Quality or Quantity?

let me open this thread by saying that I still think I am at the very early stages of my numismatic learning curve, but here goes:

I have been collecting for some seven years, and until about a year ago, I picked up various world coins - basically, whatever caught my fancy while I was browsing through tables and selections, or bidding at the occassional auction.

So years later, I find myself with some 3,000 coins, with values all over the board. Now, I find myself thinking - I sure would like to pair these down and use those funds to make better purchases of better or more scarce examples that I used to think were outside of my price range. Logistics of this happening aside - I know that will be a rather large chore, itself - I recognize that this is a change in my tastes. Where I once desired to own many examples of various coins, I know want to obtain specifics.

So, anyone out there ever been in this situation before? I feel like I've stepped into an all to common trap, that experienced collectors would look on and say 'I told you so...', but for those that have actually gone through this, I ask: Would you do it again? In your opinion, will I regret it, later down the road? Or is this a common move that collectors make, when they've been at it for a while?

 

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I call dibs on Houston.

 

So you think this is an all too common adjustment?

 

I'm probably in the same boat, but have no plans to "adjust." For pure collecting, I'm just as happy with a medium quality bargain priced circulated coin as a high mint state coin. Every one is special to me in some way. For investing, I'm happy with any coin where it can be obtained at a small premium over the value of the gold or silver content. So I collect both ways, which leads to a fairly high number of coins in total, but few that have a high numismatic value over the melt value. I find this to be a very satisfactory way to collect.

So for me, quantity has a quality all its own.

 

I started with going after quanitity instead of the "keys" or quality and I wish I listened to advice given to me many years ago:

"...buy quality over commons, after all, commons will always be common and keys will be few and too far between"

For fun, I track Red Book values (just a yearly gauge) for many of my coins. I input Red Book Values into my excel spreadsheet EF40, MS60, MS63 and MS65 grades and it is quite evident that "semi" and "key" dates are ALWAYS increasing (quickly) where the commons are pretty much staying put (with the exception of MS65 grades or higher).

So I wish I could of bought that EF40 PCGS 1922 No D Strong Reverse 1c for $1,500 2 plus years ago since that coin is now going for well over $2500.

Ask any collector or dealer...buy the best coin in the best grade you can afford. You will NOT be disappointed.

 

Quality. Simply put.


I took the quantity road to begin with, it's a good step and everyone should do it. For when you begin you need to gain knowledge of many serieses so that you can learn to grade across the board and learn the differences in how alloys wear etc. When you are ready to specialise you can simply sell off all your common coins and respend the money generated on higher quality coins.

I'm sure many of us have been there. I too used to think that there'd be certain coins i'd never have. Until one day i had this bright idea of selling off all the coins that i'd amassed over the years that no longer interested me and well i ended up with some very nice coins expensive coins when i'd done. I since grouped the expensive ones together sold them off and used the funds to go up to the next level.

It all depends upon how attached you get to your coins. I generally don't get all that attached, because i know i'm only their guardians and i can't take them with me when i kick the bucket so i figured i might as well own them just for a little while and then go and get another one i always wanted.

Hopefully when i'm old and grey i can look back and say, 'yep i've had one of those, had one of them, had that, and i used to own one of those too'. I don't think there'd be many regrets, the only thing i'd regret is thinking, 'i never had one of those and i always wanted one', or 'why didn't i buy that when i had the chance?'

 

My strategy has always been to buy whatever catches my eye that day. Some times it is one quality key date, other times it may be many qaulity "common" dates. I think the key word is "quality" no matter what you buy. I really don't worry that I have too many common dates as long as they are all problem-free, high grade examples. Anyway, I'll never sell any coin from my collection so I guess it's my sons problem to worry about. I guess you could say that my quantity will be his quality!!

 

wow! some of these comments explain how I feel better than my original post!

For a long time, I thought that I would keep the entire collection - truth be told, even when I began to feel this way, I still picked up the occassional cheap coin that caught my attention. I don't really regret the idividual purchases - but as a whole, if I had all the funds to work with again, I think my collection would look vastly different.

As for collecting foreign coins in quality - most of it comes from experience. Last year, about this time, I went to my first show. Since I collect foreign coins, almost exclusively at this point (I've been thinking on starting a large cent collection), automatically I would say that 90% of the dealers inventory is excluded, because I would say that no more than 1 out of every 10 dealers at the shows I have been to, carry a significant selection of world coins. Then say I am looking for a specific country I had in mind - well, that will exclude about 90% of what is left. So now I'm looking at 10% of 10% - 1% of coins at a show are within my focus group... and I haven't even begun to match up dates or denomination or grade. Before you know it, I've forgotten my original intent, and I've become satisfied with picking up a piece here, a piece there - digging through the 'bargain' coin bins for an interesting piece.

