lets talk circulated coins

[ausjack]

Ok just wondering if circulated coins are worth keeping as the best I can find are never up to standard to get graded so now I'm thinking no more pretty coins and maybe just errors from noodling or give up noodling and just buy the odd nice coin now and then as I just keep getting more and more crap sitting here so if they aren't worth it then there's no point so that's another reason why I've given some of my pretty pretties away to other members and hope they might be an up grade for them

[trout]

Nothing wrong with circulated coins Mate, it is by far the cheapest way to collect.
It is only fussy buggers like me that only puts uncirculated coins in the decimal sets:angel:

[ausjack]

I'm not fussy, I'll take what ever I can get :mocking:

[Robster]

A nice example from circulation should be achievable by almost any young kid and imo is the only way that this hobby will continue in future years.!!  :angel:

[ausjack]

:laugh2: young kid, hope your not talking about old grey beard here Robster..I am old mate and can now admit it :winkextra: But agree as coins are getting way out of my price range

[Triggersmob]

Just about all of my coins come from circulation and that's the way I like them.

[Robster]

I always noodle through any loose change but as has been proved here "doing the hard yards" is obviously the best way to have success with circulation coins.! Those who noodle through thousands and thousands of coins fully deserve any 'good finds'.! :yahoo:

[ausjack]

I noodle thousands and thousands but it doesn't seem to pay off for me when you take the time and everything into account so I do it for the love and the fact that I have stuff all else to do :mocking: but always with the hope of finding that little pot of gold one day..one day :winkextra:

[Fulvio]

it doesn't seem to pay off for me when you take the time and everything into account

Lets not forget that this is a hobby. Well, for most of us anyway... for the traders its a business, and different rules apply.

So compare it to other hobbies and see where we stand.

You could go play golf. Spend a fortune on clubs and stuff, plus membership fees, plus fees to play. I hear it adds up pretty quick. Same goes for any other sport.

Or you could build model railroads. Plastic ready-to-run locos now go for three figures, brass four figures, and you can very easily blow ten grand building a layout to run them on.

Or you could fly model aircraft. I know someone who put a 1/6 scale Victoria Police Dauphine into the ground while doing a show for some scouts. All he had left of his five grand was the tail fin. And then there's this video I've got of a $50,000 scale B-52's one and only flight, which ended in total destruction.

Shall I go on? Boats are holes in the water in which to throw money. Cars and bikes not only burn liquid gold, but earn you fines and points... and so on and so on. Even "proper" coins, banknotes, stamps and other collectibles, the ones you hand over your firstborn for, are pretty likely to worsen your finances rather than improve them.

And on the other hand, we have circulating coins. They cost nothing but time and the potential earnings you might have made investing elsewhere. They're liquid assets, always instantly convertible for exactly what you paid for them. And occasionally you find someone prepared to pay you a premium for them.

I would say as hobbies go, its a pretty sweet deal that's hard to beat. Wouldn't you agree?

[JeffH]

Hear! Hear!

About what I was going to say but, probably, better put. {I must admit though, I do have a thing for silver proofs.}

[Coins from Vending]

With the limited knowledge I have of coins if I had the time or desire I'd just o and get sack of a particular denomination and go through bag after bag talking out the good stuff.

For example I like 50c pieces why I don't know I just do, the 2001 centenary of fed state coins seem to sell for between $2 and $5 for a good conditioned coin.

I'd hunt them down and sell them off keeping the best of each state until a better one comes along, I would imagine that from each $200 bag of 50 cent coins you'd find 4 or 5 centenary coins. I tend to find a fair few in my vending machine buckets. You could easily do 4-5 $200 bags a day and make a nice little earn on the side??

[JeffH]

4 CoF coins per $200 bag of 50¢ agrees with my experience. And a similar number (maybe more) of EF, or better, commemoratives and early year.
Then, very occasionally a ramshead, incused millennium or rotated.

Operative word in "nice little earn" is "little". But, that is usually not the only consideration to take up noodling -just a side benefit.

PS. I forgot to mention double bars. Not many of those are good condition -I tend to throw back a high proportion of them now. Similar with 2005 WWII foot cuds; moderately common and not worth keeping hundreds of them. It is interesting to make up sets showing the development of the die deterioration and subsequent increase in the cud size (must have been several dies involved, I think).

[Fulvio]

Yep, that sounds about right to me too. Though I'd also factor in the errors, for a total 'keep' of maybe 10-20%. And yeah, don't expect to make money in the short term at least. Your estate probably will, especially after Lizzy drops off the perch, and maybe Chuck has a very short reign. A new monarch, or quite possibly no monarch at all, will instantly catapult decimals into a whole different sphere of interest.

So this is a passtime with a potential for long-term gain. Not a get-rich-quick scheme, or even a nice little earner.