I prefer to be on an exchange when I invest with extremely fast executions.
Experience with buying US Coins..
- Thread starter cdcaveman
- Start date
and the cost of that extremely fast execution can be enormous compared to the cost of the patient man
One of the huge changes in coin/currency collecting in the past 15 years is the Collector-to-Collector transactions on eBay. Before the internet/EBay, if you wanted to sell items in your collection you would go to your local coin shop and only get dealer prices. So your items would have to appreciate by 20% or more just to break even. Now you can get full retail value for your coins and bypass the dealer altogether. Takes a lot of the risk out of collecting.
Regarding grading, there are just a handful of prominent grading services so that has become very straightforward and removes the discretionary aspect of condition.
Regarding grading, there are just a handful of prominent grading services so that has become very straightforward and removes the discretionary aspect of condition.
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Mostly true,Trader 13, except several coin magazines, helped dealers sometimes cut each other 's profits.LOL
And i like NYSE, but i dont want just ''a handful'' of choices, exchanges or coin appraisers.Still, coins[silver, copper, gold ....]tend to do well, over time.Another problem, when people pay huge premiums for just a few appraisal upgrades+ yes some shop appraisers,LOL problems abound..............................................................................................
Real estate appraisal fraud or error is much easier to spot than coin appraisal fraud or error.Trader 13 is that you bidding up all the prices of old coin books-coin guides??LOL
All those old coin books and the industry newsletters are still good for reference but eBay has become the modern vehicle for dynamic price discovery of collectibles. You can search and find 90 days of transaction history to see completed sales and prices for any item (this is a free search feature on eBay). There are also some online services which require paid subscriptions that allow you to search eBay sales history longer than 90 days.
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ebay has the strength of street knowledge.... it is the everyday man's auction.. I took partial payment for service in a coin today actually... he showed me a stone mountain commemorative silver quarter and i took 45$ off the bill.. these go buy it now for 65 on ebay.. condition depending.. you'll find alot of cleaned coins on ebay.. none the less i find it conforting that i'm buying something more then just silver when i buy a coin...
"has anyone had any success investing in numismatics as opposed to straight bullion.."
Yes. I have amassed a fairly substantial horde as a "gold buyer" at a relative's jewelry store. This relative was about to go out of business in 2008. I went in, bought millions of dollars worth of stuff over the years from essentially a hole-in-the-wall in a burned-out town, and the rest is history. Most of the numismatic coins came from buying coin lots at competitive prices, selling the culls and junk silver at small markups and cherry picking the best coins. Someone needs to bury their dad and sells his collection and there is an MS65 Cincinnati commemorative in the batch, or someone is such a silverbug that they will trade an Indian Head collection w/ key dates for a few ounces of silver. All transactions have been reported to the authorities. I provide additional info to authorities when requested but not mandated by law. Cops are frequently buyers or sellers.
Gold buying (which has always encompassed diamonds, coins, silver, platinum, etc. for us) is dead. We are still buying and stronger than most of the remaining survivors. But our volumes are about 1/3 of what they once were (and it was fairly steady for about 3 years). I would estimate at least 90% of buyers to have left the business or reduced to sporadic buying out of the house. The point is: it is a horrible time to get in.
As a man on the street buying coins, it becomes sketchy. If you are a big buyer, you may become known to law enforcement and be in violation of local/state law. Also, you will burn bridges if buying in your social circle even if you pay fair prices; many people think that 1932 buffalo nickel is worth a fortune. You can try finding bargains at yard sales and local auctions, but you are probably wasting your time and gas. There are too many people trying to do the same thing. Local auctions around here are magnets for dim buyers with plates in there heads. People flock to the auctions from miles around to pay prices higher or much higher than what can be found on Ebay. There are few bargains to be had at Ebay, also. Buyer beware. You definitely aren't going to get a bargain at Heritage although HA is a very solid operation.
Perhaps you wish to avoid the common stuff, local buying and focus on marquis key date coins as pure investments. I wish you luck. You will have to cover a large spread (fees for buying at auction and then selling at auction). The prices fluctuate with the overall health of the economy and other factors most of which are unpredictable. I personally consider it a hobby and buy these coins occasionally but am not looking to sell anytime soon or even expecting a profit.
Be careful paying too much for expensive coins not in a PCGS or NGC holder. Anything other than PCGS or NGC (and maybe ANAACS) is not worth the time. I got burned buying key dates from the most conservative middle-aged dude imaginable. I show the altered mintmark coins that were bought to coin collectors, and no one can spot the difference (not even self-proclaimed experts). I tell people straight up to get them slabbed if they want to sell them. If they don't want to and still want to sell, I will buy them for the price of a common coin, take the chance and get them slabbed myself. Also, keep in mind there are now high-quality NGC and PCGS slabbed fakes. If someone wants to sell you a $40,000 coin for $5,000 in a grocery store parking lot, don't buy!
I see myself leaving this biz real soon but continuing to collect coins. Beware: it gets in your blood. And I used to think coin collecting was lame.