I’m done pursuing US coins

When the interest-to-price ratio of one area becomes much lower compared to other areas, it is time to abandon that one in favor of others. I use this criterion to determine whether or not I want to enter an area.

But another aspect with US coins that is discouraging is the hair splitting with regards to condition. Is it cleaned or not? Is this scratch market-acceptable? Is this a 66 or 67? Ancients and medievals are never held to this standard. A “damaged” coin is perfectly acceptable within the market; the price would just be lower. There is little angst with regards to grading. The whole market is really relaxed.

Already doing that. My focus is currently Ancient Chinese and European medievals. Both are very interesting to me and relatively overlooked.

I don’t sell coins which I know will be very hard to replace.

 

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...and in the case of the Chinese (at least to me) boring and practically impossible to authenticate or identify, but that's just me.

 

I am only interested in the really early stuff, which is easier to authenticate and comes with cool shapes and inscriptions. But you are right; they get pretty boring after 618 AD.

 

Agreed. After all, they are CAST coins! Casting is how many fakes are made(!), so collecting numbers of coins that were made in the exact same way that counterfeits are made is a little unnerving. Authentication is the biggest issue I have with them. And, no, I would not be a customer of an authentication service (TPG) to make sure that my Chinese cash coins are real. Part of the appeal of these pieces is their somewhat low prices, and adding authentication prices to them would not appeal to me.

 

...and you are sick of others treating coins like a commodity? It sounds like you are talking about corn futures. Maybe you need to step back and examine the reasons you are collecting before you start judging others.

Personally, I'm glad so many people treat coins as commodities. If they didn't, I wouldn't be able to cherry-pick so many awesome varieties. Sorry, you (and I) can't afford to get into the upper tier of the market. So it goes.

As Mr. Vedder of Pearl Jam stated:

Restless soul, enjoy your youth
Like Muhammad hits the truth
Can't escape from the common rule
If you hate something, don't you do it, too

​

Good luck in your other endeavors.

 

Nope. You totally misread that comment. I don’t care about future performance. Let me give you an example:

I like early large cents, and I would like to get a nice one. However, that means dropping a minimum of $1000. Moderate interest to me, fairly high price.

However, I am currently looking into a VERY historic medieval coin that is very interesting and meaninful to me. It will cost $300-400. Very high interest to me, relatively low price.

So, logically, which would I rather go for?

 

I have done just this and came up with a more-eloquent set of reasons:

1. The ratio of how much interest I have in US coins to the price I have to pay for them has decreased substantially. (So, they are overpriced to me) There are so many other areas of numismatics that are more interesting to me for much less money.

2. Also, US coins are graded on a hair-splitting scale where a single point can mean the difference of hundreds or thousands of dollars. And you have to worry about damage being considered market acceptable or not, and if not it is a junk coin ignored in the market. Plus everything has to be certified to be able to get what it is worth. The numbers are what makes it commoditized. It is annoying and unnecessarily stressful. I’d prefer to move to another area where this is not the case.

3. There is very little flexibility. If your interests in the US market become too pricy to justify the moderate interest, you get stuck. If you broaden your scope you can just move on to something far more interesting for much less money. And if that area becomes too expensive, move on again.

 

I appreciate your coherent summary in three points. Well done.

 

Agree 100%
I'm down to one box of 20 and everything is fine & dandy at the moment.
I don't go to shows anymore.
There are only 3 dealers I'll talk to.
I buy off other collectors.

I don't care much for forums because dealers hang out in them.
99% I trust less than Bernie Madoff.

 

I try to solve "that problem" by getting to know my series of coins that I collect better than the dealers who are trying to sell them to me.

And getting into non-USA coins has for sure helped!

And yet I still enjoy Lincoln Cents. And I'll pick up something silver (U.S.) on occasion...

 

Yeah, and on top of that, you also have to deal with the pompous, know-it-all, officious collectors with overly inflated opinions of themselves and their coins, that call others out for differing opinions and bash them on public forums, for the very same personality characteristics they possess, and over ridiculous disagreements such as grading. This kind of childish and inappropriate behavior among adult males approaching old age is ubiquitous on U.S. Coin boards, and one more reason why I don’t desire to participate as much.

 

Yes sir, you rang?

At your service...

 

Well, I try to get better than my dealers at knowing my coins; ...and going into very SPECIFIC World Coins (South Korea, Japan) has really helped.

I have gone to coin shows at VFWs where I pick up a key-date South Korean coin from a decades-old binder of 2X2s, a coin that would normally sell nowadays for about $120 USD in Korea, and ask the dealer what he'd sell it to me for.

The guy eyes me and says, "What the heck do I got here, some Japanese crap?" Then he eyes me again with a sideways glance, and says, "Ten Bucks!" (Thinking he's selling at an inflated price).

And I say "Sure!"

That's how, and when, I use it to my advantage.

 

Got it - I especially like the "What the heck do I got here, some Japanese crap?" quote. Funny!!

 

True story, man. And much more than one time I've cherrypicked this way.

This only "shows to go you" that ALL of us, dealers and buyers, need to know the series of coins that we are dealing with.

It isn't always possible, but there's the challenge, right?

 

I got a Fatman dollar yuan coin the same way from a dealer. "Its silver," he said. "$20." Flipped it for $85 same day.

 

You were in the right place at the right time!

 

I totally get you @TypeCoin971793.... I collected feverishly from the 60’s thru the 80’s when a twenty dollar coin meant big bucks to me. Took the interim off to raise a family and dove back in a few years back. I don’t find the changes in hobby to be a healthy thing and believe the unintended consequence of the outrageous grading standards is to turn off folks just as yourself. I jumped into a thread a few weeks back about a 100k Franklin half. It stuns me that any Franklin could command such a premium. And I bet back in the 1970’s I could have bought that very Franklin for 10-20 bucks. I felt much as you do after participating in that thread and took a few weeks off from CT. Anyway, I figure I am closer to the end of my collecting years than the beginning so I’ll keep loving what I know..... Anyway, I totally get it and am sorry the hobby has soured you so.

 

Back in the 70's there weren't population reports and registry sets. Now some people are more concerned with having the best and will pay huge dollars just to have "that" coin. Eye appeal doesn't seem to have as much weight as does the grade by some for profit grading company. As a whole we all pay for the many millions of dollars spent to have that slab.