I am very new to coin collecting, so, I most likely will post things that you all have know about for years, and I apologize for that. I have a question about an article I just read, (because I have been doing nothing but investigating this coin collecting tangent I am on) and this man seems to be top in his field of numismatists, but this particular article sort of put a damper on any future coin collecting. to hear him talk from this article, unless I am misinterpreting it, there is no sense collecting anything, or am I missing something?? http://www.scvhistory.com/scvhistory/signal/coins/soltaylor020208.html here is the article : [FONT=Times New Roman,Times Roman]What to Collect, Hoard or Save [/FONT] [FONT=Times New Roman,Times Roman]By Dr. Sol Taylor "Making Cents" Saturday, February 2, 2008 [/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman,Times Roman]I[/FONT] [FONT=Times New Roman,Times Roman]n my 70 years as a collector and more than 50 years as a dealer and appraiser, I have seen thousands of collections, hoards and accumulations of every conceivable type of material. More than 90 percent of the coins I have been asked to evaluate consist of a few numismatic items and mostly coins of no collector value (or even potential value). In the past 10 years or so, I have seen more than 100 accumulations — including, in one home, five coffee cans filled with foreign coins. Fortunately approximately 20 percent were silver; thus this was a valuable hoard. Most of the accumulations seemed to have a few, or many, Morgan and Peace dollars. This was primarily the result of people visiting Las Vegas or Reno in the days before 1970 when real silver dollars actually came out of the slot machines. EDITED---Please don't post copyrighted infomation.
The guy who wrote that article is analyzing what the future "monetary" value of a coin will be, not the "satisfaction" you will get from collecting coins. His title is wrong - it should be "What to Hoard and Save". The concept of "collect" is not addressed in the article. Having said that, he is basically correct. There is currently a frenzy around coin collecting. There seems to be this get-rich-quick mentality. In that sense, you're right about him putting a "damper" on things - and more of this kind of thing needs to be said to prevent unsuspecting people from throwing money away. Thanks for sharing the article.
And enjoy the hobby. Too many people get caught up in the investment segment of coin collecting....concentrating too much on making money takes all of the joy out of the hobby. Be selective like Hobo says...and...be happy.
The guy has some good points but can't say I agree with all. If he's been collecting for 70 years he may be a bit "jaded". There are dates in the series' he mentioned that are already moving beyond "junk silver" levels. Many Lincoln Cents and Jefferson nickels will follow due to low mintages. He is very right on one point though. Most "hoards" are basically worthless. BiCentennial quarters are a great example. Geez how many people hoarded those quarters that are worth a quarter? A good lesson from this is that if you intend to "hoard" do a lot of research. Say maybe 20 years of active collecting and even then it's a risk. I have a few small "hoards". These are coins I feel have a lot of room to move. I did NOT pull them from the millions and billions of modern minted coins. I paid a premium. One "hoard" has done very well while I'm waiting for another to break. If one wants to invest in coins then one should be ready to go long term.
Talk about bull! I'm sure Edwin Moy would be surprised to learn that: I'm no expert on US coins, but based on what I've read on this and other forums, his list of non-worthless US coins is woefully incomplete. The guy may be an expert on Lincolns, but he doesn't have a clue about collecting coins. Reading his slop would lead one to believe that all non-silver foreign coins are worthless. If that's true, I've got thousands of dollars invested in worthless gold, copper, bronze, aluminuim, etc., and members of this forum alone probably have hundreds of thousands more. And BTW, has he ever heard of ancients? Have any of the Lincoln collectors here ever heard of this "famous" man?
Exactly my thoughts. There's no "monetary" price someone can put on the time spent with my kids opening rolls and filling their books. That is the true value in collecting to me.
