"Article" I wrote for ANA user blog back in December 2014

Misconceptions about coin collecting


Having been a casual collector since I was eleven years old, I have read and heard many untrue things regarding the world of numismatics. Here are 4 of the most common ones I often hear:


1) Coin collecting is expensive.

Re: This misconceptions, in my opinion, stems from the fact that the only exposure people outside of the hobby have to the world of "rare" coins is sensational news stories about coins selling for exorbitant amounts of money at auction. What a lot of non-collectors don't realize is that the majority of old coins are nowhere near those price levels and that those coins are the exception rather than the rule. If someone asked me how they could start a collection of interesting coins, without spending a lot of money, I would offer some suggestions of coins that have pleasant designs, are budget friendly and historically interesting. For example, let's say someone has a budget of a fifty dollars. Some series of coins that I would suggest people look into at that price level include: Morgan dollars, Buffalo nickels, Liberty seated dimes, half dimes and quarters, Liberty head nickels. large cents minted after 1815, peace dollars, nickel 3 cent pieces, Indian head cents, Walking Liberty half dollars and Barber dimes and quarters. If their budget is even stricter than that I would advise them to buy rolls of coins from their local bank and save anything interesting the find in them. For example: Many of the old Lincoln wheat ear reverse cents can still be found in bank rolls and general circulation as can old Jefferson nickels from the late 30's to late 50's. A lot of local dealers will also have bargain bins full of old and interesting coins from around the world, usually in the 25 to 50 cent price range. Some of my personal favorites of the bargain bins are the old large British copper pennies with the Seated Britannia reverse.

2) Coin dealers rip people off because they only pay y amount of dollars for coins worth x amount of dollars.

Re: There is something in the business world called profit margins which are necessary to stay afloat. When coins dealers make money on the sale of a coin or coins, most of the money doesn't go into their pockets to satisfy their wants. It goes into keeping the shop operating. A dealer needs to make money to buy more coins to sell. They also need to pay property taxes, electric and utility bills, business licence fees, business taxes, income taxes, legal fees, have revenue to pay refunds to unsatisfied costumers etc., in addition to paying the usual expenses of life such as food, clothing, rent or home mortgage payments, home property taxes, utility bills, child care expenses if they have children etc. Yes some coin dealers make more money than the average person, but they also have more expenses than the average person. Most people have to pay rent or mortgage and property taxes and utility bills. People who own a business have to pay for the same things for both their homes and places of business as well as additional business taxes and fees. Given all these expenses, when a dealer offers you $65 for your $100 coin, I'd say they're being pretty generous.

3) Coin grading only matters if you care about making money with your coins.

Re: Okay, this may not exactly be a common claim. However, it is one I've heard before, so I thought I'd address it. I once heard someone say that if you really like a coin and never plan to sell it, that you should spend whatever amount of money on it and the grade wouldn't matter. Why is this not true or why does grade matter to someone who's not motivated by near or distant future profit? It matters because one wouldn't be wise in purchasing a VF-20 coin at MS-63 price when he can get the same quality VF-20 coin for a fraction of the price elsewhere. Or he can acquire an MS-63 version of the coin elsewhere for the amount of money he's preparing to drop on a VF-20 coin. Just because you're not interested in making money doesn't mean you shouldn't be interested in not losing money or spending more money than necessary. That's why grading, even to non-profit seeking casual collectors, is important. So to give a shortened emphasis: Why would you pay MS-63 money for a VF-20 coin?

4) Coin collectors are hoarders.

Re: This may be true of some collectors, especially new or younger collectors. However, the majority of collectors, even casual and budget minded collectors, are pretty strict about the kind of coins they allow into their collections.


Well, that's all I could think of at this time. Maybe I'll write about more when they come to me. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy reading this. Thank you.

 

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If #1 were true, none of you people would ever have heard of me.

 

Pretty solid. Though, at a budget of $50 (I assume that's per month), one is going to hit a wall pretty quickly in series collecting with key dates. For example, in Indian cents, it would take months to save up and find an 1877 in G-4.

 

In reference to #3:
Person 1: "I bought a common date VF Morgan dollar for $150 only to find out later on that I coud get one in MS-64 for more or less the same price elsewhere."
Person 2: "So,...You bought from Littleton?"

 

How does one get to write at the ANA user blog?

 

You have to be a member.

 

That's my monthly budget and why I stopped collecting series and started after a single US Type Set.