Two types of collectors ...

Sorry, @Heliodromus, I didn't listen to the podcast either. But as a lifelong Type 1 --and I really like your implication that there should really be separate terms for the two kinds-- I could make a further distinction within Type 1.
As someone with an unshakeable fixation on earlier medieval (in contrast to Classical /Ancient coins per se), you can also run smack into the difference between people who collect (that's, Collect) mainly for the esthetics, and ones who collect for the historical context. With so much earlier medieval being, for instance, sloppily struck, and having nothing but legends to recommend itself, the historical context effectively Becomes the esthetic.

 

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The whole point of collecting coins, ancient or modern, is to undertake a journey of discovery and fulfillment through an appreciation of history, art and the acquisition of knowledge and understanding through the study of these "time travelers", uniquely human activities.

As collectors we have divergent interests quite often, which can often inform and broaden the perspective of fellow collectors, especially through a forum such as CT. That helps make the collecting of ancients and other coins even more enriching.

That is the primary focus of collecting, in my view. The discussion of how one goes about acquiring additions of one's collection is guided by, again, area(s) of interest and one's economic circumstances. A collector may have a desire for collecting the tetradrachms of Syracuse, an expensive undertaking even in mid grade. On the other hand a collector may be interested in the more attainable bronze coinage of Heraclius, with all of the overstrikes inherent with his coinage.

In either situation experience and knowledge play important roles in how a collector goes about deciding what to buy and what to pass on. Unless a collector happens to be a Silicon Valley billionaire with an unlimited budget, this applies to the vast majority of everyday collectors, whether sitting in a coin shop or at a dealer's table at a coin show or at an auction.

I am against buying coins as investments. The future is unknowable. We can try to predict that the value of a given coin, or even stock, that will grow at a certain rate over, say, a twenty year period, but that is really a guess, perhaps a sophisticated one, but a guess nonetheless. History has taught us how fallible our predictions can be.

As for me, I generally have mid-grade coins, many located in spots throughout the house, mingling with the dust bunnies, some waiting to be researched, others waiting to be boxed (they are remarkably patient!). I guess that I need to stipulate in a trust what is to be done with the collection after I leave the house feet first, and that is something that I've procrastinated over many years, but, for me at least, making a ton of money is not a consideration.

 

@robinjojo, Yesss! I really gravitate toward the almost subversive attitude of seeing coins as miniature historical documents, effectively transcending their original function as money. Yes, economic history is one inescapable part of history, but that many of us find the political and cultural dimensions only more compelling. That gets to be true whether you're looking at something as inherently beautiful as a Syracusan decadrachm, or a medieval coin that no one who wasn't familiar with the historical context would look at twice. This is why I cringe a little (or maybe a lot) at investors. In effect, they're perpetuating the coins' original function as money. For some of us, that amounts to anachronism.

 

There is a view of the world, that is quite popular unfortunately, that relegates just about everything to that of a commodity. It is a view that reduces objects, such as coins, to a singularly focused monetary level, where gain on investment becomes the paramount objective. It is a view that pays scant, in any attention to the coin in the slab, but instead is driven by a marketer's self-serving description, or an investment advisor's recommendation. The people who subscribe to this view, I believe, have no real interest in the coins themselves; they could be slabbed paper clips for that matter - just so long as a return on investment is achieved.

Perhaps I'm getting a little overboard, but that's how I feel.

 

@robinjojo, I couldn't agree with you more. And don't care who knows it! @Finn235 kind of nailed it, in his post on this thread. You buy a coin as an investment, resell it, and buy --What, Instead? That often, something of that little inherent significance, which is likely to start depreciating --as long as we're on that subject-- as soon as you've bought it.
...Have to admit, I tend to like the idea of coins at least holding their current monetary value, against inflation. But if they don't, it's not something that will keep me from liking them.

 

I have been a collector for about 30 years and seriously into ancients for the past 10 years. I buy coins I want to keep. I have never sold a single one. Once they enter my sanctum sanctorum they are here to stay. I am aware the value of my collection must be higher than what I paid for them but this is a distant secondary concern.

I like the coins. If I want to invest, I'll keep selling put spreads.

