Why - because I like the historical aspect. Investments and savings have nothing to do with my collecting. Family - hoping one day to have one of my heirs interested. Collection - from pocket change to just about anything that interests me. Mostly older copper, but there are some other series that interest me.
Both are the only answers (well, not the ONLY answers, but on those lines) that SHOULD be given on a 'collecting' forum. If your collection is able to increase it's value, it is only due to your doing your homework, not buying 'crap', and generally, having listened and learned...learned from yours, as well as others, mistakes. Thats why forums, such as CT, are SO VERY valuable to us collectors. If you want to put your money into coins as an investment, jump into that DeLorean, set the date to 1999/200, and buy all the gold American Eagles/Maple Leafs/K-rands/Philharmonics...etc...that you can (what was it...about $250-$260ish an oz then?), then set it to, oh, Dec 8th/9th 2009 and SELL it ALL. THEN come back to the present. OR, buy an 1894-S dime, 1804 $1, 1933 Saint (but the 1933 Saint just took a $1.5mil hit on the PCGS price guide...so, you see, anything can happen on this wild ride called coin collecting). NEVER use it as an investment....you are most assuredly going to wish you had put it into stocks or some other investment vehicle.
Boy, I thought we were in trouble again! I colect coin for my sons so that they have some thing to give to there kids some day. I also invest in gold and silver for a investment. I beleive that making a investment for our kids to not only make money, but for them to carry on coin collecting for the future.
If your kids are not into coins, like my kids. They may just spend them and not know of the values. I feel like I might sell the collection before the end of my time and just enjoy what's left of my time. I have been trying to get our club to help sale the collections, when one of the members die, when the family has no clue of the value of the collection. :rolling: -O)
Probably the way I look at it too. For a solid return I go to CDs [certificates of deposit]. None pay more than 3 percent but none are tied up for longer than 4 years. It's minimal but it pays. The coins are more risky. Even if the price guides say your coin just increased in value 30% you still have to market that thing. What will it cost to bring that coin to market? How are you so sure you can find a buyer at that premium? What will it cost in auction/eBay/Paypal/dealer fees to bring a sale? How much are you giving to the middleman? And that's the story in a nutshell. For the "mainly collecting" side of things; well it's a free for all is it not? If you don't care about a return on your money spent and are not in it for profit then buy what you want. The human behavior part of this is most assuredly obsessive/compulsive. It goes back to the hunter gatherer personality roots. However, one must be careful in application of the term "disorder". Is it a disorder? That is debatable. You are not a neurotic, psychotic or social psychopath. OK so maybe you are neurotic about it. LOL But unless you are not paying the bills first or not feeding your family, your activities are not destructive. So this brings us up a notch on Maslow's hierarchy of needs pyramid to the pleasure level. Love and belonging then self actualization. In essence you are consiously or unconsiously rewarding yourself for not screwing up your life and the world around you. So obsessive/compulsive be damned. I say carry on collecting and don't worry about it!
You do have a point. 10-4 When you have a code of 777, or ...---... You hope you will have a response and hope to return to normalcy. -O):thumb: