Hi, I'm brand new to collecting coins and wanted to get the expert memberships advise on 3 items I am being offered from a collector/dealer near by. I don't even know where to begin to do the research other than google and frankly it's been a mishmash of info on the various sites, most of which are commercial sites that I can't trust for unbiased advise. The first item I'm being offered is a 20th Anniversary (2006) Silver Eagle set graded 70/70/70 by NGC with the original box and Certificate of Authenticity. The dealer claims it's all originally from the same set and not pieced together, but is there a way to be sure? More over.. is the price of $1000 fair? and do you think there is upside to this investment over the long run? The 2nd set I'm being offered is the 1999-2008 Silver Proof Mint sets that also include the state quarters and all other coins issued with those sets. There is a big red box and inside it are smaller red boxes (the 2007 is white) and they're in good condition if a bit frayed from opening and closing, but the coins are all sealed in the original mint packaging.. Is this worth $790 and does it represent a decent investment at that price? And lastly, I'm being offered a 1996 roll of silver eagle bullion coins that are in good condition.. some have minor tarnishing.. I don't know for sure if they're all from the same original roll or if they're pieced or cherry picked thru... the price is $850 for those, or about $42.50 for each coin.. is this a good price? More over, can I use tarnex on the coins that are a bit off color? Or is that a no-no? and is there any investment upside to this collection? Thanks a lot gentleman for the advise and I do apologize if this is all noob stuff and my questions have been answered before.. I've tried to scan the search but had no luck getting current info. Warm Regards Sam Phoenix, AZ
Sam, I dont consider most modern coins a good long term investment at just about any price but especially the prices listed. If you are looking to invest... buy raw, ungraded silver and gold bullion. The grading of bullion coins is a fad. Something done by people to market the coins that were really created to be used as just bullion. By buying raw bullion you always have an idea of what you have is worth and there is always going to be someone buying it. Your going to pay a premium for raw silver eagles as well but it should be closer to $1-$2 each and not the $30-$40 for the graded ones. If you looking to Invest bullion is the way... if you like these coins as collectibles fully realizing they then might never go up a penny in value... then you might want to consider the things you listed.
I agree it is a no to all of those. There are too many average coins among the couple that might go up to make it a wash.
I'm starting a silver proof statehood quarter collection myself. If you want to collect them and get your money's worth, I would recommend looking at every quarter in every package. If any of them have ANY haze/toning/spots, I would steer clear. If all of the coins look great to you and you feel like you would be proud to own them...then we can talk about the prices being charged and go from there. Simply my opinion. There is no shortage of these sets for sale, so you want to get the very best. I've seen the most expensive silver proof quarters, the 1999s, still in the Mint packaging, that were all hazy and gross looking. Avoid those at ANY price. Graded and slabbed MIGHT be the way to go, but they don't fit in with my collecting needs and I don't even own one. They will definitely be more expensive. I plan to display my set on the wall in the original mint holders, so slabs just won't work for me. I don't pay extra for any modern coin in a slab, ever.
Lots of good advice in this thread Sam. Dahdahdididit didididahdah dahdidi dit didah dahdidahdit dahdidididit didididit.
Gosh, is Amateur radio still around? I think I have worked you in the past in contests. The graded bullion coins are like the beanie babies of the past. It seemed like a good idea at the time, and everyone was trying to find a way to put them into their IRA. Stick with the classics. Even those are not always a good investment, but the downside is much less if it exists. Welcome to the forum ! Jim
You likely worked my late uncle Dale Hoppe, the original K6UA.. but then maybe not.. if it was in the past two years.. Ok guys, thanks for the good advise and I'll add it to my mix of inputs.. I've got people telling me a mix of things, but in the end, investments are all about risk... and the rule of thumb (it's essentially a law) is that risk=return.. if you take a huge risk, you can expect a huge return.. so I have to study the risks involved and decide which way I want to go. As for the comments on the modern coin's lack of investment potential... have any of you seen the $1M auction on ebay for the 1993 Silver Eagle coin that is supposed to be a one of a kind?
