If you were to be in the market to buy US coins and you were only given a budget of $100, what would you buy?
I would buy a bunch of silver certificates, go back in time, buy a bunch of Morgans for face. Then I would go further back in time to buy rarities for cheap with the 50 or so Morgans. In reality, I would scour eBay and find something for cheap that I could resell for a substatial profit, which would be used to find other coins to sell the same way, and so on. I have kinda resigned myself to never pay close to retail for any coin if I can help it.
US only, Mat... but since you are an ancient coin guy, I would accept any ancient that you would suggest.
Mike, If the idea is for eventual profit, stay away from anything that is "hot" now. That means no silver. Stick with higher condition copper that can be had for a steal many times right now. I am acquiring VF-XF large cents. They can be "stolen" at a mixed auction setting when most of the bidders are there for silver or gold.
I was thinking we could get people's opinions about specific coins that they would purchase given the budget constraints. I haven't seen any specific suggestions yet
I tend to go after a high grade buffalo when my budget is limited (which seems to happen all too often lately). Sooner or later I'll have a really nice complete set.
Okay, 3 to 5 large cents in the 1839-1854 range, although a nice look at 1920's Buffs ain't bad, as Kirk suggests above.
By the way, Mike, I'm double dosing on interacting with you. Episode 123 is on in the background. So far, you haven't made me cuss... yet. We're only at 12:45.
Hmm - Anything pre-1857 would be my first choice. A nice problem free bust piece of coinage is always nice. You can get some nice upper VF to XF large cents.
Episode 124 is in the works, Kurt. This subject will come into play... but with different constraints. I challenged Matt to a battle of numismatic wits.
By the way, Mike, are you or Matt Numismatic Literary [autocorrect] Guild members? If so, I am soooooo nominating you for an award.
no, I am not. I also don't believe that Matt is either, but thanks. You also have my sympathy... the audio on episode 123 is the worst we've ever had
Okay, good, I was looking for canned air because I thought my speakers were clogged with lint. I just bought a Raspberry mic from Blue. Scary quality.
no, the audio on this episode stopped just short of unusable... I was truly embarrassed, but I wasn't going to trash a perfectly good episode
I still have tons of audio gear from my recording studio if you need anything. I'd be happy to donate it to the show. It is just sitting in my garage unused at the moment.