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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;BigsWick, post: 327592, member: 3534&quot;]Interesting how you define a &quot;real&quot; collector- someone who doesn&#039;t view coins as commodities- versus a speculator who hopes to some day turn a profit. I&#039;ve always thought the line some people draw between what constitutes a collector and what makes one a speculator is arbitrary as worst and definitely blurry at best. It certainly smacks of a selectiveness I&#039;m not so quick to embrace.</p><p><br /></p><p>I&#039;m not referring to folks who buy tubes of ASEs and pray the price of silver goes up. They&#039;d probably be just as happy with any other bullion/round that would meet their objectives, and have no use for ASEs as collectibles. However, I would submit that any collector who absolutely doesn&#039;t care about the value of their coin collection probably falls into one or more of the following categories:</p><p><br /></p><p>1) They have a small collection or one not worth much monetarily to begin with</p><p><br /></p><p>2) They inherited all or the bulk of a collection and therefore have little or nothing</p><p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; invested in it</p><p><br /></p><p>3) They aren&#039;t very active in the hobby and/or completed most of their collection long ago</p><p><br /></p><p>4) They have too much money to be bothered by such trivial notions as making a profit while enjoying a hobby</p><p><br /></p><p>I have started sets of Kennedy Halves, Franklin Halves, Jefferson Nickels, Lincoln Cents, Mercury Dimes, etc. I nearly have the Kennedy set completed. All were pulled from circulation, less the &#039;70 (I bought it) and 2 mid 1980s P mintmarks I haven&#039;t found yet. Do I care about the actual &quot;value&quot; of the completed set? No, I don&#039;t. I put it together because I wanted to tackle the challenge, and I&#039;ll feel like I completed something worthwhile to me when I&#039;m finished. I could have easily just spent the $200 or $300 and bought a set, but that would have defeated the purpose. I&#039;ve enjoyed doing it.</p><p><br /></p><p>Conversely, many years ago I decided to put together a set of CC Morgans, one of each year in circulated condition. I thought from a numismatic standpoint it would be something unique to have. I&#039;m still lacking the more pricey coins for the set, but one day I hope to finish it. Now, if I do pony up an spend hundreds or perhaps thousands of dollars for the 1893-CC or 1891-CC, and those prices fall dramatically in say 2 or 3 years, do I now make the transition from collector to speculator because I&#039;m bothered by the fact that I have potentially lost hundreds of dollars? What about all the folks who had that happen with the 1903-O Morgan?</p><p><br /></p><p>About 6 weeks or 2 months ago I bought 3 tubes of BU Peace dollars at about what then was melt value because I thought it was a good deal. Besides, I like Peace dollars, and I wanted to add to my collection. Now, does that make me any less of a collector, because one day I stand to turn a profit if I sell?</p><p><br /></p><p>I, like you, base my opinion on my own perceptions and the opinions of those in my immediate loop of coin collecting friends. I can say with certainty that all of them would feel some level of distress if the value of their collections dropped suddenly. I never try to paint with overly broad strokes, and I certainly don&#039;t claim to speak for everyone, but I do believe more collectors feel the same way than ones who do not. Again, just my opinion, based on 30 or so years in the hobby.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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