Any Coin Collectors hanging around?

Fort Henry Custom Knives

Fort Henry Custom Knives

Joined
Nov 17, 1999
Messages
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Hey Gang, I have a couple of questions for any Coin Collectors here. I'm thinking of starting a collection of U.S. Mint Proof Sets for my children (in addition to the Knives I have already put back for them of course) :D

My questions are;
- Are the U.S. Mint Proof Sets stable investments?? By this I mean if my children keep them at least until they are adults (and possibly need funds for their Psychiatry therapy) will they be worth a few bucks more than when I purchased them today? FWIW, I plan on Purchasing via Ebay or directly from the U.S. Mint so I will probably be paying suggested Retail.

- Is it any better of an investment idea to purchase the "Silver Mint Proof Set of Quarters" than the "normal" Mint Proof Set?

- Is there a Beginning collectors website that anyone can point me to that will list basic info? Such as what is the difference in the Mint Proof Sets (PO5) and (UO5) as seen on the U.S. Mint website here - http://catalog.usmint.gov/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10001&catalogId=10001&identifier=2000

Thanks in advance.
 
Fireproof Law #576: Anything made to sell to collectors as an investment isn't.

Will they be worth a few bucks more a generation or two from now? Yes, if you don't correct for inflation....
 
Hi, my name is Danbo and I'm a coin collector. :)

IMHO, the only coins that are going to increase in value, are those that are going to become rarer as time goes by. To me, this means older, actual coins in uncirculated condition. The problem, as I see it, with those proof sets, is that they make SO many of them. Hard for something to become rare, when every Billy Joe Jim Bob in the neighborhood has one.
 
I've got a drawer full of proof sets. If I sell them to a dealer, I'd lose money. If I sold them to another collector, I might break even. Back in the '60's I told my father to buy some $20 St. Gauden pieces (about $65 ea.). He didn't, I couldn't and they shot up to over $300 ea. just on the gold content. Coins are an 'iffy' investment IMO.
 
Proof Sets have an extremely poor track record as an investment. But they are very beautiful. I'm not a big coin collector myself; that's my older brother. But I can certainly appreciate the beauty of those proof coins. I see them not as coins, but as little sculptures and as the ultimate expression of the coin-making art. Because they are unique to a specific year, they can be a nice way to commemerate something, a graduation, wedding, aniversary, something like that.
 
Cougar Allen said:
Fireproof Law #576: Anything made to sell to collectors as an investment isn't.
Click to expand...


Gollnick's rule: Anything sold as collectible isn't.
 
Been collecting for 63 years. In real estate the buzz-word is location,location,location !

In coins my creedo is rarity,condition & eye candy.

I have a Virginia Dare commerative 50 cent [ mint around 22,00 ] that is top grade & authenicated by the nusmatic guild/society [?] but I bought it because of my roots & it's beauty. Paid $275 10 years ago. Today's worth? Around $300. Lousy investment but it suits me.
Most coins are an iffy thing BUT they don't wear out . If I hadn't collected coins.probably would have wasted the money on something else.,
My coins were given a once-over by a house guest recently & ho-hummed that 2 small chests full [cigar box sized ] were worth about $7,000.He had a coin shop in N.C. Didn't say if that's what he'd pay or retail & I failed to ask. I have more lesser coins [ less rare] & most are melt +grade.

Remember this" Worth" is what you are willing to pay or accept.

You are smart in building a nest egg.


Mutual funds instead of coins for growth.

Uncle Alan
 
Thanks for all the Candid replies folks. I guess I am like most men, captivated by Shiny Sparkly things, but I am also smart enough to consult those who have been down that lane before I travel it.

Thanks again.
 
I am going to disagree with some thoughts here, but gains in coins for me are based on a lot of study and applying knowledge.

Examples:
20 dollar ST Guadens purchased when I was young for less than 100 were sold when I needed down payment cash for my house. Not one of them sold for less than 2K. Some sold for 5k and one sold for over 9K.

When Gold dipped below 300 a couple of years ago it was a good time to buy. I just sold those coins last week. (Profits will fund my Blade 06 purchases as well as my mom's therapy bills.) Through my life buying gold at dips has always been a decent winner for me.

In the mid '80 there was a huge surge in the price of uncirculated Walking Liberty 1/2's for no logical reason. (other than marketing) There are millions of them and few are rare. Common date prices trippled in less than a month. Proof Walking Liberty halves stayed stagnant for during the period and the mintages were 12,000 and less if memory serves. If you jumped on them at that time, you were able to quadruple your money in less than 2 months.