Spending a lot of money on most modern coins is a huge risk...and there is probably no huge return at the end of the rainbow. Coin collecting is a hobby for me. I don't know anyone who has made money in the long run 'investing' in coins, but I live in a narrow world in the conservative midwest. LOL. There are probably better places to put your money if you're into investing and not collecting. Especially if you don't know what you're doing. We can make suggestions, but are they any better than guesses? You'll have to decide. Talk to some dealers. They're in business to make money...and they don't all make money I'm sure.
Greetings, I am new to Coin Talk and coin acquisitions. I'll call it acquisitions since I don't consider myself a collector or a bullion investor. I have a thread or two explaining why I came to Coin Talk for research and advice. In a nutshell I wanted to gift my son and nephew something other than "E" bonds. Everyone offered opinions and places to research more. I decided on some general assumptions and the following path. 1. I do not intend to collect coins. 2. I do not intend to invest in physical, in-hand bullion. 3. I am going to supplement the current investments of a 529, E-bonds and savings account with ASE, AGE or AM. Buffalo proofs and W minted products. IE. burnished "proofs" which are business strikes with a W. 4. These are gifts. 5. These are long term. IE. My almost 3 year old won't realize any benefit until post-college around age 22 to 24. (My nephew and soon niece receive these as gifts. It's their parents discretion what to do once gifted. See 4.) Next step(s): 1. A lot of searching and reading. 2. Consulted with some friends' fathers. 3. More searching and reading. 4. Concluded not enough time to collect coins, assemble a collection of near rarities, etc... 5. Concluded bullion bars just as dull a gift as E-bonds. 6. More researching. 7. Decided on proof varieties of modern mintages. Readily available, somewhat inexpensive, potential to increase slightly more than the .25% interest rate on savings account. (Facetious and sad comment.) Actions: 1. Read more. 2. Investigate PCGS and NGC sites. PCGS has an open table of prices for most PCGS graded coins. NICE! Looked at NGC, still haven't found same content as PCGS. 3. Reviewed Heritage Auction referenced by many CT threads. 4. YES I DID IT. Review, watch and document some sales on eBay. 5. Visited a couple local coin dealers. 6. Only purchase PR or MS "W" graded 69. No 68s. No 70s. 6. Copied the PCGS tables for ASE's to spreadsheet, edited to include only PR or MS grades 68, 69 and 70. Created columns based on 68 and 69 gradings with 20% mark-off as guide for bids or negotiating start points. 7. Created a spreadsheet to document proofs to purchase and which ones have been aquired. 8. Determine monthly budget to purchase back-fill ASE's for "collection." Re-work gift budget and investment budgets to acquire ASE's from birth year to current and maybe older dates. 9. Happy buying. I have said this forum is interesting and worth while. The search functions work very well. The contributors are greats. Post those pics for a good guess.
That's all well and good but the coins you are talking about buying originally were minted and have populations in the thousands... and are not one of a kind. For example the 2006 reverse proof eagle in NGC 70 has a population of 7885 coins. If you want to invest in coins there are ways to do it... buying modern coins would be towards the bottom of my list honestly... I can think of some nice investment quality classic coins that are available in the ranges that you posted that will apprecieate especially in this market... this is a buyers market.
Send me a message or post some suggestions, I'm all ears.. I just picked the silver eagles since I was vaguely familiar with them and frankly like how they look..
I dont mind posting them in an open forum. For $1,000 or a little more you can buy some key date, or conditionally scarce collector coins. A Nice FINE graded 1909 S VDB. A nice graded generic date MS62 $10 Liberty gold piece or a MS63 for a little more then a grand. A Nice MS63 Generic date $10 Indian head gold piece. A Nice low end UNC (62-63) graded 1830's bust half. MS63 saints are trading in the $1,400 range these days. Just to name a few. These pieces are much much better as far as investments are concerned as compared to the modern stuff. You can get some great deals on these items right now with the market a little depressed. I know it might seem like greek to you now.. but start researching these type of pieces and you might find something you like.
Of course coins are just bullion intended for use as a medium of exchange. No one ever intended that people should try to set some aside or seek older examples as a collectible. This doesn't apply to the 1804 dollar which was just a hunk of precious metal intended to be saved. This is very similar to the 1996 eagle except there's no evidence that any of the eagles were made illegally.
I have not seen that stuff in years, do they still make it? I remember the old TV commercials made it look like totally harmless, other than removing the tarnish does it damage the coin?
