Hi all. I dont collect coins. My mom has been on the US Mint auto purchase program for a couple of years now. She also buys a number of other coins from their catalog each month. I know she now has a shelf full of bins, each has a lot of small boxes in them. There are thousands of dollars of receipts for these coins. I know nothing about collecting. She does this as an investment for my 3 year old daughter. My mom does not have much money, so to me the couple of hundred dollars she spends on each order is not a good idea. I also want to point out that she does not do any research, she just buys what the HSN and catalog suggest. She believes every advertisement she reads. I need advise. Thanks. By the way, I do recognize that done right, coins can be a great investment. Of course like anything, a good understanding of the product is usually required. Thats why I am nervous.
Er What advice do you need? Advice on how to talk to your mom about wise investments? Advice on what coins make wise investments? Advice on how to let mom make her own mistakes? Advice on how not to enable your parents? Kinda a broad topic here.
Knight, It may be difficult, but if you want your Mom to get a feel for the harsh reality that what she is told is not always accurate, I would try to talk her into taking some of her "investments" to a local dealer for an appraisal. Tell her that it would be in her best interest for insurance purposes. Then, when the dealer starts giving her lowball values, maybe she will see the light. If you can't get her to agree to that, then you might start searching eBay for auction prices of some of the same coins she has. Let her see those. Good luck! Chris
The ebay idea is a good idea. I can sneak over while she is at work and do that. As for the other advise I am looking for, is the auto purchase program a good or bad idea? over all, will those purchases one day be valued high enough to make a little cash? I dont know the industry trends. I have told her that any coin made of precious metal will be worth a % of the market value of the gold or silver. Do many collectors that are in it for the investment not the fun, buy new coins from the US Mint? I always see their ads in National Geographic and they just kind of seam misleading. IMHO.
Are you referring to the US Mint or govmint.com? I see govmint.com's ads in National Geographic all the time. These are two VERY different things. Govmint.com sells interesting overpriced coins to unsuspecting people who do not know better. The US Mint is definitely an ok choice, as nothing directly from the Mint is likely to undervalue in the future (unless the price of silver drops out). It may not necessarily grow substantially over time, as with any investment. However, it is a good safeguard of wealth for the future. However, if she is buying silver coins from the US Mint, regardless of their lack of numismatic rarity, if metals prices continue to climb so will the investment. HSN is not a good expert of what to buy, when, and at what price. These companies like HSN, govmint.com, Littleton, etc. are just like a shady used car dealer. They do their best to keep people in the dark just enough, that they will pay their prices.
It looks like she is buying them from HSN having the catalog. You only get this by buying coins from them. The coins they sell are usually 2x-3x their actual retail value in a setting like a coin shop. I sincerely hope that she has not bought coins from these folks. She would have been better off taking more then $60 of each $100 she wanted to spend and burning it. I don't question her intentions at all and it's a really sweet thing she is trying to do. In just about any situation that involves money if you go into a situation with a handful of dollars and no knowledge about what you are buying... your gonna get taken just about every time.
I know the company is not affiliated with the US government at all. I just asked her and its the HSN auto program. And TV ads for Franklin mint. Franklin stuff is how it started, then she found HSN sold them too. Sorry, I did not have my facts straight. I just found out last night the amount of money she was spending. Is there a thread on this forum that goes into detail about the over priced HSN coins? I am very thankful to all of you for filling me in so quickly on all of this. I really want to talk with her soon.
You could probably use the forum search feature to find discussions about these shopping venues...but the best/easiest lesson you will get is to use ebays search feature of completed auctions to find out the "real" values of your items...I'm afraid you will find that she has over paid on everything she's bought like others have said before me.
Your Mom should never, never, never, never, never, never buy coins from any tv shopping network. If she won't believe you, have her ask for the opinion of the many veteran collectors not only here, but Collectors Universe (PCGS), Collectors Society (NGC), VAMWorld, Coinsarefun, NumisSociety or any other online numismatic forum. Do whatever it takes to make her stop immediately! Chris
Better off buying direct from the mint. Others have already covered all the issues with HSN. Stay away. Ebay is auction prices, but I bet you could go to online stores and find the coins even cheaper than HSN. Coins are a bad investment - period. And yes I used to buy from only the US Mint, but certainly not as an investment. As a matter of fact I only recently stopped the online subscriptions. But only because my collecting tastes have changed over the years.
I just got done telling my mother on a recent visit (because, she also was buying some cheesy state quarter scam), If it is advertised on TV or in a Magazine, it is crap... Period!!!
