Why do some collectors only want the good coins?

[ausjack]

I do but no one wants my shitty coins or bank notes except you Fulvio :friends: They all want the good coins but I only have a few and not ready to get rid of them just yet but maybe soon with the way things are going We only have a few sorts here, the dealers, a few big boys and a lot of little fish like me that don't have much money to play with so have to be careful but I'm happy to buy off members :good:

[Fulvio]

They all want the good coins

Yeah, I just don't get it, I'm afraid.

I mean, either you're interested in an item, its history, etc, or you're just a speculator.

Me, I like coins. I like the fact that they have a place in history, even if its recent. I like it when something goes wrong and they're a bit of an ugly duckling. And I don't give a rats for perfect, polished trinkets that have never seen the light of day, let alone a pocket or a till. Therefore I will grab any and every example I can possibly lay my hands on, and parting with them is like giving up an arm or a leg. Sometimes you have to cut your own arm off to save your life, but its not something done lightly, right?

I just don't get the quibbling over "oh, its only MS67, that would never ever do!" mentality that permeates the top end of town. Most of that stuff goes straight into a vault and is never seen again until its time for some scumbag auctioneer to buy a new Ferrari flogging it to the next fool with too much money to burn.

Me, I'll take the honest stuff any day of the week, thank you very much.

[markn]

Good topic.  I for one try to buy the best coin of a type that my level of interest in that particular coin allows me to.  So that means it might be $1000+ for a particular error that I know is extremely scarce, because errors are my "thing".  And it might mean $30 on a circulated Mexican crown because while I do like the circulated Mexican 8R and Peso coins I'm not interested enough in them to spend up on better grades.

Every person collects in their own way and I'll never tell someone they are doing it "wrong".  The only time you can be collecting "wrong" is if it's no fun anymore.

[Triggersmob]

As I am trying to collect one of every denomination, from every, from every mint, from every country, I can't afford to be fussy. I will take a coin any way it comes. You only need to look in my gallery to see there are some very rough coins in my collection, but I love them all.

[stevo1962]

Yeah I've started heading the same way as Markn in some ways and since I began sending
coins to PCGS it's easier to refine my collection to mainly include fewer coins but of a higher
grade or value.That means I will have to sell off most of my collection (lower grade or lower value stuff)to make way for better quality or value coins.This will probably take years to do but it
should be fun doing it providing I can get my money back(or close to) on the coins I sell off

[nealeffendi]

I collect both average circulated and choice coins.
For error hunting it is great to have thousands of coins to search through. Just yesterday searched through a bunch of pennies and found a '43 long denticle and a nice ragged edge clip '61 penny. I also picked up a number of 42-42I pennies as I'm trying to identify every die pair. But how many collectors do that? So 99% of collectors will ignore the average circulated common dates once they have a few decent grade coins. I want thousands of 42-43I but only a few '61s. So for '61 it has to be either an error or choice to get my interest.
I have bags of '61s and probably so do most posters here so if Ausjack wanted to unload similar shitty coins and banknotes then who would want to buy what they already have more than enough of?
Also for common shitty coins and banknotes both the cost of postage and the cost of saflips are more than the coin is worth.

[ausjack]

Some good points there team and I think Mark hit the nail on the head with this comment :good:
"The only time you can be collecting "wrong" is if it's no fun anymore."

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[Fulvio]

Also for common shitty coins and banknotes both the cost of postage and the cost of saflips are more than the coin is worth.

I think that's the biggest killer right there. Every cent that goes into ancillary expenses like these effectively devalues the item in question. So spending a dollar to move and store an item worth a thousand is nothing, spending it on an item worth a dollar is madness.

And yet, that dollar item is still desirable, in my book. Its just not worth the ancillaries. Hmm, we need to come up with cheaper ways to handle things, don't we?

[Sapyx]

I have over 11,000 coins in my collection. That doesn't count any duplicates, which I never keep and don't consider part of "the collection". A large majority of these are coins that you'd find in a coin dealer's "world coins - 3 for $1" scratchtray. While getting quality coins is nice, I'd certainly much rather spend $1000 on 3,000 coins I didn't already have from that scratchtray than spend $1000 on a single high-quality coin I didn't already have.

