Rare Coins: As Seen on TV?

[Jonathan_Chance]

@ArchiveGuy

Yeah, I suppose that’s true. I’ll attend WESTPEX on occasion, and it seems like everyone’s a good decade or more older than I am. A shame…

As an aside…

Do you find that the dearth of younger collectors DEFLATES the prices of stamps in the market? Fewer people chasing a collectible should do so.

[jjimm]

@ArchiveGuy

I’m always amazed at the dearth of stamp collectors on the SDMB. I’ve started several stamp threads in the past, and they’ve always died quick lonely deaths…

I stopped collecting in the 1980s when I was a teenager because it was too geeky, and also irritated me, since I would never be able to collect all the stamps in the world. I retained a Victorian Penny Red and a Twopenny Blue. Just for my retirement. I find they’re now worth about $5. Great.

[Cartooniverse]

@Chefguy

There was a repository of gold/silver in the underground area of the Center. Can’t remember if it was coins or bullion.

There was a significant repository of gold bullion. There were Treasury Agents there in addition to everyone else, and when the gold was found ( and, it was found ), it was carefully tracked and removed.
Reasonably decent accounting of Gold story

Cartooniverse

[spingears]

Caveat Emptor!
If you are really interested in buying rare coins for an investment bone up on the subject if at all possible.
Get in contact with the coin collectors (hobbyists and investors) in your area. The usually have regular meetings and often annual shows and sales. There is not a large spread between their sale and buyback prices. Now OTOH the TV and direct mail advertises will really take a big bite out of your hip pocket. They sell HIGH and buy low.

[samclem]

@spingears

Caveat Emptor!
If you are really interested in buying rare coins for an investment bone up on the subject if at all possible.
Get in contact with the coin collectors (hobbyists and investors) in your area. The usually have regular meetings and often annual shows and sales. There is not a large spread between their sale and buyback prices.

I’ll agree about the advice to learn all you can.

I disagree about the lack of a large spread between buy/sell prices for rare coins.

The buy/sell spread is HUGE.

I do this for a living. And I don’t work on 5%.

You want an investment, buy a CD.

Colns as investments are NOT for the average person. In many cases, not even for the people who think they are savy about the coin market.

I could tell you stories…

[DrDeth]

@samclem

Poly.
The number one best grading service is PCGS. When a person calls me and wants me to quote them a price over the phone, I will if the coin has been graded by PCGS. They sometimes are too conservative, but that’s good for the customer.

NGC is the next best, and they are consistent. I think they grade about 1/4 of a grade below PCGS. That’s just my opinion. But, if a coin is in their holder, then you will get pretty much what a PCGS coin will bring.

ANACS is mercurial. Anecdote: I owned an 1859 proof quarter. Totally original. Rare beastie. I sold it as an MS65 to a customer. $2000. He trusted me. He wanted it certified. Sent it to ANACS. Came back MS64. Only worth $1000. He was disappointed, but not mad at me.

Six months later, we sent it to PCGS. Came back MS 66! Now worth $3000. He was happy. I was happy.

But, generally speaking, ANACS coins are graded looser than PCGS.

Personally, if I were investing in coins, I would only buy PCGS. Unless I was a pro or knew how to grade big time.

This is one reason why investing in RARE coins is problematic. The difference between MS64 and MS66 here was $2000, but the difference is tiny and mostly subjective. :dubious: And when you buy a coin, the rating will be as high as possible and when you sell it- as low as possible. Making money from this as an amateur is nigh impossible.

Here’s a good tip if you want to invest in some coins. Right now silver is somewhat low. Buy a “$1000 face” bag of US silver coins, and you will only pay a tad over the value in silver- say $7,300 or so. And, damn, you have a nice solid & hefty bag full of cool old historic coins. They have little collectors value, but a good solid silver value. And you can run your fingers through them and make a cool noise. You will NOT- I guarentee- “lose your shirt” on this, although the value could drop by even a third.

