Should be required reading

This is blatant modern bashing in several ways. I suppose it's true that if you want to impress older coin dealers who have something to sell with a collection then it will require you have lots of very expensive older coins. Of course, these coins will need to be weighed and reweighed to be sure they're still worthy after decades or centuries of stripping, wiping, and cleaning.

In one of his first links he suggests that coins made after 1934 are common and that any coin not worth a lot of money ten years ago is just junk.

I think a more relevant question might be what sort of collection will impress dealers or collectors in twenty years. I believe that the answer will be very much different than what they provide.

 

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I think his advice is solid.

I think it was unnecessary for Reynolds to establish his bonafides since he quotes at length other expert opinion to advocate his viewpoint. So I understand the bristle reaction!

 

I have no doubt most of we old timers think this way and this goes double for those who make their living buying and selling old US coins. But they are still talking only about themselves and it does a disservice to all collectors including their own customers. For every recruit they gain they'll drive two newbies from the hobby. There's not going to be many left to buy these "spectacular" collections asa they come to market as old timers retire.

While many may be modern bashers at heart it's not often any longer that anyone shows his true stripes.

I might mention that some of these other dealers that he lists are also modern bashers and might noty want to be associated with this as much as in their past.

 

Well heck, I did like his article on 'dipping'.

The condescension I can deal with, it's the snobbery that I can't stomach..........

 

thanks for info

 

He sounds like a certain part time silver dollar dealer/cellist I know...

Who happens to have one of the top Condor token collections in the world...

To me this gives a certain amount of credence to his views.

 

I like his view on putting a border on a collection. It really helps make the experience more interesting, among other things it's fun to catalogue related items, and it helps keep a border on the budget, too.

 

First, Greg Reynolds has to validate himself to the reader who does not know who he is. I do the same thing. For a dealer like GDJMSP that comes with the job title. But who is Greg Reynolds? If you put "Greg Reynolds numismatist" in a search engine, you will find that he was granted several awards by the Numismatic Literary Guild. He writes for many venues, including Heritage and Numismatic News. But no one pays attention to by-lines. (Trust me on that.)

As for the advice, it is the same thing we hear in ancients. David Vagi had a similar article in The Celator many years ago. Collect the highest grades of the most popular coins and assemble a collection that other people can relate to. That is, if you want to sell your collection for the most money. It did not make me happy at all. My collection at that time was small Greek silvers worth a day's wages from the towns and times of famous philosophers. Who cares? Everyone wants Gold of the 12 Caesars or at least a full run of high grade Denarii (Antoniniani) by Emperor from Augustus to Romulus Augustulus.

But like this advice, that also only takes a bunch of money and not much else. I assembled a set of Mercury Dimes by going through bags of circs at a coin dealer's. It took a few months. It was a lot of fun. I ended up buying some in 2x2 because, of course, every bag was searched many times over through the years. Still and all, I have two Whitmans with Mercs... but no 1916-D. Why bother? Any time I want one, I can go to any show and almost any store and just throw down a wad of cash. Slabbed, graded, certified, entombed, delivered. Press the magic Gimme button.

Moreover, I too have researched some of those World Famous Auctions when I wrote an article about Proof Double Eagles. Trompeter, Eliasberg, Manley, ... They could have made more money actually working their day jobs. But those day jobs allowed them to pursue their passions. And it was the passion of collecting, not the profits in the after-market that drove the greatest collectors -- just as it motivates each of us.

 

3. Goto StacksBowers.com and search for "error" and I expect that you will be somewhat disappointed. That market is not yet mature. And I had to laugh at the 9-planchet die cap, an obviously manufactured fakery smuggled out of the Mint, as phony as the 1913 Liberty Nickels. And yet, the mainstream of the hobby endorses them. If you want to make money, sell what other people want to buy.

2. Another funny thing is that what I see is that as collectors mature, they get out of US coins entirely. Seateds and Barbers are just knock-offs of Greeks and Romans. Might as well collect the real thing. You may have seen Ian's posts of his "city view thalers" here or elsewhere. Coins like that fascinate collectors. I mean one time I was putting Mercury dimes in 2x2s and for a like a 31-S or 21-D or something I wrote "1 million. Rare." and my daughter said, "Dad, nothing with a million is rare." Conders, Hard Times, Civil War Tokens, ... Canadian Maritimes, ... For a while, I was fascinated by medieval trade and commerce and wrote an article about the Great Fairs of Champagne; and tangential to that, I have a silver penny from Genoa. A constitutional republic, Genoa struck coins in the name of Conrad, an unsuccessful pretender to the Holy Roman Empire who never stepped foot in the city. Gotta love that... regardless of the aftermarket for Conrad's Genoa Pennies. You don't get that with Mint State Seated Quarters.

1. I agree that his advice is sound for US Coins, used cars, rare wine, Hummels, or Depression Glass. If you want to be successful, sell what other people want to buy.
(I should write murder mysteries about a divorcee who moves back to her home town only to discover ...)

 

I am surprised others have not challenged this statement. I started in US coins and have moved into ancients mainly, with some medieval and odd and curious. However, I seriously disagree with this statement. There are many fine, knowledgable, serious collectors of US coins here and elsewhere.