Which of those two options is "better" from a future-value-of-the-collection point of view? History clearly shows that it is the values of higher end coins that appreciate more than the lower end - that single $1000 coin is likely to be worth $5000 or more in ten years time, whereas I'd be lucky to get $1500 back for my bucket-o-junk. But for many collectors, the whole future-value question simply isn't important.

[markn]

thought this was about coins, not investments or has collecting become purely investment only and if so there goes my hobby and I may as well go to SS or one of the other sites that are more for investors :cray: And so many here have said DON'T think you'll make money from our hobby unless you have the money and know how to spot the bargins or were they lying..it's all moot anyway so where are my drugs :winkextra:
and if we're talking investment we are no longer talking about a hobby or are we :scratch_one-s_head:

Not sure where you got the idea that it takes money to see a positive return on your collecting investment.  Knowledge and hard work is what will help you see a positive return.  Knowing what you're looking at, knowing how to grade, and the ability learn all the time will open up opportunities to you.  Some of my biggest "wins" have cost me very little and have come about because I am always reading forums and books and testing my grading skills.  And when I get a chance to look at coins I always examine each one closely and keep an eye out for undergraded coins, varieties, and coins that I know are scarce.  

I for one have never bought a mule, I found my three.  That's got nothing to do with having money, it's just being willing to spend the time looking for them.

[trout]

Knowledge and hard work is what will help you see a positive return. Knowing what you're looking at, knowing how to grade, and the ability learn all the time will open up opportunities to you.

:agreed:
Well said Mark :good:

[ausjack]

there's a lot more to it than that and a lot easier said than done..I'll swap anyone here my life for theirs, even for a day would be nice to be normal again. And trying to gain knowledge here isn't easy as there's so much secret squirrel it's not funny..some members are really good but most keep what they know a secret for some strange reason

[stevo1962]

there's a lot more to it than that and a lot easier said than done..I'll swap anyone here my life for theirs, even for a day would be nice to be normal again. And trying to gain knowledge here isn't easy as there's so much secret squirrel it's not funny..some members are really good but most keep what they know a secret for some strange reason

 I think a lot of people subscribe to the risk and return policy.Sometimes you have to take a risk to make a gain but it could easily go the other way. For example I have bought many kilos of "unsearched" pennies from goatyman in the hope of finding a few nice coins and selling off the scrap on ebay to get my money back.So far I've found some nice coins but it's takes time and effort but that's what it's all about for me.Each to their own and there is one of my secrets

[markn]

there's a lot more to it than that and a lot easier said than done..I'll swap anyone here my life for theirs, even for a day would be nice to be normal again. And trying to gain knowledge here isn't easy as there's so much secret squirrel it's not funny..some members are really good but most keep what they know a secret for some strange reason

I find the opposite.  When people ask questions here the answers they get are far too comprehensive and wide-reaching.

[trout]

I think the collectors that are willing to go that extra Mile, Spend time and effort on research or simply willing to have a "Punt" that seem to regularly get the "Sweet" coins.
Even "Thinking outside the square" and trying something completely different   to what other collectors are doing can help to achieve whatever your collecting goals are.

I would think that EVERY collector would like to have the top of the wazza coins, not just some of them :ok:
This alas is just a pipe dream for me and many other collectors But we CAN dream and even sometimes achieve that dream.
I for one simply think "Good on Ya " when someone else snares a stunning coin and don't begrudge them one iota for their achievement .
A bit like seeing someone win the lotto, Why not be happy for the winner and not begrudge them their good fortune :ok:

Like Mark mentioned keeping an eye out for the scarcer coins and doing some "In depth research" CAN pay off eventually, For instance the incused flag 50 cent coin.
Every man and his dog just considered these as a common cheap variety and pretty much ignored them.
I Did  mass of research on this particular coin and came to the conclusion quite a while back that these would be scarce/rare in high grades due to then not being "Discovered" for such a long time.
I spent a year or so buying about 70   of these coins and cherry picked some nice ones at an average price of about $25 each.
I have sold most of the coins that didn't make the "Cut" and gave quite a few away as well.
This is just one instance of thinking "Outside the Square" and getting good results.
ANYONE can do this But it does take time and effort, Nothing truly worthwhile comes without pain and effort.
As far as sharing information goes , I posted on CCF regarding the incused coins a year or so ago and stated then that these would be a future "Sleeper" and well worth doing the hard yards on.