Should I Sell My Collection?

Certainly a tough situation... When I was a freshman in college I sold off my entire coin collection, that I had been working on since I was 6 or 7... At the time, I needed the money, and you have to do what you have to do... Fast forward some years later and financial situation much different, I have been able to obtain some stuff I could not have imagined back then...

Here's the way I would look at it... Almost any coin is replaceable at any given time (with the exception of super rarities, obviously)... If there are other more pressing issues, all they are is an object which is holding money which could be better used for something else... When situations are different, the coins which were sold off can most likely be replaced- And more than likely, their price has not risen by more than 7.5% per year...

As ssuperddave mentioned, you don't need to be actively collecting to continue to enjoy numismatics, there is always the business angle (a small side coin business can certainly help out with that debt if one has the acumen), research or even metal detecting...

Jesus, half a million dollars for your education? And I thought my Student Loans were bad (just over £50,000 for 4 years...courtesy of the Government, 5.5% interest these days, payed back as 9% of your salary over £17k, written off by the government if not repaid after 30 odd years or theres about - that will be gone soon when it starts to be that no one has paid off the debt. Allowing for inflation and changing interest rates, ill need to earn at least £40k a year for the next 30 years to stand a chance at paying it off).

That 20k is not a large dent, you'd be best served having it to fall back on in times of need.

@ $421,000 in debt I'd say that 20 K is not a large dent, but it certainly seems to be this posters time of need. Numismatics is a hobby....... for most, certainly not an investment. It is almost impossible to enjoy life with this kind of debt hanging over ones head. As I said earlier, in my opinion you have to deal with the debt problem. You can come back to coins in a much bigger way, later on in life when you are much more secure financially. I speak from experience as I have been there, done that, albeit not to the tune of half a million in debt. Today I have rarities and collectibles that would never have been possible 35 years ago! The OP is in serious difficulty that needs immediate attention. A hobby is NOT going to help that at this point in their life. Facing the debt problem head on is going to be very painful but must be dealt with. There is help out there for the OP and I for one sincerely wish him and his wife well.

take your favorite coin, drill a hole in it, and wear it around your neck on a string. then SELL the rest & reduce the debt. every penny off the principal is interest you will save in the future 10x over.

according to your math (above poster may be more accurate):

@ $300 per payment coming off the principal then $20,000 is equal to 66 payments. multiply that times $3500 = $233,333

in other words your $20,000 collection is "worth" the next $233,000 that you earn (after taxes) and make as regular re-payments.

if you are serious about dealing with this debt then you need to apply the same "worth" to every dollar you spend. (ie $5,000 wedding = $58,000 in loan payments. even a $2 starbucks coffee is like making $23 in payments). every time you think about ordering in dinner or going to a movie reach for the coin around your neck, give it a tug, and remind yourself about the path you are on and how focused you need to stay if you ever hope to have a coin collection again.

you are in deep but you can dig out.

My advice would be similar to matthewvincent. Keep 5-10% of the collection keeping your favorite and sentimental pieces and sell everything else. I'd work at paying off the debt.

Typical profile for a newly married fella.
You get the girl, but the nice car just has to go! (substitute 'coin collection' for 'car')

Just before I married, I consigned ALL of my collection for sale. About 90% of it sold, leaving me with a few dregs that had some significant value. I sold the remaining 10% of the collection in a job lot to a dealer, and bought a Roman gold aureus with the proceeds. I kept ALL of my reference books; they are the tools you need to re build your new collection, and continue a lifetime interest. That single coin formed the inspriation and the core of my new collection that was started about 40 years ago.

The money raised paid about 20% of the value of our first home, which came straight off the mortgage, and had the value of tripling the payment into the mortgage, because of the huge amount of interest saved.
It was the second best financial decision I ever made*.

Subsequently, I never lost any interest at all in my love for numismatics; the only difference for the next 20 years, was to never pay more than $20 or so for a single item, and always made sure that I was always getting good value for money with every purchase, or I would not be interested. Financially the wife, family and home mortgage were far more important.

*Just make sure that you kiss your wife sweetly every night before you go to sleep, and say that you love her. Do that for the rest of your life, even when you don't feel like doing so. Almost all hearts are softened when grandpa and grandma are seen gently hugging and kissing each other.
A financial advisor once told me that divorces are much more expensive than huge debts.

Now, the second collection is much larger and more valuable than the first, although the average value of the coins in it is much less.

Hang in there Dreamer... I work in bankruptcy for a living and unfortunately student debts are non-dischargeable. You can run up 100k in credit card debt and it can magically go away but usually no chance at making a student loan go away for any reason. Doesn't make a lot of sense but it is what it is... Best of luck! I wouldn't sell the collection unless I was unable to put food on the table. Just my opinion.