I have heard a lot of “Bits of wisdom” from older coin dealers the last few years. Unfortunately I have forgotten a lot of them and have had to learn them all over for myself. I would like to hear any bits of wisdom that you could provide. I would request that it should be coin or currency related. Buy the book before the coin Buy the coin and not the slab Buy the best you can afford. Junk will always be junk Buy the keys, and you have the collection Money is like tomatoes, if you let it sit there it will rot on you. If you ever come across anything rare, you should buy it. Don’t hesitate because it won’t be there when you go back.
Don't be afraid to ask questions on Cointalk, especially when making one of those "key date" purchases. Chances are pretty good that someone here knows more than you do on the subject.
With the current price of gold and silver, there are a lot of pretty nice coins now being treated as "junk" -- silver proofs, higher-grade circulated gold, and so forth. One day, gold and silver will come back down, or the price of everything else will come up to meet them. At that point, people who cherry-picked nice stuff from the "junk" may make out pretty well.
Your list is good, however I would add a suggestion that I consider first and foremost. Understand " Rarity " . There are far to many mint state issues hyped as " Rare " , when in fact the true rare specimens are actually in the lower grades. Don't fall victim to the current frenzy in this market with modern coinage. Be patient ! That is the most difficult lesson to learn. Enjoy the pursuit .
Excellent advice! I sat back and watched the people paying outrageous prices for 2009 coins they didn't find immediately in circulation. Yeah, the mintages were low for moderns, but not technically low by any means.
