Good afternoon everyone, When I started coin collecting I was fortunate to have the sense to seek advice from the start. I was lucky and got to know and befriend two persons who come from two different worlds of coins and became my mentors. One was a coin dealer and the other a numismatists. The advice I got from both of them has helped me stay focused trough out my collecting and kept my feet to the ground from the start. I have seen so many people at our club and auction that start with fury and burn out fairly quickly. This hobby can be a marvelous thing but it can also be a burden to bear. 1st The numismatists advice Decide on what to collect and stick by it As I collect rare Icelandic tokens and rarity’s that come about maybe every year or even years apart on the market I would go nuts waiting. So the advice I got from him was to have two smaller collections. One to keep me occupied and my mind in the books and that is error collecting. Now Icelandic error coins are not that expensive but I have a budged each year which I stick but I have never had to push the limit. The second collection is Icelandic Kingdom coins in MS. This collection came later and I have my budged each year. 2nd The coin dealer Never mix your collection with business If you mix those two together you will most likely be your own best client. So whenever I get coins I want for my collection I switch out of character and buy the coins as a collector. 3rd From both Trust your self Never buy anything on a whim. Know the coin, know what prices should be paid and never ever trust other grades but your own. If you disagree walk away. This has helped me stay on the path from self-destruction. Hopefully it will in the future Siggi
I like your advice, Siggi. I have bought a few things on whims (who hasn't?) but with coin collecting it is good to know where you're focus is and if you want to sell, to do so completely apart from you're own collection. It's finding what my focus is that is difficult for me, because I like certain error coins, and some others, but mainly I would like to be able at some point to sell quite a bit of my coins if the opportunity came to make a buck. So I guess I just am more of a opportunist, eh?
All good advice Siggi. I haven't always been a disciplined collector as I am today, but I've never bought on a whim. I think out each potential purchase, and as a result have walked away from many "deals" and have never looked back. Although my father got me interested in coin collecting when I was 6 years old, he was not a mentor to me in that regard. By that time he had been out of the hobby for a long time. I've certainly had influences in my life that have lead me down certain paths of collecting, but for me it's basically been a long, but satisfying journey of self discovery. As my collecting interests tend to be a bit out of the mainstream (counterstamps, obsolete currency, exonumia, etc.) this means of educating myself has been a necessity. I have no regrets, only many, many fond memories and future expectations. I've been a persistent collector and researcher nearly all my life and wouldn't change a thing. Bruce
One I should of stuck with more is buy stuff older than I am. And the other is stay with certified stuff when it gets expensive.
