The person with the massive collection does not have to actually be a collector themselves.
Where did they acquire it? How long? Do they store it at their residence, safe deposit box, etc?
Since the OP is asking for personal experiences, let’s move this to IMHO.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
My dad has one, and I have a friend who has one too.
Both store them in multiple locations. Dad has some in the attic, others in the basement, the safety deposit box, etc. He’s also given some of them to my brother. My friend keeps some in his safe (IDK where it is; probably in their home but I’m not going to ask) and has sold duplicates at the antique store where we both do business.
There was a coin show going on one time at a hotel (more of a motel, in fact) where I was staying, and I wondered how the dealers secured their inventory while traveling.
I’ve been collecting coins since the '50s . . . first collecting from pocket change, then buying from coin dealers, then from auctions. I now have a nice “U.S. type coin” collection, which I keep in a safe deposit box.
Our local bookie had a large coin collection he kept at home. He was murdered for it. They say he used it as a money laundering device.
Shit that is intense. They ever recover it and/or apprehend the murders?
It is hard. You would be amazed how often a rare coin(s) get stolen at coin shows. It happens multiple times a year.
Over 125k stolen recently:
https://forums.collectors.com/messageview.aspx?catid=26&threadid=947452&highlight_key=y&keyword1=stolen
I have several collections, although most coin collectors would probably turn up their noses at mine. They’re not exactly valuable, and they’re not what a lot of people think of when they think of collections.
I have the state quarters; I have a penny from every year going back to 1936. But by far my biggest one is just pennies in general. I have a few thousand pennies. I keep them in my bedroom–it would be a waste of money to rent any sort of storage.
I know someone in the coin machine business. He sells, repairs, and services coin counters and coin mechanisms for vending machines. He has a massive collection of coins, a lot of it is silver coins he’s pulled out over the years. A lot of it is also his ‘dirty coin’ that he uses for testing the mechanisms also.
I did up until I sold almost all of it a few years ago. I had both US and foreign coins, preferring large silver coins and some gold. Many countries issue beautiful commemorative coins and series such as the China Panda, the Australian Kookaburras and Roos, and zodiac series, all in blazing silver proof condition. I had a substantial collection of old foreign coins from places like British East Africa that I found in flea markets in Africa, and at one time had a goodly number of commemorative silver coins from Soviet era Bulgaria.
Sadly (but understandably), the dealer wouldn’t buy the statehood mint quarter rolls. I’ll probably just take them to the bank. I kept a couple of the Silver Eagles that have some value, but almost all of it is gone.
Reading some of the responses above, I see perfect examples of why I sold my collection; they get stashed away in safe deposit boxes or otherwise stuck out of sight somewhere, and you end up never seeing what you have.
Long story, they never recovered the coins or caught the killer but I have always had some very strong suspicians about who it was. I believe the person I suspected was considered a suspect as well.
I bought a few different coins direct from the U.S. mint in 2004, in rolls or collections and a silver eagle. The silver eagle was the only one that accrued value over a decade. The others I sold at a loss. I wish I had just bought silver eagles.
In addition to my collection, I have over 20,000 pennies, all sorted by date and mint mark. This includes a complete set of Lincoln cents (starting in 1909) . . . including the valuable 1914-D that I found *in a parking lot.
*
Dang, I thought my dad had a lot of pennies! My mom sold his collection after he passed away and he had over 8,000 wheat cents. He had all the key dates too, the 1909-S VDB, the 1914-D, 1922 plain. Those got sold separately.
Quite a few. Some are/were inherited but most of the people I know built it themselves. Where they keep it can be one of the best secrets anyone has. I know a few people with professional level safes in their homes but almost 100% keep their best stuff off-site at either a neutral location or a bank.
While you are at a show, the person putting it on has security – or at least they are supposed to. Travel to and from is why we are usually well armed and drive straight through; multiple drivers for trips over 12 hours. Dinner is usually in the car. Dealers still get hit (after the FUN show every year you hear of someone getting nailed before they get home) but you take what measures you can and accept the rest as the risks of doing business.
(One of the reasons I left the business)
How cool is that! Coin collectors are basically treasure hunters at heart, so a find like that is a real high. I had a few finds of my own (got a Buffalo nickel in change from a vending machine once), but nothing like that.
I have a coin collection of sorts - random change from about 100 different countries that I have collected in my travels. I have the same for paper currency. The paper currency is framed in 8 identical frames around my home, but the coins are in a big plastic box.
I have a smallish collection. Lots of inexpensive foreign coins and a few cool things. My oldest is a third centuary Roman coin followed by one from Poland dated 1509. I have the uncirculated Canadian 1867-1967 dollar bill that has the dates rather than a serial number. My aunt, who was a collecter, got it for me.