 

I am definitely a Type 1 collector since I'm in it for genealogical and historical purposes. I do not collect ancient coins, although I am aware of the zeal of those collectors for what seems to be historical purposes, not investment purposes.
Having read and and heard about Type 2 collectors, it seems, in my humble opinion. that some (maybe more) are talked into investing (by dealers/sellers) large sums of money for relatively common coins, not the truly rare coins that will appreciate each and every year. The scam with MS70 and PR70 common coins seems to cloud "investors" into thinking that those coins will appreciate at a higher rate than inflation so they "invest" in them thinking that they will reap the rewards down the road. Sadly, common coins, no matter how perfect, do not seem to be keeping ahead of inflation. I'm proud to be a Type 1 collector because I have no illusions of huge profits, but I do enjoy my collections that will be passed on to my daughters when I'm gone. They have indicated that they will keep alive the history and pass them off to their children.

 

This is an interesting discussion. I am definitely type 1, wasin it for the fun: with a want list. The problem is that I am 78 years old, and have been collecting since the 1950s, and my father before that. I used to buy a lot of proof sets and commemoratives. This year after the pandemic I went to six coin shows in the area with about 25 boxes of coins and traded them for about 45 coins for which I believe I did not overpay, now mostly in safe deposit boxes. These filled in a lot of holes in my collection, and got rid of a lot of the duplicates. There was a lot of gold, $53.5 face. They were MS62 and above, and look very nice. I got every US-Philippine coin issued. I am about done filling in the holes, and what do I do with them? No sense selling them, or even giving them away, but I give my older duplicates away. My daughter said she would put them in a safe deposit box upon my death, which is better than selling them. I know my 9-year granddaughter like coins, but it is not a big priority with her. How are some of you older guys handling this? This was a major change to make to my collection in the last year. No family members wanted me to spend my coin proceeds.

 

@CoinTalkJim My tentative plan, is to put a large envelope on top of my coin collection, with the words "How To Sell My Coin Collection" printed on the outside of the envelope. Inside the envelope, there will be detailed instructions. I'll include photos of each coin, with my estimate of the value of each coin. I'll write down a list of reputable ancient coin dealers, which I think would be honest and pay fair prices, if someone wants to simply sell the coins to a coin dealer. I'll also write down a list of reputable auction houses, if someone wants to auction the coins. Or, that person could simply keep the coins, or keep some of the coins. When I go to the Great Coin Show In The Sky, hopefully someone will find my coin collection, and they will see the envelope on top of my coin collection. I don't want my coins to disappear into a landfill, or get melted down, if I can help it. I'd prefer, that my coins make it into the hands, of people who are interested in ancient coins.

 

You can be a collector of a series but still buy opportunistically within the series. That's what many have done.

 

Thank you for the lesson very pleasant.

 

Nice vid. It’s a cool thing that Mike N. is a friend of mine and was my first early mentor when he worked at a store a hafa-mile from my house.

As you could probably see from the content of my posts that I am a #1-type collector. I collect things that I think at that moment are cool and at the same time I can afford. Nobody would ever get any big gains from my collection. You could probably however purchase a season of Blackhawk tickets, have a beer each game and pay for parking with it’s sales value/worth.

I found something said early in the vid to be very interesting. I have a decent collection of current notes of countries other than the U.S.; lots of polys. After reading that "IBNS Banknote of the Year” stuff it turns out that I’ve got a number of winners and a good number of contenders too. Four(4) of them I got interested in seeing them in the Littleton catalog. I purchased them online for considerably less. LOL.

Anyway ... all-in-all ... this is a cool thread.

 

I think I’m ambidextrous. I like horse trading but I fell in love with rare liberty seated die varieties. Luckily there’s not a great deal of competition for those. I must admit though in the past year I’ve come across two 1840 (O) Rev of ‘38 coins being sold as common 40’s and flipped them.

 

Ditto from start to end. I'm fully a #01 collector. If the coin happens to be worth much more than I paid for it, that's even more reason to keep it in my book.

I'm a #01 collector in all my hobbies. I've sold nothing since 2002. Per the radios, I could probably make most of my money back, and I've been thinking of decluttering, but that's more of a housekeeping issue.

