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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;fusiafinch, post: 764023, member: 18382&quot;]Lackluster, you&#039;re picking a time in 1987 when there was a bubble forming in the investment coin market. Then everything crashed around 1989. This was a phenomenon perhaps similar to the gold peak of 1980. Also, stocks go through peaks, troughs, and crashes. How did your stock portfolio do over the past 18 months? Over the past decade? A lot depends on your entry and exit points.</p><p><br /></p><p>Here&#039;s what I would do (and I do this as best as I can for myself):</p><p><br /></p><p>1) Collect coins you enjoy, first and foremost. The coins which interest you most are ones that you&#039;ll study and learn about.</p><p><br /></p><p>2) Collect quality. Slabbed coins (PCGS, NGC, ANACS, in that order) give you some assurance that you won&#039;t get stuck with a counterfeit or grossly over-graded coin. You can always crack them out if you don&#039;t want the slab. Until you become confident in grading yourself, slabs do offer an important protection. And true, coins having the same technical grade can look very different, so get the better quality, even if you have to pay a modest premium. Quality goes a long way, and there are no real bargains anywhere.</p><p><br /></p><p>3) Have a focus to your collection. There are many ways to collect, ie, type sets, date sets, mintmarks, varieties, etc. Think of a way to organize your collection and keep to that focus, even if it&#039;s a few different sets. At least you&#039;ll have sets and not just an accumulation.</p><p><br /></p><p>4) If you think something is outrageously priced, don&#039;t buy it.</p><p><br /></p><p>5) Pay attention to coin cycle trends. Read Coin World and Numismatic News and follow the buzz of the market. Then you&#039;ll need to assess for yourself what&#039;s reasonable and what isn&#039;t. But aside from these cycles, key date coins are always a best bet, so that&#039;s another way to play it.</p><p><br /></p><p>6) Generally, it&#039;s best to have a long term approach to coins, more than 10 years. But there will be opportunities for shorter term profit: manias in certain series are a good time to sell, while a good time to buy is when no one wants coins. Also, there are niches of the market where you can get historical higher grade coins for modest prices; an example of that is the Bust Half series.</p><p><br /></p><p>7) Never stop learning about your coins. Buy the book before the coin.</p><p><br /></p><p>Those are just a few random thoughts of my own. I have found that buying quality coins with nice eye appeal always gives me an edge when selling. The common date typical coins always do the worst.</p><p><br /></p><p>Good luck and have fun.</p><p><br /></p><p>Steve[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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