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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Valentinian, post: 1842199, member: 44316&quot;]I have heard of collectors (and widows) who were very disappointed at the value realized from a coin collection. Clearly the collector did not really know what his coins were worth. How could he not?</p><p>&nbsp;&nbsp; I met a man who had over 1000 ancient coins, all bought from two sellers I do not respect (before the internet) and he apparently did not mind a tetradrachm of Alexander the Great with the nose off the flan or lots of corrosion in important places in the design. He was old and valuing his collection for his heirs and the numbers he was assigning were wildly high. He was proud he had never sold a coin. Somehow he had not managed to realize the importance of quality. It is easy to pay too much and think that price-paid corresponds to value.</p><p>&nbsp;&nbsp; I think anyone who has not sold coins is at risk of erroneous personal belief about the relationship between quality and resale value. If you don&#039;t care about resale value, fine. However, if you do care about resale value and you think buying tells you what you need to know, I think you are mistaken. For example, even if you could resell it at the same price you bought it at (which is not certain--you were the one who wanted it most when you bought it, and now you are out of the market), there is a lot of effort involved in collecting that money. You might be (negatively) surprised at how much work it is at best, and it can be worse, especially if shipping goes wrong or the buyer is a jerk.</p><p>&nbsp;&nbsp; Here is a thought experiment. If you could buy large numbers of coins at $x (say $5) and certainly sell them at&nbsp; $x+y, (say, $10), would it be worth your time and effort?&nbsp; eBay fees, PayPal fees, shipping, possible loss, time responding to e-mails, driving to the post office, record keeping, etc. are all factors which are hard to weight unless you have done it.</p><p>&nbsp; Many collectors have been very wrong about the value of their collection. If you have not sold coins, how can you be confident that you are not in that group?[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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