50 Mistakes Made by Beginning Collectors...

Don Bonser handed out the list before his seminar...and then we went over it and his seminar was pretty much an explanation of the items I listed.

He had some "corny" items like you need to wear sunscreen in Florida (even in January) and what NOT to eat, but I transcribed those related to coin collecting.

 

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You know some of the statements seem like they were begging to be challenged. I though maybe he did that intentionally to get more people show up.
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"Not spending enough for quality. Buy one quality coin instead of 3 junk coins...after all, junk will always be junk.."
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Now that could really get some people going.

I wish I could have gone to a seminar but I didn't sleep much that night and was pretty much sleeping walking by the time I got to the convention center.

 

That statement got me thinking as well, but for all intensive purposes, given the choice between quality or quantity, go with the quality. We are discussing this in this thread:

http://www.cointalk.org/showthread.php?t=4312

BTW, the above Brasher doubloon realized $3,000,000 this past weekend. $3,000,000 could have bought a truck full of coins.

What he meant from "junk" is that junk will always be around and can easily be picked up at a later date, well within your budjet. The "keys" and the "semi-keys" will not, and their prices realized will far outpace commons all across the board.

Take a 1881-CC Morgan in say, MS64 condition. A nice semi-key date coin. Would you rather have this coin now or 10 MS63 Morgans with dates of, for instance: 1879, 1880, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1885, 1886, 1889, 1896, 1900 (all Philadelohia mints). Nothing wrong with these MS63 coins, but given the choice of the two lot(s), I would by the CC first over the other 10...if both were offered at the same price.

It is hard to pass up, because psychologically, we feel we didn't accomplish much since there are 10 times more "holes" to fill than the one coin you would buy...but in the short and long run, you will be better off!

 

this is some excellent advice...i just got back my first test on ana diploma course...yeah!!! honors!! several more courses to go. in 1983 i took the intermediate numismatics course but they have gotten better since then...nothing beats learning and the ability to apply the knowledge!!...just wanted to resurrect this old thread....

 

I saw this linked thread at the bottom of another thread. After reading it, I thought it was worth bumping up for a revisit by our members.

 

some of the advice is very good but some of the other stuff not so