can't fathom spending more then $100 on a single coin. I come from extremely modest means, and spending $100 on any one thing at a time is not common, and usually requires letting something else go. That said, the most I've ever spent on a single coin was $25. I can't remember now which one it was. I got one for $20 and one for $25 at the same time. One is a 1857 Flying Eagle cent, and the other is a (bent) 1852 three cent silver. I wouldn't pay anything for toned anything. I don't like it, I like my coins to look like the day after they were minted.
I bought 2 $5 gold coins and a friend of mine ridiculed me for paying $94 each even thought they were uncirculated and GOLD. So where else can you get .20 gold for $188. (thats slightly UNDER gold's melt value)
I paid $375 for an 1909S Indian Head cent (VG8) and $250 for a 1928 Peace Dollar (EF40). I guess I would pay up to $1k for a 1909S VDB cent to complete my collection.
How much I'd spend on a coin depends upon how much money is available to me. I'd spend $50k for an appropriate 1895 Morgan ... if I had that much. I don't. Nowhere close. What I do is decide what I want (coin, grade, etc.) then save until I can afford it. I try NOT to buy a coin which I'm sure that later I'll want to upgrade. I don't want "hole fillers" and "place holders". Of course as time went by and my financial condition improved it wasn't unusual to decide that I COULD upgrade. At the June Whitman show in Baltimore I upgraded about a half dozen of my Morgans most of which had been bought about 35 years ago. BTW, the coin I paid the most for was my 1909-S IHC in MS-66 BN. I bought it as part of my effort to buy keys/semi-keys. Right now it looks like it may lead me to getting a full set of IHCs.
LOL, I can believe it. Brings to mind this observation: "History repeats itself. That's one of the things wrong with history."