A couple of years ago the Mint produced some commerative silver dollars in the design of the Buffalo nickel (a very popular nickel design). If you brought them at issues you could easily sell them for 3+ times what you paid for them in three months.

State Quarters - as with many new issues you have to get in on it in the beginning, the proof sets (silver and regular) issued during the first two years of the program are selling at 8+ times the issue price last I checked. The later year issues - everyone jumped on the band-wagon many were sold, many available and the prices reflect that. (Happens every time.)

When you see the spikes on new issues, that is the time to sell. As time goes bye the prices settle.

You have to be very selective and use history as a guide. I do not buy the new issues every year, but if a new issue contains a new design, I try to think about the appeal of the design and issue numbers from the last few years. If those issue numbers are historically low (public interest rising and falling with new issues is a given) and the design has the potential for mass-appeal my criteria for the collectable becoming a good investment is met. As a coin collector for over 40 years, it has worked for me.

Coins have contributed greatly to my knife collection as well as what I consider an early home ownership for me.

Historically people see a spike for the sets for a year. They missed it so next year they order a bunch thinking the same thing will happen. Trouble is that a lot of folks are thinking the same thing and those sets languish forever at or below the issue price due to the numbers produced.

When you hit one on a new issue, sell them. Also realize that next years sets are going to be popular and stay away from that type of situation. Don't wait to time the sale for 5 or 10 bucks more per set. The demand can be and usually is fleeting on those new issues.

Design changes for the penny and 5 cent piece are in the works, if the mint does not overly publicize them and previous years proof set orders are off. They might be since the speculator on the latter issue quarter included proof sets have been burned. That might be the next spike of a new issue.
 
P.S. buying them every year is not the way to go, if you are looking at trying to get a decent return. You have to be selective and buy on a new appealing thing (design or coin) when the previous years production totals are down and the mint is not marketing to the general public heavily. If you see a trend of high production in the previous year or two. Stay away.

You can come out way ahead once or twice a decade on new issues in my experience over the last 4 decades, but you have to be selective.
You can confirm my techniques by looking at the historical spikes.
Start with the Statue of Liberty coins and work up to the State quarters and you will see the pattern.

Current lull in demand -> Appealing new design -> Price Spike that lasts a few months -> price settles. (For the next few years prices are stagnent and will remain so for new issues and that causes a new demand lull.)
 
VERY interesting post Bastid, thanks for taking the time to explain so fully. I had not considered Gold but will look into that also. For the time being I will continue to research and not buy.

Thanks again.
 
Good info, guys. I like to collect the "shiny sparklies" but not too intensely. More out of habit, than investment.

Here are some of my thoughts, although a little disjointed. Coins are kind of like my wife's Barbies. She started out with a doll from a specific 'set' which didn't happen to be the first. We paid a premium to pick up the first one on ebay. Then they stopped making that set, and all the prices have come back down.

I just happened to purchase two of the Silver Proof sets from the first year of issue for the new quarters. (one for me, one for my son who was born in 1999) These have gone to nearly 10X the issue price. (Not as many made.) All sets after have been going at much lower prices. (Mint increased production) Still at issue price, not below, so I have some value. (I get one each year, plus one for each child's birth year) When the last set of quarters comes out in 2008, I'm going to sell my whole set, as I bet they would lose value quickly once everything is said and done, and everyone has completed sets.

I do wish I had kept more of my silver, though. I bought some back when it was around $4/ounce. It's now up to $9.00. I did turn a profit on one of those Buffalo Dollars mentioned by Bastid. I traded about $200 worth (my purchase price) of silver including the Buffalo, for a $300+ Microtech Halo III.

I love to carry around the SAE coins, aka Silver American Eagles. I buy a coin or two each year, and carry it in my pocket as a conversation piece. It's fun to hold a hefty handfull of silver and hear it clink in your palms.

Coins are not an investment opportunity to me, as I don't have the cash flow to make money off of bullion, but I do want to own one of them Gold Double Eagle St. Gaudens, as that is the most beautiful coin ever made, IMHO. Now, if that 1933 St. Gaudens fell into my hands, I think I'd just die. (it sold for over $7mil a few years ago) Very interesting history on that one.
 
Bastid said:
....Through my life buying gold at dips has always been a decent winner for me.....
Click to expand...


