I'm new to coin collecting and I see that coins that are graded by grading services get mpore money for their coins. Does it pay for a beginner to belong to one of these services? Thanks!
Depends on what ya wanna do Rod. Ya wanna collect or are ya in this thing for 'money'. Collectors pick up what they like, irregardless of grade or condition, and pay attention to only what they like and enjoy.
If your in it for money and lack the love of the hobby, you will not be in it for long I assure you. lol
If you are new to the hobby, it does not pay to join any of the TPG services. Your focus should be on learning.
I'm in this for the money in as far as I want to leave a good collection to my Grandchildren when I'm gone.
If you've 'key' date coins then by all means get 'em graded. These will fetch more when the time comes to sell. Lesser issues, keep raw, as the cost of grading will not justify them and you'll wind up losing money.
a beginner? no. unless your grading skills are very good u will lose money. look around find a series u like, do a little research and enjoy it.
+1 Since you are new to the hobby, it is more important for you to learn how to grade, how to spot problem coins that wouldn't "get the nod" from a grading service and what coins would have the potential value "for the grade" to make it worthwhile submitting them. If you haven't been able to reach this point yet, you will have a lot of disappointments and waste a lot of money. Chris
I hope nobody takes offense to this but I understand how collectors can see beauty in the coins but my understanding is that if there wasn't a lot of collectors in it for the money the coins wouldn't be as scarce and that would take away from the collecting fun. Wouldn't it?
There is absolutely nothing wrong with being in this for the money, but it will help mightily if one is also interested in the art, beauty, history and challenge, too. If you are new to the hobby then I would strongly urge you to learn as much as possible and to take the coin acquisition slow, but to take coin certification even slower.
There is a distinct difference between a collector, a dealer/collector and one who is a dealer that doesn't collect. The dealer who doesn't collect is in it strictly for the money. The dealer/collector is in it for the money, hopefully to make enough to pay for his collection. The collector has to earn enough money to support the dealer and the dealer/collector. Chris
No offense taken, but I think you are wrong. I think there are more collectors who just enjoy collecting than those in it for the money. At the same time there are a lot of collectors like you - they want the best value for their buck. My opinion is as a collector - there is no guarantee my heirs will get any return on value from my collection. At the same time they would need to learn - how and where to sell. The way I look at it - I get to enjoy collecting just for collecting sake - and they have to worry about selling. Right now none of them collect.
Every coin dealer or shop is in it for the money. Older silver coins have shrinking populations due to melting as much as anything else.
Here's my take on this, as a beginner as well. It depends on your definition of "in it for the money". Are you looking purely to flip coins and make profit now, and not build a collection? If so, then do not send to grading until you are very proficient in being able to grade it accurately yourself, otherwise as others have said, you will lose money. Grading is not cheap, and is obviously a very big overhead on the price of each coin you must make back when selling. If you're in this for a similar reason to mine, then you are looking at this as a fun hobby, but you want to add coins into it that will have decent monetary value that will at least maintain, if not appreciate, in value over the long term. This allows you to divest your collection if you are hard up for cash, or pass it on to future generations while giving them something of decent monetary value also. I have spent the last 6 months going through my collection, learning about coins, types, errors, etc. I have been lurking and posting here, and have been helped a lot with a ton of great information so far. I am starting to understand key dates, errors, varieties, etc, and have recently started going after things that I find both collectible, as well as having a decent monetary value. For instance, I've been purchasing a lot of proof/mint sets of modern coins from the '50s on up, including silver proof sets. I've been keying on '56 proofs for the Type 1 Franklins, '60 & '70 proofs/mints for the small date penny, and 70's and early 80's for the SBA varieties and Ike's. I've made a lot of what I think are good purchases so far - I did get some Type 1 Franklins, a bunch of small date lincolns, and also got a lot of other good coins with them as well. I've landed a bunch of 90% silver coinage along with the sets, which is adding bullion silver to my collection if nothing else. My winter project is to go through my collection in detail, and learn more about grading and recognizing varieties and errors. At that point, I will begin submitting what I think are my best coins for grading. In doing that, I am hoping to be able to get the best coins, which could potentially hold the most monetary value, "confirmed" by a TPG. That way I know I at least have some coins that are for sure worth better money. The rest I will keep in the collection. They will still hold some value, and if I come into a ton of extra cash, I'll probably grade as much as I can, simply because I'm one who likes slabs, and like things being graded. I hope this helps answer your question.
As a beginner, you are going to make mistakes. That is an absolute certainty. The general consensus of this thread is that you should not be a member of a TPG because it will cost you money. I have a very different opinion on the subject. If you are going to be buying raw coins, then you absolutely should be a member of a TPG and you should submit your coins for grading. In doing so, you will be able to quickly identify and learn from your mistakes and save yourself quite a bit of money in the long run. Of course you always have the option of buying coins that are already graded thereby avoiding big mistakes as a novice collector.
Here's my two cents: I AM in it for the money. More specifically, I am in it for the beauty and the history of the money. If you are doing this as an investment -not for immediate profit- I feel you would do well to collect coins that you find have good eye appeal. I suggest buying below the jump- MS64 coins are just as good as MS65; MS69 are the same as MS70 WHEN IT COMES TO SLABS. I definitely would suggest you become familiar with PUPs and the grading specifics for each type of coin you wish to purchase. Remember- 30 minutes a day "practice" is the difference between losing your shirt and having a nice nest egg if you are forced to liquidate. C10ck3r
I wouldn't send a coin to a TPG until you've been collecting for at least 2 years (Excepting obvious rarities) , much to learn if you don't want to throw away money.
