Finding the True Value of a Coin

Yeah, I have to agree. BNB, have you ever went to a coin store or a show and dealt with dealers face to face? Most have been around a long time and they're *in the business to make money.* They're not in business to make you money. They're not there to give you a good deal, although they'll try to make you feel like you got one when you left. Some won't deal at all and are offended if you offer $10 less on something. They don't want any of their profit cut. So what does that leave for you?
Most will try to sell their problem coins at a premium, hoping you don't notice! So don't think for a second that an actual premium coin will go unnoticed and you're going to pull one over on them. Unless you are able to find a very rare, unnoticeable doubled-die cent that nobody knows about.

The dealers sell these coins amongst eachother at wholesale. 50% of retail or less! You're buying them at full retail as any other customer.

As was stated in another thread, most people believe what they own is much more valuable than what it is. Not the other way around. So I'd say you've got an uphill battle trying to buy coins at retail and flipping them for quick profits. By the time you lose on some, break even on most and sell a few at a profit, it wouldn't be worth my time trying to do it.

Then you may as well forget about EVER selling back to any dealer. I've seen people trying to sell stuff at shows and I've heard every excuse there is on why people's stuff is junk. Even modern proof gold commemoratives still in the mint case! They won't buy it. Too many in stock not moving! Any loose coin a dealer looks at they will instantly say it's a problem coin. No matter what. No exageration. Expect a lowball offer of 50% of what you paid if they will buy it at all.

 

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Value? To whom? For what?

I nominated this post. Thanks, BNB. Nicely said.

That said, allow me to add that first of all, if your goal is to make money buying and selling numismatic collectibles to other people that is fine and worthy, but it is not the hobby of collecting. The collector wants to own what other people have passed over. "One man's trash is another man's treasure." That is the motivation for successful cherrypicking.

Another motive is historicity. When I collected coins, I pursued ancient Greek silvers worth about a day's wages from the towns and times of famous philosophers. I can hold an obol in my hand and wonder if Democritus held it in his. I don't care what it is worth to someone else, to me, at the price I paid, it was a bargain many times over.

I just read a book on Conders, Good Money by George Selgin, and I am reviewing another new one Newton and the Counterfeiter by Thomas Levenson. They have added value to me to my Newton tokens.

BNB's advice is given often -- perhaps not often enough -- and it came to me first from ancients dealer and author David Vagi, who said that if you want to see a profit in your ancients, buy high grade Roman Imperial denarii that other people want. True enough... but that's not why I collect...

 

Mike - I thought I saw in another thread that you don't collect?

I've read Selgin's book too and it's a good one to help appreciate the context of why Conder tokens were made. :thumb:

 

I think this is generally true if one thinks of the money only.

I think this is generally true if one thinks of the money only.

If I only colleted coins for thier monetary value or future value I would probably not collect coins.

More and more I collect coins for enjoying the practice, the hobby and the enrichment I get including it as a part of my life. The money I make only adds to it as a component of coin collecting.

In life especially as I get older I want to value the things I pursue for thier value to me as an aspect of living and enjoying to the fullest what they have to offer me - if they have little to offer it's time to move on to something else.

But I do understant what the thread submitter is saying - it unfortuanatkly take about 10 years for the novice to learn this - it's alays only worth what buyer and seller agree upon and that aint in the books!!!

 

Thanks for the nominations guys.. This post is meant to help anyone learn the art of finding true value of coins like I sure need to know myself.

 

I agree with Leadfoot on this one. Those looking for bargains will quickly find themselves in trouble. Coins that sell at bargain prices sell that way for a reason. It doesn't matter if the coin is overgraded, a problem coin, or just plain ugly. These coins will trade at the bargain prices at the time of purchase and at the time of sale.

Most of the coins in my collection were purchased at substantial premium to the established price guides. They will most likely sell at a premium as well because they are coins with exceptional eye appeal. How much of a premium is based upon how much another collector is willing to pay at that time. I will lose money sometimes and make money sometimes. I don't think it is a guarantee, but I think that coins that sell at a premium have a much greater potential to make money because it is dependent upon how much another collector values the coin. The bargain coins are more dependent upon a shift in the price guide value.

 

Well said. I think one of the big steps on the road to being a skilled collector is the willingness to pay a "premium" for a very nice coin. An even bigger step, however, is discerning the difference between a premium that is justified by the coin and a premium that is justified only by your emotions as a buyer.

 

Don't get me wrong, I love the feeling of buying a nice looking coin at below what I think is the going rate. However, when I look at my collection the coins that I love the most are the ones that I paid a premium price to obtain. And I have no doubts that regardless of the state of the coin market, those few coins are spectacular enough to where I'll get a premium price for them if I ever decide to sell. While there are sometimes deals out there, more times than not you really do get what you pay for.

 

You definitely got that right. I struggle with that every time I buy a coin.