The Three Laws Of Numismatics

Here are my suggestions:

1. Buy the book before you buy the coin.

2. Buy the coin, not the holder.

3. If you do not know your coins, then know your dealer.

 

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Good points, in all... however I would say that 1 and 2 limit out 3.

 

Sounds a little like what a person should do when adding coins to his/her collection. a) learn everything you can by reading about the coin you are looking for. b) find a dealer/agent that you can trust to deal with, and c) buy the coin that fits (grade/appearance) into your collection and makes you happy.

Simple as that! Great post mmarotta, I hope all nubies reads this one!

 

I'm following 2 and 3. Generally i also follow 1 as well but just recently i've been doing it the other way around again. I don't make a point of doing that too often.

 

In addition to the book we now have the internet.

 

I have a personal rule number 4 learned from experience. It is meant for me, not anyone here, obviously.

4. If you are buying a coin and think you are smarter than the seller, you are probably wrong.

 

Good rule, Cloudsweeper... I actually try and apply that to everything in life.

 

Rule #5...Don't let my husband see the checkbook after I've returned from a show or shop!

 

Rule #5; In modern coins, that which goes up will usually come down, very very quickly. Most new coins are hyped beyond belief and after the "rush" to own one those escalating prices will drop like a rock. Play it safe and wait a few months on anything being hyped on TV or EBAY. Might just save yourself a few bucks and also prevent you from losing a ton on a bad modern investment that didn't or won't pan out! BE SMART!

 

If I could be so bold:

Rule #6: Never buy a coin you don't like - even if you think it's a good deal.

 

I have been doing some part time selling...picking up coins cheaper than sometimes and then keeping them and selling as the time comes...its a good way for me to save money and also a good way for me to learn to grade I think.

Speedy

 

well if I sold them, that would be counterproductive to my goal of owning them all eventually...

fiscal sense and my coin collection rarely have many things in common.

 

Hmmm, very interesting GD, very very interesting

 

Impossible Coins of the World, Volume 3

Rick, Cloudsweeper's #4 ties Rule 3 to Rules 1 and 2. You can read... you can buy the coin and not the holder... but at some level, you have to trust the expert. I always ask.

If I see a Colonial Roman seated Indian groschen with a fleur de cactus mintmark from Simpletown, Norsex, I always ask, "Say, isn't this a Colonial Roman seated Indian groschen with a fleur de cactus mintmark from Simpletown, Norsex?" The dealer might say, "No, no! See the cactus has 13 spikes. This is a Quesadilla imitation struck under Louis the Madman." Or he might say, "Well! You know your coins! Let me show this..." and offer me something else interesting.

If you just pick the coin out the tray and pay for it, you miss a lot of opportunities.

 

Everyone online is a liar.

danr, to me, the "internet" is a subset of "books."

In the first place, most of what is on the internet in numismatics came from books. We are still not at the point where internet content in numismatics is primary. You do get that in some areas, but not numismatics. History is everything for us and most of history is in books.

For those areas where new information does appear online before it comes out in print, then, again, the internet -- like magazines, CDs, videos, etc. -- is just another medium for expert opinion to report new findings. Aaron Feldman's maxim, "Buy the book before you buy the coin" would certainly apply to renting the ANA video on grading Mint State coins, for instance.

One problem with the internet is also the primary strength of the internet: the low cost removes the need for independent editing.

1. The August 2005 issue of The Celator has an excellent publicity release from the International Association of Professional Numismatists. They operate the International Bureau for the Suppression of Counterfeit Coins. Their article warned against self-defined experts on the internet who condemn coins as fakes. (This became a runaway problem that probably self-destructed, but still echoes out there.)

2. Conversely, I believe that there is a post here pointing to a ridiculous eBay auction for a 1944-P Lincoln Cent in circ for $199. If this were offered by an ANA member dealer at an ANA convention bourse floor or Heritage Auction, you would have to find out what makes it so valuable. When it is being sold by Username03 from North America, there is not authority for the claim.

3. For a book to be published, even self-published, someone has to come up with the money. It costs very little to put something out in a newsgroup or on a chatboard or to create a website. If I sell a book to Krause, I have to deal with editors. Other numismatists will read the manuscript and pass judgment on it. Even for The Celator, which is an "amateur" publication, if the editor, Kerry Wetterstrom (something of an expert in several areas, actually) has any question about what he is reading, he will hold an article until he can get a better expert to read it. You do not get that online. Online, any self-defined expert can post pages and pictures, and sound authoritative, but who validates that authority?

3.a. If an article appears online about Copper Refineries in 19th Century Russia and it is from www.moscow.edu/economics234/assignedreading then, you can probably rely on it.

3.b. Websites from PCGS, NGC, the ANA and ANS and many other organizations have been joined by countless private offerings, all of which are reliable and authoritative. Ron Guth's www.coinfacts.com is just one example.

4. To write my column for the ANA, I see a lot of websites. I cannot write up all the good ones. Hopefully, I have not recommended any of the bad ones.

 

I agree, except you should buy a holder, and not just the coin. Maybe it should be buy the coin and the holder at the same time.