Hello, Ive been looking around for a good place to buy in bulk. Im interested in buying either bags of unsearched Wheaties or bags of Mercury Dimes. Im selling off some loose ends of my collection on Ebay and have been looking at some of the auctions for coins in larger quantitys. Theres alot of auctions for 5000 count bags of wheaties, and Ive only seen one guy who sells 10,000 count bags, which have been going for around $375 with the shipping. But Ive been having a hard time finding bulk lots of just Mercurys. Im interested in prob $100 face value bags or maybe even $200 bags. Which Im not finding on Ebay, its mostly mixed silver when you get to lots like that. And everywhere else Ive looked, all I can find is $1,000 face value bags, which is too rich for my blood. Also, if anyone knows, what kinda of prices should I be paying for say the $100 face value bags of Mercurys??? Ive never bought in such quantities, and the only reason Im able to now, is because Im selling off some of my collection to liquidate funds. Im 22 years old, and really cant afford to get ripped off. If I do things right this first time, maybe I can liquidate my assets and reinvest for a bigger turnaround. Also, does anyone have any advice for me, I have a rather large collection that Im thinking about selling off to have some money to play with. Is it a bad Idea for me to sell most of what I have and invest in bags of only Mercurys??? Has anyone else bought big bags of mercurys, what can I expect, will I end up with only cull coins of common dates??? Im nervous Im doing something stupid and any advice or past experiences would be greatly appreciated. Oh and so you know, the collection I have now is alittle bit of everything and I could prob sell it for close to $50,000 Thanks, Dan Pelletier
Are you absolutely, positively, without any shadow of a doubt, convinced that the price of silver is going to continue climbing? Bulk lots of silver coins are worth their weight in silver - no more, no less. They have been searched, researched, and searched again for high grade examples, key dates and collectible varieties, so there will be very few, if any, numnismatically valuable coins mixed in. That means that a dealer will buy $100 bags of Mercs at 80-90% of the day-of-sale value of 72.34 ounces of silver (1,000 coins times .07234 troy ounce actual silver weight), and sell them at 105-120% of that amount. Either way you will bear the cost of shipping unless you make personal delivery or pick up. Depending on how much you actually have invested, your present $50,000 horde represents an investment gain or loss, but it isn't really a "collection" IMHO. Your post makes it clear that you have not invested in any books and have not invested any time in library research, so your financial results depend 100% on luck. Spend some time reading the very informative posts at this forum; visit other internet sites such as the ones listed >>here<<; buy and study some books on coins and collecting; focus on some aspect of numismatics that appeals to you; and you will become a true coin collector and earn all the joys of that status. Alternatively, spend some time reading up on commodity investments, futures, and precious metal investing, and become an educated investor who has a reasonable chance of finding joy in the increase in value of his investment. The choice is yours, and depending entirely upon your own personality, hopes and desires, either one may prove to be your correct life path. Just don't confulse the two paths, as that's a highway to disaster. BTW, to Cointalk Dan.
Dan - I would ask you this - why do you wish to buy bags of Mercs ? What do you hope to acomplish by doing so ? When you buy bags of coins, there's a reason those coins are in the bag. And that reason is because there is little hope of selling them otherwise. In other words, if you tried to sell the same coins individually you would not meet with success. Silver coins sold by the bag are being sold as bullion because their value as bullion exceeds any numismatic value the coins may have.
Thank you for the reply. When you say to focus on a specific aspect of numismatics that appeals to me. Well, Ive already realised what that is and its the anticipation of checking dates and looking at my new coins. I get thrills out of filling tubes and trying to find a coin I need for my folder. And nothing beats the feel of finding the last coin to finish a collection. Right now I have folders upon folders of every type of US coin that are full, with nothing left to work on finding. Which is why Ive been thinking about breaking up some of my collections and try to make the most I can out of them. And if I did that, I would try my best to get the most for my money. And as far as research, I have Red Books and Blue Books, but have realised that a coin is only worth what people are willing to pay. So I spend alot of time on Ebay, watching items I either have or have interest in trying to hoard, and keeping track of what they sell for. So I have a real good Idea of what everything always goes for and have my own....well, price guide. And I have a built up confidence that I have both the know how and patience to speed up the gain on my investment. But either way, If I manage to stay even, Ill be happy having dates to check and trying to score the deals. I realise most lots will have been picked through, but buying a roll or 2 at a time, Ive realised that once in a bluemoon, you catch someone emptying out a safety deposit box, and selling off inherited coins that they know noting about. And I do believe that after looking at enough auctions, you can almost try to get a feel for who these people are. In stupid ways, such as in a description everything is referred to as the front of the coin rather than the obverse. Actually, I bought a roll of Indian cents for $25 and the whole roll was EF to AU coins from flying eagles to 1876(3 1864Ls in the mix) I also thought I saw something....maybe, but wasnt sure in a picture of 16 wheaties, bought it for $2 and was happy when they sent me a 1922 plain. But yea, Im just boasting now, I realise most are picked over, and the most I can hope to compile will be short sets to sell, and mixed rolls. From my resarch, even if I buy in bulk, and then sell by the roll, I will atleast make alittle bit. But Im hoping the extra will come from selling short sets and higher grade rolls every once in a while. Ill also save the best of the best for my own personal folder, and have fun starting a new one. But, I feel I have spent enough time on Ebay and know what it has to offer, and am asking if anyone else has bought bulk lots, and what have they found. Is there any place other than ebay that sells bags of mercurys in the $100 to $200 face value range??? So far Ive only found $1000 face bags, and $100 bag that are way over priced. And those are the ones Im assuming are more picked through. And would like to ask opinions on other denominations and types. Does anyone have anythoughts or reasons that I should work with something different than mercury dimes. The reason Im leaning towards Mercurys, is only because I can afford them and they have always been my favorite. And Im only looking for Bags of wheaties as something to look through while I am selling off what I want to, and for inbetween times where I dont have mercurys to play with.
