My Investment Strategy - Please Critique/Review

I might have missed that part. 69s are great for the older ones, a lot of them 69 is the highest graded so its basically the same as a 70 for the newer ones and probably rarer actually. I would get those given the opportunity at the right price all day long

Hey there! Welcome to the community!

I would like to offer what has worked for me, tho I haven't flipped and not interested in flipping. But if you are looking for an increase in coins for profit I hope I can give you some pointers, based on what has worked for me as a collector and which, I was NOT looking for an increase.

One of the simple and easier ways to get some gains on your coins is to buy proof silver and gold coins. In some aspects you can cut out the middle man when you buy these coins direct from the government mint. The first place then I suggest is buy PROOF Silver eagles and gold proof eagles and just sit on them.

Does the Mint have a mark up on these? Is the price way higher than spot? YES! However you have no middle man, no dealer costs. You can buy these and just sit on them, salt them away. I have done this with US Mint gold and silver eagles proofs, I have done this with Royal Mint proof Britannia's and South African Mint Proof krugs. I just sit on them for a couple years, salt them away and they catch a premium as time goes on.

If you chose to do bullion coins, you need something that again, will give you cushion over the spot metal price. So if you buy American silver eagles, buy a whole roll and sit on it. Buy China Pandas but buy a whole sheet, and sit on it. Same with Maple Leafs, just sit on a whole roll.

Remember, you are going to need some sort of cushion in whatever you buy. Some other points

* stay away from graded coins
* use ebay to look for deals on auctions, you are going to find desperate sellers as the price of silver and gold go down.
* stay to close to proof, limited mintage coins
* make sure that the bulk of your purchases are coins where there is liquidity, so you can get out faster.
* be patient, some of these coins are going to take several years to show value.
* not all coins will move, some wont, stay focused.
*don't get too wide on your focus so that you can follow prices and market trends and patterns much closer.


These are just my suggestions, not gospel. Its what has worked for me, without even knowing it. I stopped collecting in 2004 and I was blown away at the premiums my proof coins gained and sheets and rolls that I was collecting since I came back.

finally, remember that there is risk in EVERYTING that involves making money. Count on volatile pricing. count on a sudden drop in interest in coins and precious metals, sentiment could drop like a rock. Have some sort of plan that if you need to liquidate and take modest losses instead of waiting and watching the losses pile up. STAY LIQUID, I cant stress that enough.

I hope that helps!

*** my Two Cents ***

The only 'problem' I see with this strategy is that if you are buying collections from the general public you will be inundated with a lot of lower end junk and extremely common coins that are hard to flip and thus tend to accumulate unsold in your inventory thus reducing your liquidity and profit margins. This is fine if you are hoarding coins that have most of their value in their precious metal composition but for the numismatic component of your stategy you might want to consider getting into higher end/rarer items and focus on quality over quanity even if you have to buy from other dealers. Over the past decade or so the top of the numismatic market has been where exponential growth has been found while common material has seen modest gains (largely related to precious metal spikes) or has seen losses in many series.

Personally I don't look at coin collecting as an investment, I hope my purchases retain most of their value but I'm not expecting any significant financial gain. The collector that you mentioned in your story must have had a very good eye for quality, shrewd business savvy, as well as a lot of luck in seeing his collection appreciate in excess of 1000%.

i was thinking about doing something like this. However, I believe that I want 1000 pounds of silver in my safe and get it for free(roll hunting or horse trading like you mentioned above) I farm and I have no 401k or IRA. I am basing everything on silver/gold content though except for wheats and nickels cause I like to hoard those coins.

I guess anything is worth a try to get rich or make a decent nest egg for retirement. However, try to remember that coins, stamps, Hot Wheel cars, Beenie Babies and many other items that are or were ment to be for fun, fade with time. So far coins have been steady but that too could end. Being a coin dealer that sells presently is smart. but to think it will go on forever, not to good. Good luck.

schockergd- you know thats a good question I haven't had the chance or have the slight idea what the composition is. My collection I haven't kept track in 8-9 years.