He has a few good points. But mostly hes a blowhole. My guess is that is an attmept to convince people to not hoard to many commen coins. That I agree with, as the more you hoard the less they will be worth in the long run. But with that said. To each there own. He is wrighting from his own prospective and I dont let propaganda like that get me in a tizzy. BUT THE POINT MORE OVER that I agree with is DO NOT HOARD COMMON COINS because its pretty much pointless. THIS IS ONLY IMHO. In any case JUST COLLECT what ever your little hearts feel like. Is that not the point of collecting?
Thank you all for clearing that up a bit for me, I appreciate it. I noticed my post was edited, saying for me not to post copyrighted information. am I allowed to give the link to it? thank you
OK now someone is making fun of me there. Back in the 70's a freind of mine and myself went nutty collecting as many of those Bicentennial Quarters as possible. Not to long ago for the fun of it I asked many dealers at a coin show how much they would pay for them. Most ignored me. One said $0.24 each. Not sure but I think he was hinting he didn't want them at all. What happened to them. Into a banks counting machine and the money where it should have been, my savings account. As to that article from the 70 years of collecting. The title should have been I'm old, lost interest, no relatives want this stuff. That guy and others like him are just nuts or old age got to him. And if they have time to write articles like that, they should try doing something constructive like writting fairy tales for kids. His is close now. I've been collecting coins and lots of other STUFF for well over 60 years. I never sold a coin and don't care how much they may be worth. I keep an inventory in Excel but it has only dates, mint marks, grades and a page number at the bottom and a title on the top. No prices. At my age I didn't loose interest in coins, just thier future which means why should I care about the values if no intent on selling them. I've got several old cars. People constantly tell me to get rid of them. WHY do they care? They are mine, mine, mine as a little kid would say. Back to the original post. Collect coins, stamps, Hot Wheel cars or whatever you want. Do it for fun. Soooooon enough you'll be as old as me and have something to look back at as fun.
again, thank you for your input, I understand better now, a little lol. evidently the guy is no flake, he has written a book titled "The Standard guide to the Lincoln Cent" and he is a contributor, it says, to Yeoman's "Guide Book of United States Coins" soooo
I long to find one of those dealers who still believes that "all foreign coins are worth melt". That's like saying all worn Morgans are worth melt. Regardless, the gentleman who wrote this article is very specialized. Which can be a big problem. Outside of his Lincoln cents, I would trust his investment advice as far as I could throw it.
Yes yes yes! Please do post links! Its just that with all of the copyright laws we can get in big problems if we let members post who articles. It's just a good idea to post a few lines, and then a link to the rest of the article. Thanks Speedy
Oh Carl, I was not aiming this at you but you did make me LMAO Now I remember reading yoiur post about those BiCentennials! It is a good point about what people hoard though. A few years ago one of my friend's dad passed away. He had been collecting on and off for years. I have known these people all of my life so they asked me to look at his stuff. Well, I bought 28 rolls of BiCentennial quarters for face. ONLY because my local dealer will occasional pay $1.05 for them if he has a buyer at $1.10 in bulk. I bought all of the Ikes at face value as well (over 100). He had about $700 in $2 notes (bills). I thumbed through them pulled about 5 out and told my buddy to take his mom out to the gambling boats. His nearly complete set of Lincolns, nearly complete set of Washington quarters and decent set of Indian Cents I told them to keep but if they ever wanted to sell them I was interested and would pay good money. I also bought over 3000 wheats at 2 cents each. She wanted to give them to me at face but hell, this lady probably changed a diaper of mine or two at some point in my life. I basically weeded out the garbage as it were and if they ever decide to sell they won't get ripped off. I have known these people all of my life. Unfortunately it rarely works that way.
The mint did stop making Sackies - for circulation. They only offer them as collector's coins since 2002. And he's only talking about US coins in his article, so in that regard his statements are correct. He does not address world coinage at all, so I understand your point. And yes, he actually is a very famous person and one of the foremost Lincoln cent experts and has been for decades.
Correct me if I am wrong, but in fact, there will be NO Sacs in 1908 - none for circulation, none for collectors. So he is actually 100% right and doesn't even have to mention circulation. For the time being, the US Mint HAS stopped Sac production.
