I have been collecting coins for 30 years and I really only have coins I have found. I don't have any rare or graded coins but I want to start collecting some better quality coins. The problem is, I don't have the money for it. I was wondering if anyone had ideas on coins I could buy and sell for a profit and maybe use the profit for purchasing coins for my collection. Thanks for the help ahead of time.
If we told ya the secret we's would have to kill ya. That's why we's old guys is making money all day long........NOT. Ain't no easy way to make money in this hobby. Do it in the honest way, as a true collector, or do your bloody homework yourself. I ain't gonna do it for you.........
What you have asked here HAS TO BE an impossibility. If it were possible, coin values would go up non-stop, which they simply do not.
It's not complicated in theory. Just buy coins for less than you can sell them for. Doing that now...is the challenge.
People make money with coins the same as any business, they are extremely knowledgeable and are just plain good business people.
Keep in mind, even a small B&M store proprietor has a six-digit investment into their stock.... Yes, you can buy low and sell high. I've done it, a large number of times. All it takes is years to become expert-enough to be able to see bargains others can't (years spent learning to evaluate poor coin imagery), and 40+ hours a week poring over various sales venues to find those coins. I have two full-time jobs, one to pay my bills and the second looking at Ebay listings. For that, I find four or five coins a month which are worth the investment, and in a good month I win three of them. To make - if I flip them - maybe $25-50 each. It's not very good math, so I don't do it for the purpose of flipping for profit. I do it so I can have decent coins in my collection for relative cheap. I'm in a dry spell, and haven't bought a coin since early September. That's how it works....
Buy my new book "Forgotten Coins" coming out soon via Amazon Books. Values can only go UP after its published.
Thank you for all the help. I wish I had more time and money to get more involved. 3 young kids and a full-time job doesn't allow for it.
I have a feeling you're not a collector, but a SAVER. You see a coin and say, hmmm, that's interesting, I think I'll SAVE that. A collector learns all he can about the coin he just found and, over time, becomes a collector, or numismatist. Good luck. Now go forth and learn.
My pappy used tell me: "Son...if you want to double your money...fold it in half and put it back in your pocket."
Unfortunately, due to your own self-described circumstance, you just happen to be missing one of the key ingredients of and/or main reasons that make for the success of coin shops, which is that their customers have access to enough disposable income to be able to spend some of it at these very establishments.
To everything there is a season. Perhaps after the children are grown and on their own and you are firmly established in and/or retired from your job - those, after all, are the very circumstances that at long last allowed me to devote myself properly to numismatics - you will be able to have both more time and money to really develope your now nascent hobby. Best of luck!
It's not only easy, it's fun! All you need is desire, a pocket magnifier and fifteen years experience.
I have one simple rule for my own accumulation of coins. It is that the first thing you do is 'do not think of your coins as ever being worth any more than what it says on them'. Then just put away the best one you can find, try to learn which ones have 'oddities' associated with them and keep an eye out for anything that doesn't look normal. Of course, that's just what works for me. I'm sure it is very different for anyone who is fascinated by ancients, exceedingly minor differences in American pennies, etc. Coins of all ages embody a lot of national history, whatever county they came from, and there's the doorway to a lot of interesting stuff right there.
When the market is flat on certain coins- say seated liberty series, look for rarity, buy the best you can afford. Choose semi keys at a time when finding nice grades appear to be getting tighter in availability- such as the 1921 Mercury dimes in the late 1990's. Stay clear of fads and minor errors. Do not always be a buyer. I have had up to 10 year spans before I pushed for additions. Not everything is a buy all of the time. Patience builds value.