I only started to notice they had accrued tremendous value when I started back tracking on the missing pieces, such as pandas that I own versus the ones ima missing and was shocked how high they had shot up, sheets of pandas, and also the Silver 1 oz Brits.

But also, while I dropped off buying everything else I made sure that I was buying direct from the US Mint proof silver and gold eagles which have gone up or kept their price depending on how old they are.. and that's even with the spot price and premiums rising. I would imagine the most recent ones are flat or perhaps fluctuating lower but nothing to worry in my case since I am not flipping.

God, it would be so huge to break that down but I am kinda interested now that you raise that question lol

Thats why I think again, tho, unless you are going to sit on these coins, you need to buy quality, not quantity, and give yourself some time.

The only coins you will be able to flip fast and with a bit of margin I would suppose need to be coins that are trending in the Coin World,, whats hot.


Finally, I think this individual might be positioned to do well should metal prices tank, there would be ima guessing a dump where folks will want to exit at whatever price and if he has the cash available he can cherry pick the best deals.

Now I realize that this might sound offensive to most but if hes trying to flip and turn a profit thats what hes looking for partly.

and again, for me, I can only speak about what has worked for me. You know, such as owning the first year of the gold proof buffalo, or owning the 2008 proof set of Buffalo's and buying them from the mint directly. OF that I have always done, made sure to purchase gold and silver eagle proofs every year from the US Mint. Then you sit on them and sit and sit and sit and sit and sit and sit. The premium you get from limited issue coins such as these eagles is unrivaled.

I'm jealous! You sound like your kicking butt. Who do you find to buy coins from?

This has been sitting in my draft box for a good part of a week its about time I finished it!

IMHO Investment coins are like investment diamonds, or investment art work. You have to buy the best at high prices to really ensure a decent return. Usually such investment pieces are well beyond the reach of the average collector,and have impeccable provenance, and most often have a unique story behind them.


Making good investment choices at "lower altitudes" becomes more of a mixture of good research, good market prediction( if that is even possible) and luck. The difficulty really facing all of us( looking at one day making a return on our interest) is predicting where the market will be in 10-15 years time. Today Morgan dollars may well be the "Flavor" of the market in the US, but who can say that will be the case in 15 years time.

For example we baby boomers( I am a tail-ender of that demographic) are starting to retire in greater numbers. Some of that group (like me) have collections we are going to sell to help our retirement. So it is quite likely market will see increasing numbers of interesting sales over the next 10-15/20 years. This could provide a spur to the market or it could see oversupply of certain types and a retrenchment in market value for those types.

I know from the New Zealand experience that during the Hunt brothers reign some key NZ coins shot up in value...only to decrease in value once the silver market collapsed. People who bought at the time of high prices in the early 80's were in 2000 regularly disappointed, finding that their investments had done badly( coins like 1935 3d, 1935 Waitangi crown. Now if it were part of a retirement fund....there is a risk those coins would have sold at a loss.....if the seller could have retained them for another 13 years...they would find they still made a loss on the 35 3d but would have made a massive profit on the Waitangi Crown.

I think the key to investing in coins is diversification. But smart diversification Having a diverse collection of obscure coins is likely to be very risky. Likewise having a "Fashion conscious" middle of the road focus is going to largely risk free but it is less likely to produce spectacular returns. I think each collector has to make decisions based on their personal position on a collecting-investment continuum.

I am more collector than investor....I have an eccentric focus that for investment purposes would be very risky. However I do moderate my risk by purchasing Boring safe items when I know that I am making an immediate, on paper, profit. Six years ago I purchased a proof NZ Waitangi Crown for the European market value of €2000. The NZ market value for the coin at that time was €4000. Now the market value is about €6000-8000. It wasn't guess work it was simply a matter of knowing how the market was likely to move....the NZ market value acted as the pointer for me. I had observed in the US and European markets that the Waitangi Crown was increasing in value ( rather than the NZ value being too high. I think you can see my investment strategy.....IE:identify a coin that is undervalued in one region of the world look at its value in another part of the world and then assess the likely direction of price movement.