I am happy to say, that at my last show - I was far more selective. It was, fortunately, a larger show, so the 1% I mentioned before was a suitable selection of inventory, and I managed to pick up pieces I actually went there looking to buy.

I will never go back to purchasing the way I used to, but I'm waffling on whether I should sell the lot for funds to buy things more in line with my focus.

 

It took years but I finally concentrated on QUALITY even with common date coins. I have 4 and 5 uncirculated Morgan dollars of the same date and mint mark as I just can't walk away from an unc. that is lying there screaming "take me home". I buy whatever I need on any given day if I have the extra cash available and the coin meets my requirements. When you get back into the classics my taste for uncs. rapidly disappears and the date and mint mark become major players regardless of the condition of the coin. I try to fill a set and I can always upgrade later. I have passed many a coin in my life only to return and it was gone and like it or not many of them will only pass our way a few times in a lifetime! When we get into modern coins, 1965 to date, I will settle for nothing less than an uncirculated coin and for the most part, that goes for my world wide collection that I started in 2002. The only person I really have to please is myself so I reserve the right to alter my decisions and collecting habits without notice! This way I am always right!

 

Just out of interest, which countries are you interested in?

 

Right now, I am purchasing coins from the New World - spanish colonies and such from the late 1700's, early 18.

I am also trying to find a decently priced English guinea from the late 1700's, although I am not particular to the spade reverse, any issue would due - because I have always wanted one - so I am selling pieces to put together funds. I just don't want it to be jewelry polished, have terrible digs, or removed mounts.

 

I'm doing the same thing...for the first 4 years of my collecting I picked up many coins...some rare...some not...I picked up worthless rolls of SQ and new nickels when I could have been saving that up to buy a nice PF Franklin....so now I'm doing what I can to sell...trade my other coins and start buying better date, better grade, better coins for my collection....

I don't think so...if I knew 50% of what you know I would be much better off IMO!

Speedy

 

Is that a Rod Stewart song?

"I wish, that, I knew what I know now...when I was younger!"

That song REALLY appliies to coin collecting. Lucky for the younger folks (since I am 45 and due for a mid-life crisis), they have forums to ask and listen to great advice.

 

Thanks Speedy, I really appreciate that. Not so, however. I really am something of a newbie in collecting. I've been fortunate, so far, to know some people that know a lot of stuff about it, though!

 

You and me both! I've had plenty of half guineas in the past but i've never actually had a full one yet.


I've got my eye on one at the moment.

 

the closest thing I have is a sovereign - which is to say, not very close at all.

I guess they are just a little high priced on this side of the pond, for my tastes.


someday, though! oh yes... I will have one.

 

I can't resist throwing out a comment in response to the suggestions to buy key dates and high quality coins only. If profiting from coin collecting was that simple, everyone would be rich. It sounds more like complacency than strategy. But the situation is slightly more complicated than that, and the problem with offering simple answers to complex questions is that complex questions don't have simple answers.

It is highly possible that the reason key dates and high grade coins have outperformed common date and medium grade coins in the past is that the premium between them was small(er) compared to today. Now, in many cases, the premium for key dates and gem brilliant uncirculated coins is gigantic. This naturally leaves the impression that this is the best way to collect because that's the way it was in the past. It is possible that the gap will only widen over time and never narrow, but it is equally possible that the gap is already too wide. Maybe a 1916D Mercury dime is worth $800 in good condition. But which is more likely to occur? Is the Merc more likely to go from $800 to $1600, or a common date MS62 St Gaudens more likely to go from $600 to $1200? Is the Merc more likely to go to $400 or the Saint to $300? These are the choices, and bets, that the collector has to make in deciding what to collect assuming that part of the goal is not to lose money. I don't think the choice is simple at all. All I know is that it isn't likely that the gap will reach infinity. At some price, the rare coin will not be the better buy, but nobody rings a bell to tell you when that is. I know that some people will enjoy owning the MS66 over the MS62 or rare coin over the common regardless of how absurdly high the price differential becomes, but they will also have to be willing to risk a large financial loss for the psychic gain.

I have no idea how high the price of high quality and key date coins will get before they hit the ceiling relative to their more common brethern. Sometimes it is easier to know what will happen than when. But I get nervous when the advice is given to buy them regardless of price, as long as the price is the going price.

I hope I've made my points clear, whether you agree or disagree. The issue seems important to me.

 

Yeah! And it's not like I want ten of everything...I'll just take one of anything!

 

Interesting thoughts. But i'd honestly have to say i'm not in it for making a profit. If anything i've lost more than i've ever made. Jeeze i just bought a coin about $80 over book price. (Actually it might be more), i knew i was over paying by way much, but i liked the coin and i wanted it so pay i must.