So I'm really new to collecting. And I have a pretty big amount of money I'm gonna be able to put into my collection in a couple of months. And I'm looking for some advice from some older head collector's. I have been debating on either purchasing a Ms 2.50 gold eagle to add to the collection or some better date Ms Morgans. And I know one might say purchase what your into and Im into both. I'm just looking at the long run for an investment for my son that's on the way for when he inherits my collection. What would you purchase? Let's say the budget is 3,000. And I'm sorry if this is a dumb question but no one I know is into coins so I only have you guys to ask.
A book that might be helpful for you is The Coin Collector's Survival Manuel Link: https://www.amazon.com/Collectors-S...ector's+survival+manual&qid=1668396264&sr=8-1
I have but I'm not sure which way to go with those. And Wich style to pick are they a good investment?
In my opinion, anymore 1933 good coin is good. Coins in general are not good investments but it you pick the right one and hold for a long time you’ll do fine. I am partial to the $2.50 good Indians. Only 16 coins to complete a set and all but one of them is affordable. The one that isn’t is the 1911-D. The weak D is about $2500 and the strong D is twice that. I put together the full set in a short time frame but that was before gold got as high as it is right now.
You are going about this all wrong. Coins are a hobby, not an investment vehicle.... Now I will say this. I am a coin hoarder and have been since the 1960's and there came a time for me to pair a great deal of my silver down so I swapped it for gold. Gold is beautiful, always has intrinsic value and thankfully doesn't take up much space.
Study what types of coins you may like. Buy a Red Book, see Whitman Publishing, and read about the various types. Personally, I am prejudiced that newbies start in Barber Coins, say dimes & quarters. Higher grade better dates are great value
You'll soon find that "investing" in coins may not be really wise until you learn a lot more than you currently know. ie, stick around CT and ask questions. For instance, are you looking for a true investment (whether a precious metal coin or a non-precious metal coin), or are you looking to invest in bullion? When you invest in bullion, which appears to be the case, you have to learn about bullion prices / trends and the acquisition/selling premiums that you'll lose and have to know about your true breakeven valuations. For instance, right now buying a general 1oz gold eagle, you'll pay a $200 premium above spot price, and if you were to immediately sell back to the same vendor you'll lose $100. Over time, this may increase or decrease depending upon many factors.
As others are saying, coins are usually not a nice hobby to new collectors who start too fast (no offense, but that seems like your case). I personally collect Morgans, so of course I would say go with Morgan dollars, but it depends on what you want. If you just want coins for the metal value (ie silver or gold), then you might as well just buy bullion or bars. If you want them for their collectible value (rare dates, errors, grade, etc) then that's a completely different story. I've noticed that your position is unfortunately a very common one for adults starting a new hobby. You have too much money to learn this hobby, and so you have too many opportunities that should only be taken with a certain level of knowledge and experience. Think of this like driving a car, when you start driving you take a beat up box so that a bump on the curb won't cost anything. But starting with gold coins is like starting with a brand new Ferrari. You need to make mistakes to learn, but those mistakes would cost you thousands and you'll never learn the basics of driving. Overall, I suggest investing your time first, then your money. Spend hours doing research if you want to benefit from coin collecting, and start small so you can learn through mistakes that won't lose you thousands of dollars. I've been collecting and researching numismatics for over four years during my high school years (now a senior in school), and I managed to turn a measly $30 of pocket money into over $5,000 through lots and lots of buying and selling on ebay. I started with $10 coins to make five dollars of profit each time, and now I'm still sticking with cheap (around $100-200) coins to make $50+ profit. Over my years on ebay, I've sold 130+ coins, and maybe around 20 of those were losses on my part, but only by a few dollars, and I learned from them. I really hope you follow my advice, otherwise it could end badly for you. Just take your time to learn, do research, learn more, do more research, read books, study prices, look at listings, and then, ONLY THEN, can you start investing confidently to make wins.
If it's for a collection, and the "investment" aspect is a strong consideration, then I personally would seek out the rarest example that I could afford of a coin with inherent desirability. ie: if a common, mid-grade Eagle and a nearly top-pop, semi-key Morgan cost the same amount, then go with the Morgan. See what I mean? If your decision is primarily motivated by the "investment" aspect, then my advice would be to not buy coins at all. If you want to maximize the benefit to your son later, then it would be a better bet to dump the money into an S&P 500 Index Fund.
Thank you everyone for your advice and thoughts and I'm taking all of into consideration I'm more into putting it into my collection I'm only 24 and my son will be Born in December and so it's gonna be a long time before he inherits anything. I've been watch the Morgan's go up in value over time and golds always moving. I was more on the fence of pree 1933 gold then a 1 oz coin. I'm also looking at what could potentially have more value 50/60 years down the road. And it's more for the hobby then an investment but I don't want to put the money into coins and when my son inherits them and they have decreased so bad that he will not be able to gain from them if that makes since. Plus it's always the hard decision of what to get cause there is so many options.
Your best return on investment will come from learning enough about coins to spot an underpriced variety or little known rarity and picking it up under current market conditions. Inexperienced sellers provide the greatest opportunity, but the sharks are many and the guppies are few. Market conditions do however change over time, so even that strategy brings risk. Your best approach is to know more than the average bear . . . . Z
Stocks. Investment level coins are all insanely expensive and even then its not assured. Between the two you mention the 2.5 has the better chance, Morgans arent rare with few exceptions theyre just popular. Realistically either will likely cost more 50/60 years from now, the question is did they outpace inflation to actually be a gain and in some cases that answer will be yes. However as mentioned as long as is disposable income get what you like and worry about 50 years from now 50 years from now, the only thing that can be said for sure is if investment is the goal there are much much better investments out there. I would suggest dipping your toes in the water with some smaller purchases first regardless of the path you take instead of diving into the deep/deeper end right off the bat. If you are set on a 3k purchase make sure its a graded PCGS or at least NGC preferably with a CAC sticker and not raw