There is a coin dealer on this forum by the name of tradernick - contact him privately by using the PM or email function. He'll probably be able to help you. And - you can trust him
Wow, 22 years old and 50g in coins. I wish my paper route when I was young payed that well. I started collecting at 12 with a route and to this day I would be lucky if I had 5 thousand in coins. Good Job and I am truly impressed, just kidding about the route thing.
Yeah, I only have about $3g into coins and the rest is in other investments... Good on you, man!:hail:
If this were me (and I wanted to invest) it would be in gold. Right now gold is on a down cycle, a good time to jump in. A dealer at the coin show I went to yesterday had 3 PCGS slabbed tenth ounce First Strike American Gold Eagles for $70 each. Heck I paid more than that for a raw common one. Actually I would have offered $200 for the three of them but he left before I could get back to his table. What you could do (if you liquidate) is start putting together a portfolio with different gold coins. I especially like some of the gold from other countries. But the majority should be American coins which are widely recognized and easily liquidated.
Not cool. Statements like these help nobody. I wouldn't want a person such as yourself helping my kids get into coin collecting. nuff said here too.
Dan, I've dealt with these folks before and they're very good: www.apmex.com They offer bags of 90% silver in increments of $1, $100 and $1000. If you call them, they may offer bags specifically containing Mercury Dimes. In the old days, you could walk into their shop and see large bags of Standing Liberty Quarters, Walking Liberty Halves, etc. laying behing the counter. It wouldn't surprise me at all if they had bags of Mercs, too. Enjoy the hunt!
Hey thanks for all the great advice. People on here are way more willing to help than I had ever imagined. And Victor, I liked what you said about kepping it all american, widely recognized and easily liquidated. Which is something I had been thinking about already, but now that youve said it, I realise your right it is the best thing todo, make sure everything I invest in is easily liquidated. And as far as gold rather than silver, Ill consider that. I would still need to buy mostly silver though to support my habbit of wanting to own bulk amounts. Right now, my entire collection is either High End Slabbed coins, collections in folders, or rolls of extra Type coins, with way too much variety. Most of the good stuff I have, either my grandfather or my father bought me. They used to take me to the coin shop, and would match what ever I spent, times 10, but they would pick what they would buy for my collection. Usually either Key Dates or High End Slabbed type coins. And the rest of my collection is stuff I bought to fill folders, or just what ever I wanted. It is only now that Im realising that I have alot of worth in coins, but with such a wide variety, its going to take for ever and alot of time and effort to try to sell it all. So, Im going with victors advice, Im going to sell off just about everything, and reinvest into stuff that is easily liquidated. So far I have sold only a few of my lowest grade common coins, to get a feel for selling on Ebay. I sold 2 Seated Halves, $4.10 face value of Barber coins, a roll of Indian cents, a roll of 1936 Buffalos, and a once a year set of common cull nickles, for a grand total of $379, keep in mind every coin was culled and nasty except for the 1936 Buffalo roll they were decent. And this week I listed 6 auctions of Error coins and foreign silver. So once I sell that, Ill buy my first bag of Silver. See what kind of assortment I get, and pull some of the better stuff out to sell when Im listing other auctions anyhow. Edited to conform to forum rules
Howdy! Good to have another younger person on the forum! I would suggest that you quit investing in coins---coins aren't a good thing to invest in....ok its true that you might be able to make some money but in most cases you can and would loes your shirt. Now if you like coins then collect them for the joy of colllecting them and in the long run you will be much more happy....I never suggest that anyone invests in any coin becasue the market is such that it isn't a good type of market to invest in....and even more so with so much money. I wouldn't feel bad if somone decided to invest $100 in a coin but when it gets to the thousands its getting to where it could be bad. The coin market has been up for along time---in fact longer than normal---some coins have already crashed in value in the last few years and if the market keeps on doing what its doing then it will also crash....what goes up comes down. A few years back (70's) a coin that might have sold for over $1k can now be had for a few hundred....most people that invested in the market back then never have gotten out what they put into it. I would suggest that you search this forum for INVESTING and read the threads that you will find. Hope you stay around!!!....the more younger people the better Speedy
I think it is better invest in high grade, best examples coins. Always in demand so prices not subject to market conditions which go with politics winds.
Yes. I think it is just about the closest thing to a sure thing going right now for anyone with at least a 5 year time horizon. The analysis of silver is what got me interested in coins again after a multi-decade layoff. But I would stay away from junk silver and buy rolls of silver eagles if my sole purpose was to profit from the rise in silver prices rather than to enjoy numismatics as a hobby. But keep in mind that you just read this advice in an internet forum, and it is worth exactly what you paid for it.