I agree completely about your points. The fact I could buy a "key date" for most US coins at any coin show showed me how common and overpriced they were. However, there is serious numismatists in many US areas, like early coppers, 19th century varieties, tokens, etc etc. US coin collecting is not inferior, its just not ALL of the coins in the world. So, I understand how many more advanced collectors start wandering around the world and expanding their horizons beyond just their home country, but that does not make collecting US coin series BAD, or amateurish, at all. Its an option, like many, many others. I made that choice to leave US numismatics, but I love my brothers here like Marshall, Conder, Lehigh, and many others who concentrate solely on US numismatics. Coins are coins man, wherever they are from.

 

Lol, yes, but he is very knowledgable of US numismatics. You are right, though, but of course I also left out of that list at least 30 other great members here that their names didn't immediately pop into my head.

 

Lol, of course you Ken. I simply could not remember if you only collect US coins.

 

'blue collar' wow

 

After all these years... I just assumed... (ahem). You have always spoken from experience; and I don't remember ever catching you is a misstatement or error of fact, though you have corrected me a few times, as here again. Just sayin'...

 

Green18, thank you. Something like that is what got me into coin collecting. My grandma left me a depression era piggie bank (a blue glass Woolworth's special) and gave it to me just a few weeks before a fatal accident. She had put a silver coin in it almost every other week, for decades before I came along. It was chock full when I got it. Dad didn't allow me to break it open, but he did fish the coins out for me to look at, then we put them back. What was I, 5? I am 59 now and I still have the piggy bank and those coins. LoL, not a valuable one in the lot. Still I wouldn't trade that piggy bank and those coins for a dozen double eagles. 1960s doing research on mercury dimes and liberty quarters wasn't easy when the library only let you see children's books, but I learned about them anyway.

That being said, that first collection has proved virtually valueless when it comes to pay the mortgage after unemployment. TG other collections acquired as my tastes matured were available as an expendable resource. That is where listening to or behaving like Mr. Reynolds suggests becomes important. Cash in time. A bag of unsorted AG3 dimes and quarters (if gradable that high) isn't much of a collection. A complete set of all 50 state quarters in uncirculated MS 63+ and a matching silver proof set goes a lot further on the Ebay. A completed Whitman book of Mercury dimes (to include the 41/42 and the 16d) is a heck of a lot more saleable than the same 70 ish exact same dimes unsorted, unsearched and uncataloged in a paper sack.

Got new silver bullion eagles? Give me 6 of them and I may give you one of my 1800s busted halves. Give me enough gold sovereigns and I may give you one of my PCGS graded MS63 Trade Dollars.

There are two kinds of collections. One is for our heart, and one is to make money with. The thing is mixing them doesn't really work. What I acquired from Grandma was a collection of the first type. That some of those dimes and early quarters had been so circulated they had no dates left was not, is not, important to me. A buyer will of course view them differently. Reynolds sums that up with "this series of articles will not relate to people who collect coins from change, any coins that they come across while traveling, coins found with metal detectors, or coins with holes. Although such activities may be fun and interesting, they are beside the theme here."

Is Reynolds right about the Roosevelt era being the dividing line? Er, uh, sometimes. Certainly it marked the end of the classic gold coin.

Buy the rarest coins you can, get them in the best condition you can afford. Is it necessary to also buy the coins of that type from adjacent years? Sometimes. When your budget allows it, instead of buying new coins of a different type, consider buying a replacement coin in even better condition than the first. Okay maybe (like me) you find yourself with a whole bunch of rare identical year/type coins running the gamut from uncertified AG3 to PCGS 65. Dats okay. Having 20-30 rare (1863 Seated Liberty quarters for instance) coins besides your Whitman books of Lincoln pennies and Roosevelt dimes is a pretty good sub collection of it's own.

Avoid cleaned and dipped coins. You may have to acquire one early on as a place holder in your binder, but swap it out as soon as you can for something original. Never sell a coin you know has been cleaned without telling the buyer before he buys it (ethics). Telling him in writing before the sale (perhaps in the ad itself?) is also smart legally.

 

"... other collections..."? What about the piggy bank? My wife falls for Depression Glass.

Clifford Mishler - former editor and publisher at Krause and then president of the ANA - used to have a stump speech he gave at coin clubs. I heard it twice. His thesis was, "Collecting is a gene you do not inherit." In other words, a collector is a type of person and it does not necessarily run in families. I confess that I am not a collector. I lack the non-gene. But I do enjoy owning things and I have some fountain pens and some oil lamps and some perpetual calendars and some coins and banknotes and stock certificates and some first edition science fiction. When I flew, I bought flight manuals and related books from before World War Two. I found it historically interesting - fascinating really - to find a boy's adventure book from 1909 involving an aeroplane.

But numismatics satisfies a lot of needs. I have scientists and mathematicians, music and musicians, poets and presses, philosophers, and Dungeons & Dragons...

But I do not have - or even pursue - a complete set of anything, hence, I am not a collector. You mentioned the Mercury Dimes. I almost filled a Whitman from a coin dealer's bags of Circ Mercs. When it came to the 1916-D, I quit: no challenge. Any time I want one, I can go to any store or show and throw down money for the grade. Why bother? The completeness test fails for me. It's personal. So, instead of actually collecting, I write about the collectibles and the collectors who pursue them.