Many common or a few key dates?

I received a rather large bonus from work. I decided to spend it all because it is not really needed for the household budget so it won't be missed if it's gone. I've been torn between getting many common dates to increase the size of my collection or sink it into a few key dates that have been out of my range. For the common I've been considering grabbing as many MS63 Morgans I can get. For the keys I've been looking at a few of the rare Morgans or even $20 goin pieces.

I'm leaning towards a few key or gold rather than quantity.

 

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What a nice problem to have. My choice would be to pick up as many MS63 as I could.

 

I have always been told to get the key dates when you can because they are going to continue to increase in value, thus making them harder and harder to acquire, and that you have your whole life to get the common coins, which are not hard to come by.

 

Sometimes "key dates" don't always live up to their reputation. Past "key dates" that have fizzled include
1950-D nickel
1960 small date cent
1955 Franklin half
1949-P Franklin half
1955-PDS Roosevelt dimes
1955-D quarter
1958 quarter

 

Key dates is what I would stick to. Gettting the best grade you can afford for each key date.

 

It seems the biggest problem everyone has is defining their own reason why they do what they do. Are you an investor or a collector? If you can't decide then you will never buy with 100% confidence. The farther you can move from the middle ground, the easier the decisions become.

 

Quality over quantity

With that said, if your going to do common dates ms65's
If it were me I would pick some nice key's

 

My advice would be high quality scarce coins. Key or not these almost always hold thier value. Examples would be XF up early cents, high grade type, nice early commemorative scarce issues, high grade barber, etc. I would not go for "condition census" coins, nor would I go for anything tied to junk silver, which the 63 morgans kind of are.

Just my opinion. The best answer is to buy what you love to collect, but absent that info, that is my opinion for US coins. Now, if you want to talk ancients........

Chris

 

Buy the fewest, best quality coins you can afford. Common dreck won't appreciate or be appreciated, as you and your collection grow.
Lance.

 

That's not always the case-- I bought a lot of "common dreck" (otherwise known as "junk silver") about 20 years ago at 3.2 to 3.6 times face, and it has appreciated a lot. I recently sold some for 6-7 times what I paid for it. In contrast, I bought an AU $5 Capped Liberty at around the same time, and it hasn't even doubled in price since then. And I can't think of any of the other higher-grade early US coins that I have bought that have appreciated anywhere near as much as my common dreck.

 

There are no guarantees and always surprises. My suggestion is common advice from experienced collectors. Maybe a better suggestion is to buy what you like. Whatever pleases you.
Lance.

 

I completely agree. I would go for key dates...unless there is some random more common coin that you really want (I have a couple like that on my list).

 

There isn't a correct answer to your question. I am not an investor, but merely a collector. I personally like to complete full runs of coins. I am not concerned with there value in the future. I find much satisfaction in completing Dansco albums.
By the way, putting togethor a nice US Type set (Dansco 7070), is a nice compromise. You can decide to get key dates for those types. I found it very satisfying to have one of each type. You could try and get 'common' dates for those types, in MS condition. Just a thought.

 

Buy only what you like and are willing to have understanding that it will more than likely NOT be worth what you paid for it should you try to sell it in 1, 5, or 10 years!

When coin collecting is approached from an investment standpoint, it can only go south. Especially if you have no idea what you are doing! I only say that, because you are asking which tells me, you don't really know what to do.

There are MANY coins which have "stable" values which end up costing you to sell them. In other words, if you pay $5,000 for it today and in 10 years its worth $5,000, you'll have to pay someone to sell it provided you don;t have a buyer immediately lined up. That's a loss.

There are MANY quick flip coins which are the current "hyped" trend of the day. These typically are losers over the long run since their entire purchase price is based upon some artificially created desire for the coin. Look at the 1999 Silver Proof Sets. In their "Hyped Day", $450 was a reasonable price. Today, siunce State Quarters are on the Ho-Hum List, $175 would be a good price since they typically sell for close to $150.

There are MANY Key Dates (which vary from collector to collector) that, once you buy into the "KEY" hype, can end up costing you money. As pointed out, 1950D Nickels, in their day, could get $50 per coin. Today, they can easily be had for $10 or less.

My advice, just look for something you like and pay ONLY a fair market price for it. Do NOT over pay due to someone elses advice. Be sure you'll like the coin for what it is which is nothing more than a coin.

 

You can do what I did not long ago when I sold a bunch of silver I had laying around. I didn't have any idea what I wanted, so I took my cash to my favorite coin store and just bought whatever I saw that I liked until I was out of money. It was a fun experience and I wasn't held down by a list of stuff to get, or worrying about what might appreciate in value or what was hot right now....I just bought what caught my eye and I came away with some really great stuff I might not have even thought about before.
Guy

 

That would have worked for me as well.

 

Thank you everyone. I think I will go for the high end stuff normally out of reach. I can always go back and get the common stuff even if it's a few bucks more in the future. As for the question if I am a collector or investor? If done properly one can be both. I'll post my pickups after I decide and have them in hand

 

Please do post them. I for one am curious!

You wrote in you original post "$20 goin pieces" did you mean $20 gold pieces?

 

In other words coleguy , you had fun with it. That is the best part of this hobby.

And 19Lyds, a lot of the time I have no idea want I really want to major in as far as coins. So I collect them all. A few Morgans, a dozen or so halves, complete sets of quarters and nickels and many sets of cents. Oh yes mint sets , slabbed coins, and fractional notes. Love em all.

I am constantly on the outlook for any higher grade coin than I have.

 

Personally you can split the difference, buy some keys and some commons.