[samclem]

@DrDeth

Here’s a good tip if you want to invest in some coins. Right now silver is somewhat low. Buy a “$1000 face” bag of US silver coins, and you will only pay a tad over the value in silver- say $7,300 or so. And, damn, you have a nice solid & hefty bag full of cool old historic coins. They have little collectors value, but a good solid silver value. And you can run your fingers through them and make a cool noise. You will NOT- I guarentee- “lose your shirt” on this, although the value could drop by even a third.

I just sold a $1000. bag of quarters to a collector/investor for $5000. today. That’s about the melt value.]

Silver is low right now? Not in my book. But who’s to say.

You won’t lose your shirt?

If you buy a bag of silver coins today for $5000. and hold them for twenty years, then sell them for that “third” less, you get back $3400.

If you had put $5000 in a CD at 4% for 20 years, you’d get back about $8,000.

hmmm? which one was the better investment?

[DrDeth]

Absolutely, but the chance of that silver ever becoming nigh valueless is slim to none. True, you could lose money, but the same goes for every investment, including CD’s.

Some stocks and some collectibles have become effectively worthless beause of odd market changes- that’s not going to happen to silver. Is it a great investment? No. But it happens to add tangibility and fun.

[Polycarp]

@DrDeth

This is one reason why investing in RARE coins is problematic. The difference between MS64 and MS66 here was $2000, but the difference is tiny and mostly subjective. :dubious: And when you buy a coin, the rating will be as high as possible and when you sell it- as low as possible. Making money from this as an amateur is nigh impossible.

This is the point behind my request of samclem – I didn’t bring home any of the literature, and wasn’t clear on who were the two reputable firms.

Basically, if I have a MS62 coin as graded by PCGS or NGC, I know its value – dealers (like sam or the folks on Long Island or in California that my boss was dealing with) will accept that grading, and give me a purchase price quote based on it. Needless to say, the other grading services don’t have the sort of reputation that will assure that sort of certitude – sam would want to see the coin that I’m offering that was graded MS64 by Joe’s Flybynight Grading Service.

Due to the buyer-seller differential, coins are not a good day-trading item. But IMO they make a good long-range investment – someone is going to be looking for a low-mintage coin at the time I want to sell it, and I can get a good price for it, conceivably well above what the “market price” is, if I’m the only person interested in selling when he wants to buy. And as you note they’ll always retain some value.

[depocali]

@Tuckerfan

I’d say no, and the US Mint (the real one) says that at least some of them aren’t even authorized by the government which is supposed to have authorized them.

As a follow-up to this thread, Mr. Spitzer (New York’s energetic AG) has obtained an injunction against the National Collector’s Mint to stop them from selling these “authentic” pieces of junk.

Cite

[Tuckerfan]

@depocali

As a follow-up to this thread, Mr. Spitzer (New York’s energetic AG) has obtained an injunction against the National Collector’s Mint to stop them from selling these “authentic” pieces of junk.

Cite

Yes! Yes! Yes! :::pumps fist wildly in the air:::

[Scarface_Z]

what about those coin sets sold in the gift shop of the US mint in philadelphia? the ones that have the new quarters and other stuff in a sealed plastic bag, in hopes that someday they may be worth something. on another note, will the new state quarters ever be valuable as collectors items? (putting aside several hundred years from now (like the gold penny), let’s stick to the almost imediate future)

[Tuckerfan]

@Scarface Z

what about those coin sets sold in the gift shop of the US mint in philadelphia? the ones that have the new quarters and other stuff in a sealed plastic bag, in hopes that someday they may be worth something. on another note, will the new state quarters ever be valuable as collectors items? (putting aside several hundred years from now (like the gold penny), let’s stick to the almost imediate future)

According to everything I’ve seen, the collectors sets sold by the mint won’t be worth much of anything because they’re so common. Also the state quarters will pretty much remain a curiosity item since nearly everyone is socking them away.