Gus, I didn't know you were this deep into coin collecting? :) Great post. In that case, I have a question: I was thinking the other day of buying a gold coin maybe once a month, just to have something 'tangible' sitting in my safe or, as someone mentioned, jangling in my pocket. I don't want to learn about coin collecting, I don't want to do any reasearch - and it doesn't have to increase in value by much (but I wouldn't want to lose, either). Just something I can go in and buy once a month.

Krugerrands? Maple Leafs? Or does it even matter? Any suggestions?
 
Depends if you want the uberpure gold or the US version, cockroach. US boullion is .9995 fine. Canadian maple leaves are .9999. I like the US version myself- trades better, and has a healthy collector value. I'd go Krugs or Leaves for the gold value, or US Eagles for the collector price.
 
The US mint changed to 9999 gold in 2005 (or maybe it's this year). The difference in the amount of gold in a given coin is all but nothing. The article I read said that the mint expects to use something like five extra ounces of gold per year as a result of the change. It's all marketing hype. The 9995 gold is actually better for coins since it's harder. Of course, the coins in questions are never circulated. The US Mint just got tired to the perception that their coins are somehow inferior, somewhat less valuble.
 
So your saying that my Franklin Mint Pewter coins commemorating the inauguration of President Ford are worthless??? they are in a presentation case and I was hoping to sell them to finance my children's college education...:( oh well...


seriously. Buy them a proof set of the year they were born and give it to them later in life. Make a memory with them..but as a investment...set them up a trust fund with Pacific Life. That will be well worth your money.


Ren
 
Is there a reputable site somewhere I can browse? I'm interested in picking up a few random pieces for use in coin tricks/manipulations, so I'd be fine with relatively common pieces. E-bay is a serious pain to go through.
 
Today I reached into my pocket and pulled out a penny with a pig on it. It's a 1971 Bermuda cent, with Queen Elizabeth II on one side and a pig on the other. (Yes, I could tell the difference....) How cool is that? I've never heard of a penny with a pig on it. I'm keeping it. :cool:
 
Holger,

The only time I buy bullion (including eagles, maple leafs etc) is when it takes a dip from a stable price range. I am not sure what the immediate future is for gold, but it is spiking high right now, so I would stay away from it until it stabilizes and takes a dip from the price where it stabilized. Those dips usually occur when some one (at times a government) dumps a bunch in a market that is stabilized. Right now with the high price compared to what it was, gold is being marketed to the masses. Two years ago few were looking at gold as an investment.

Some one is going to get burned at some point and the maket will stabilize again. When I start seeing adds on T.V. for gold, I know it is time to look at selling it rather than buying it. These clowns were not marketing gold at the 300 and below range a couple of years ago which for me represented a good time to get in. Gold could go higher this year, I do not know, but I am staying away for now since the price is at a high range with the market for it volitile based on a lot of unstable happenings and heavy marketing hype.

This summer when the price was in the 440, to 460 range I thought about selling all of what I picked up a couple or three years ago. I kept in mind that historically prices seem to rise for gold in Nov. and Dec. I sold a little during the summer then sold the rest in late December. I am not even following it again until it stabilizes at another level for a period of months if not a year or so. When gold is boring for a period of time with few if any fluctuations more than a few cents or a buck or two a week that is the historical time to watch for a dip and get in. To purchase it now for me would be a crap shoot. Unlike other investments I would not dollar cost average with gold.

In short around 2 and 1/2 years ago it dipped from a long time stable price. I happened to notice it and some liquid funds into it with confidence.
 
Hello everyone,

I have also just got into coin collecting and it is a little overwhelming because I know so little about it. The one thing I do know about coins and it is not from experience, it is just common sense. The coins that are being produced today are not going to have much value other than the content of the metal later on. If you watch some of those rediculous coin shows on television they are constantly pumping these MS69 and 70 American eagles and selling them at rediculous prices. The reason they will not be worth much is because everyone of these coins being produced will never go into circulation, 100 years from now if they produced 50,000 1oz gold eagles of one year there wil most likely be close to 50,000 pristine Gold eagles 100 years from now for that year.

The coins that I am currently buying are almost all pre-1900 and in the best condition I can afford (All are either PCGS or NGC) certified.

I have a price guide of my grandmother's from 1962 of US coins, almost all the $5 gold pieces in the best possible condition were listed at around $9, today many of those coins that are not especially rare are worth close to 100 times that in ms-63 condition or better. It is amazing to see the prices of the coins back then, even with inflation it is still just astounding

www.heritagegalleries.com is a good place to bid on coins.
 
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