 

I'm a Type 1 mostly. I've been collecting ancients for 3 years, and US coins, off and on, ever since childhood. And a few medievals, Spanish colonial, Crusader coins, and English pennies.
I've never sold an ancient coin. However, I've upgraded some of my ancients, and I may sell some of the "2nd stringers" someday.
I've sold a few US coins. Mostly because I upgraded them. I sold one US coin, because I just didn't like that particular coin type anymore, and I wanted to use the money for other things (coins, etc).
Even though I mostly collect coins for the history and fascination, I sometimes like to think of my coins, as a way of diversifying my wealth. It's nice to know that, if I ever get desperate, or if I ever want the money for other things, then I could sell my coins, and get some money for them.
However, I doubt that I'll ever sell my "1st string" coins, because the coins have nostalgic value for me, and because I spent so much time, learning about them, and searching and waiting for good examples.
For example, I still have my Lincoln cent collection, which I've had since childhood, and its a nice connection to my past.

 

Hello Group,
Speaking as one who last year sold his British Commonwealth MNH (Pre-1970) stamp collection for 25% of it's CV & 33% of what I paid, I have proceeded to collect coins that both I desire and are good investments. I definitely understand both 'types' discussed but shouldn't there have been a Type 3 offered?
Cheers,
J.T.

 

The great thing about coins is their size.

My other two main collections: 16inch radio transcriptions (huge) and 1930s radio sets/consoles. So picture 40 radio sets (maybe 10? consoles) and a bunch of huge records. Takes up space.

 

I try to keep my collecting, simple. The part of my collecting is that when I purchase a coin, I keep an accurate record of the source, date, description, and other detail so that I can keep a detailed record of all of my purchases by year. I used to keep my more expensive purchases in a Safety Deposit Box. I keep a record on an Excel spreadsheet, sorted by Year, and other details. My wife likes me doing that kind of record because it takes up a good amount of time that I would pester the H out of her. Coins that I acquired from various sources are kept in separate boxes by denomination. Because I inherited a great deal of coins from my father, buy boxes to keep them in. I use the same size of box for all my coins, with only different sizes for each denomination. To me, it is fun.
I would like to see various ways that each of you record your coins and to secure them, as well as how you keep a record of your coins. After over 30 years of detail work as an Internal Auditor for a large University, I have learned a great deal from many of other accountants/auditors/or other employees. I am grateful to all of you as well.
Thank you so very much for your help and teaching in many different ways.

 

To me, a collection is an ever-evolving entity. I don't speculate for investment purposes when buying coins but I also don't consider every purchase to be a permanent resident in my collection. Many times, an upgrade will come around or a coin won't "fit" anymore.

The cost of coins is a necessary consideration but I doubt there are any true collectors who are also investors: it isn't a compatible mindset. When investing, there is a critical need to be dispassionate about your asset to ensure you sell when appropriate rather than allowing emotions to factor in to your decision. That couldn't be further from collecting in my eyes.

 

...Well, Okay, there was exactly one occasion when I was Just Ruthless about resale. As in, Thank you, 'flipping,' around the time when that term was first entering the lexicon, mainly in the real estate market. It was at a local coin show in the late '80's. I'd just gotten back into collecting, after a hiatus going back to when I was a kid.
At this point, I'd already made the transition from collecting cheap ancients, mostly 3rd-early 4th-c. Roman, to medieval. What I did was to buy stuff in which I had no particular subjective interest as a collector, but which I knew enough about to have some idea what I was looking at. Running to ancients, from earlier Roman (including a Marc Antony legionary denarius, which I now seriously miss) to 5th c. BCE Greek. Right on the floor, in real time, I resold them to collectors who were that much more deeply invested in that sort of thing.
I recall tatting up my profits, and realizing that I'd made more money in one hour than I was likely to in any job I'd ever get with an undergraduate degree in English literature. (Ask me about Samuel Johnson --I Dare you!)
It was fun, but at the same time, it's nothing I'd want to repeat. In effect, it was the kind of experience where I can now say, 'Yep, checked that box, once' --after which, I never have to go there again.