How do you control your urges to sell a coin that you got unbelievably cheap, yet is a needed part of your collection. I have a 1853-O Arrows and Rays Half Dollar that I picked for $30 at my LCS. I grade it around VG, making it worth around $60-70. I am doing a type set so this coin is a vital piece to it. However the profit that could be made my selling it is really making me not enjoy the coin to its fullest. How do you balance those selling instincts to make a profit when you pick a coin on the cheap with recognizing you got a coin needed for your collection at a cheaper price which means you saved money?
The question just becomes do you value the profit more or the coin. Which ever you choose is your answer. There’s no right or wrong answer. Some people do sell those, others it will depend what it was aka how much do they actually like that coin. Sometimes that’s the only way to get a coin of a certain value which makes the decision harder knowing they won’t be replacing it with equal quality.
I'd agree with baseball21. If this were my dilemma, I might just advertise it on a forum or list it on ebay as a buy it now for an amount I couldn't turn down (in your case maybe 80 bucks). If somebody buys it, wonderful, if not, you get to keep enjoying it in your type set.
if it is for your type set then sell it to get a higher graded coin in its place. not sure what grades you are going for your type set ??? it depends on the rarity of your coin ? only you can answer that question.
I too agree with this. I understand the temptation to "flip" something, and often do, but it's all a question of weighing your desire for having it in your collection versus your desire for the potential profit. If you have a buyer and can flip it for a profit, I say go for it, and get a higher grade one. The 1853 (-P) goes for a little bit less than the O-mint, and since you mentioned yours is a type set, I'd personally say grade and eye appeal trumps scarcity for a type set. Not that 1853-O halves are terribly scarce. On the other hand, I've always liked the obsolete mintmarks (O, CC, etc). As @baseball21 said, there's no right or wrong answer. It's all a matter of personal choice.
That's easy (for me). If it's a needed part of your collection, then think of it in terms of how much it will cost you to replace it. Unless someone makes you an offer that is MORE than the replacement cost then keep it. If someone does make that golden offer then sell it and buy a new one, using the difference to fund other purchases. After all this is a hobby/collection, not an investment portfolio. I mean, if you had some tech mutual fund you inherited (just to make the analogy sort of work) with a cost basis of $30 per share, and it's now worth $45 per share, and is your only tech exposure, are you going to sell it just so you can buy some other tech mutual fund to replace it? Assuming that on either transaction you don't lose any profit on fees. For me I would forever and always love it at it represents an example of having a 'good eye' to pick it out at such a low price. Now, if your collecting interests shift, then sell it in a hot minute and revel in the glory of profit.
Let's see if I understand this correctly. You are trying to complete a type set and you filled one of the holes for $30. You are thinking of selling the coin for $50 ($60 minus fees minus postage) and then filling it again later for $60. So your overall cost basis to fill that hole would go from $30 to $40. What am I missing?
Confusing, isn't it? I just let the coin decide. Heads, it wants me to keep it; tails, it wants me to sell it.
Are you sure that the coin doesn’t have any problems that would justify the lower price? Cleaning for instance?
I've seen a lot of dealers, take in a coin that says vf and sell it for vf, they don't have the time to check and regrade all the coins they receive. It is up to the buyer to grade themselves and judge if it is overgraded or undergraded. I don't trust the labels on any of the raw coins I purchase.
There's not a ready-made market for them like there is when they're in the plastic. I wouldn't trust the seller's grade, either, I wholeheartedly agree. However, it's nothing different than what we used to do back when all coins were "raw." That's why we had to know how to grade, unlike today. It's also why grading was central to the enjoyment of our hobby, unlike today. You weren't a crackerjack at grading, you needed to find another hobby. It's like buying a car. You don't do your research, you're going to get ripped, and that's hardly news to anybody.
I agree. For that potential profit, I would keep it for the type set. At most, your not making a lot of money and you need that gem in your set anyway. My type set has average to stellar coins in it. I like the variance.
