Ancients an Alternative Asset?

Thank you very much. I had to beat back the hoard to win it but I'm sorry you were one of them.

Going back to our topic - is it an investment? I can only say it's a store of value with "benefits".

 

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That's an important point : when it comes to selling we (me at least) are very reluctant to parting with our treasures !



Q

 

+1 - You can talk all you want about how your collection increases in value but the fact remains that you see nothing from that increase until after you sell your coins. As I get to the point in life that I feel I should cut back on the number of coins I have, I am quickly running out of victims for decimation. I told myself that I would end the year with no more coins than I started but I am really not yet tired of my treasures that have been with me for decades. I pity those who see only cash value in their coins. I was thrilled with this coin in 1963 and don't care that few of you would want it in your trays. No matter, it will stay the course right where it is.

http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/f01.html

 

Sure? Which makes them no different from any other tangible asset you can’t or don’t rent out, or any purely financial asset that doesn’t pay dividends. The difference is it’s easier not to get attached to a share of stock or a generic bullion coin than it is to your amazing denarius.

That, of course, is one of the real problems with collectibles as assets: it’s relatively easy to get attached to them. I know I’m in no hurry to sell my collection. The other big problem is that they’re not fungible: my Athenian owl is different from every other one out there.

These things plus the previously mentioned wide buy/sell spreads mean I as a collector can’t easily get out of a coin collection, even if my coins’ prices have risen, because I don’t know what the market price of *my* coins is, and I would either need to have a rather large gain just to break even based on buying at retail, or spend a long time extracting a fair retail price from them. Neither of these are true of a share of stock, where I can theoretically go online right now and just buy whatever I want, then sell it at an easily discovered price at any time.

 

For those who think they can quickly cash out their collection at a moment's notice in an emergency, consider the following: a minimum six month wait time from consignment to receipt of funds, if you choose to sell at auction; a 50% loss of retail value if you choose to sell outright to a dealer. Even consignment at retail takes considerable time for listing, sale of all coins and funds collection. My last retail consignment of just 7 coins took about a year from start to finish.

 

I haven't sold anything yet, but I can't imagine, if, say, I had 20 coins to sell that it would take that long to sell them and receive the money through CNG or Heritage (two major U.S. examples).

 

The timelines that @Carausius cites are pretty close to my experience when selling at auction. Of course you can get instant settlement when you sell your coins outright to a dealer, who will almost certainly pay much less than what the coins would bring to you after commission if sold at auction.

 

@Nathan P Look on CNG's website and do the math. Deadline for consignments is about 3 months before scheduled sale date. CNG pays out 2 months after close of their auction. So, 6 months is about right. Maybe you could cut it to 5 months if you consigned the day before the deadline for any particular sale. Or it could be 8 months if you consign early. I'm not being critical of CNG, as most auction firms are similar. I'm merely pointing-out that selling coins through third-parties takes time. Often considerable time.

 

Well, in most cases here I think it's fair to say that ebay was the site where the coins were bought and will someday be sold. That's the great thing about ebay. It comes as close as possible to a quick get-in, get-out.

As for me, my kids couldn't care any less about coins so plan on having my few coins tickle me bones in the afterlife :-D