Top 5 Worst Coin Investments.

Great list but I would add one other small item! Buy the coin, not the package! Avoid the hype and the slab unless, of course, you are talking key dates or harder to find coins that are heavily counterfeited. Many modern coins, especially bullion and proofs, are made to very strict and HIGH GRADE standards so paying $100 for a $30 coin just because a third party graded it for you? Well I just don't understand the logic nor the investment!

Thanks for the info. Can be really helpful for those that are beginners or don't know where to buy from so they don't get jipped. A good reason to learn about a coin before you buy it. Thanks for the info.

Phoenix

I couldn't agree more with the article. Thanks for posting it mila.

Most investors, including coin investors choose the easiest road and go merrily walking along the bottom of the food chain. There's a rather long list of losses for coin collectors from the past: Proof and roll sets from the 60's. Hoarding rolls in the mid 60's was so popular there's even stories of attics with sway back floors from all the weight. There's the 1950D nickels, 1960D small cents, Franklin Mint Medals, Art Bars, World Proof Sets from make believe countries...
And the funniest part in all this is: If it's so "rare" why does every dealer in the country have a pile of it for sale?

If your going to invest in anything why not view it for what it really is--warfare. No you don't actually die if you lose, unless you do a swan-dive off the 75th floor, but aren't the principles the same? If the original Vietnam war was being waged today do you think your chances of survival would be better as a rifleman or a Ranger? Mind you I'm not asking what you think would be easier, but what increases your chances of survival. If you chose Ranger, why did you choose it? Because they have harder training, more specialized training, more discipline, more freedom of movement, more independent and critical thinking? From what I've learned about Rangers in Vietnam they did pretty well for themselves. A team even ambushed a Viet Cong training camp once while a lecture was being giving about, guess what? Heeehhehehe,those "Green Face Devils"


"Do not trust that the enemy is not coming.
Trust that you ready to meet him."
Sun Tzu-The Art of War

I always laugh at the unsearched lots of say Morgan dollars. The guy selling them may not have searched them but the guy he bought them off of did.

MS/PF 69/70 c~~~r~~~a~~~p

A little off topic but... I love coins and love collecting them. I have made and lost money.
IMO coins are not a good investment, ie:

1) they produce no income,
b) no tax advantage (maybe if used in an ira),
3) you buy high (if retail) and they must appreciate, say, 20% or much more just to break even,
d) when you sell you don't usually get retail, and
5) not secure to own as they may be stolen, lost and/or damaged.

The only up side is for lots of appreciation to occur with lots of downsides. There are many ways to diversify that would be better.
Too bad I don't follow my own advice.

I tend to agree with mrcoin on the quality of coins as an investment. 50 years from now we'll all look like geniuses, but what will be left for us to enjoy?

A few truly good recent investments in coins recently have been the scarce date cc Morgans, early walkers in F and higher, and bullion coins. But a lot of categories have been awfully flat...