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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;clembo, post: 625580, member: 8033&quot;]I&#039;m another &quot;collect what YOU like guy&quot; and like many others here I&#039;ve been at it for a while.</p><p><br /></p><p>Today I picked up three coins. It was a barter bargain with my boss. I traded a bunch of fishing lures for some Barber quarters and the lures don&#039;t belong to me. The money for the lures will go to a good friend. Confusing enough?</p><p><br /></p><p>I&#039;ve been toying with a G4 or better Barber quarter set for some time now. I get them cheap when I can. Working in a shop helps but that&#039;s really not my motivation. Sure I&#039;d like to make money on them some day by selling them to real collectors that appreciate them but now I&#039;m just pecking away at a set.</p><p>There are three keys. 1896-S, 1901-S and 1913-S. I may never own them - too much money and as I said I&#039;ve been at this a while.</p><p><br /></p><p>Now, why would anyone suggest that a newbie drop the big bucks on key dates when they don&#039;t really have a grasp on the subject?</p><p><br /></p><p>It&#039;s been pointed out here that experience is VERY key to collecting whether or not one wants to invest or collect.</p><p><br /></p><p>I&#039;ve seen a few people get &quot;into&quot; coins as investment. Think they know it all because they have done well in other areas. They are usually dead wrong I&#039;m afraid. When I first sold on ebay (no longer do) I averaged about a 30% margin on stuff I really didn&#039;t want. My brother thought this was great and wanted to get into it. I told him to collect for 30 years and then talk to me. He would have lost his butt due to lack of knowledge.</p><p><br /></p><p>Give a &quot;newbie&quot; a Greysheet and let them loose at a show. They&#039;ll go up against dealers with tons of experience who will NOT be impressed. Quote prices and figures all day - gets them nothing. Pull out a Greysheet and prove you have some knowledge? - there&#039;s &quot;wiggle room&quot;.</p><p><br /></p><p>Yes, I buy coins I think will go up. I like &quot;sleepers&quot;. One of the Barbers I bought today is under rated IMHO but I could be wrong. On the other hand I talk to a lot of people, listen to their opinions and put the experience I have to work.</p><p><br /></p><p>Bottom line here is I get asked by people at work fairly often what should I collect. My first question is what do you like followed by how much do you want to spend?</p><p>I don&#039;t collect moderns but I often point these people toward them. Quarters, Presidential dollars. I give a brief history and look to what will fit their budget.</p><p>Amazing what that can do for a customer. NOW they&#039;re interested, looking at numbers and proud of their collection. Some move onto other avenues on their own.</p><p>I always suggest books.</p><p><br /></p><p>I&#039;ll tell y&#039;all something I haven&#039;t suggested to a total newbie. Oh, you have $1000 to spend? Buy an SVDB at retail and see what happens. If they decide to sell in a year with no knowledge or research that person will most likely be sorely disappointed. Another potential collector lost for good due to poor investment.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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