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 Replies: 19 / Views: 2,035 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1626 Posts |
As a collector do you find yourself buying Key Dates first and then buying the rest of your collection, or do you focus on one type of collection before you move onto a new collection. The reason I ask is because I am collecting Lincolns cents, Jeffersons nickels, Roosevelts dimes, Washingtons quarters, and Kennedy halfs. Everytime I get extra money, I find myself buying the cheaper coins to fill the holes in my books. I started to think maybe I should focus on Key dates beacuse they seem to go up, up, up every year. Its like I get a $100.00 and I start to panic and think...what should I buy, I'm so confused.....I can buy 1 or 2 Keys dates or 10 to 20 common dates. I know eventualy I will have them all. I guess it makes more "cents" to buy key dates first because they usually always go up in value every year as where common dates sometimes do not change over a years time.
I do collect a lot of other coins such as Morgans, Proof Sets, Error's, and Paper money...this only adds to the confusion.
Does anyone else have this same problem or is it just me?
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Pillar Of The Community
3147 Posts |
One thing is for certain! You will never have a complete collection without the KEY dates. You could do as I have done through the years and that is purchase what your budget will allow at any given time. Some keys are harder to locate than others so it is wise to know the difference and act accordingly. I have only seen one 1885 Liberty (V) nickel in my life so I HAD to purchase it. Haven't seen one since and the one I have has already doubled in value. Actually the set has increased so much it is currently at my dealers being prepared for sale. Hate to start over but....working conditions in the past 9 months has forced me to change my collecting habits!
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
14454 Posts |
I collect one thing, morgans. and since I am trying to put together a MS-66 minimum set I have been buying common dates because if I waited for key dates my set would never go anywhere for very long intervals, atleast this way I will feel like I have accomplished something when I get to those key dates. If I collected KeyDates first I would probably forget I was even collecting coins it would be so long between buys. maybe if I have 80% complete I will still be focusing on completing the set (which I probably never will do) when that time comes for those dates
Edited by Bryan1315
06/21/2006 8:51 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4589 Posts |
Personally I do as you do and buy more of the common dates( example spend 300. on 1000 odd unusauall ,common, unknown,and misc just to satisfy my collector cravings. and then I think oh man I Why didnt I buy a key date to complete one of my sets My lincoln set is missing 4 my jefferson-2 my walking lib 3 so on and so on. I even go as far as buying common fillers for duplicate sets like lincoln I have 15 sets running and the like for most ... I some times wonder why do I do that. I think I collect to collect and not just for monitary reasons. so I think I understand where you are comming from
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Pillar of the Community
United States
590 Posts |
I try to buy semi-key and key date coins. I don't really collect certain types/sets of coins I mostly go for what is a good buy.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1703 Posts |
As Bryan,I collect Morgans only,and some odd coins but not as a real collection.I filled the common dates first and even replaced some of those I didn't feel were good enough to be in the book.When you get down to only having 2 or 3 key,high value dates to fill and all the rest of your coins are MS,you know you have to finish that way and your totally satisfied with the book. Then you can move on to the next collection.  |
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Rest in Peace
United States
3730 Posts |
I guess it depends on the person. I enjoy seeing those holes in my album get filled, so I have concentrated on filling them.
Wish I had the 1909 S VDB and the others that so many of us would like, and maybe one day I will. Meanwhile I can pull out my albums and be pleased that most of those empty spaces aren't empty anymore.
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Valued Member
United States
95 Posts |
I've started with buying the following Dansco albums: Jefferson nickels Washington quartersLincoln Cents Rosevelt Dimes Kennedy halvesEisenhowr Dollars Franklin halves Susan B Anthony dollarsSakagawea Dollars Buffalo nickelsIndian Head Pennies Then, I bought about $800 worth of pocket change from my friends, and decided to make common rolls of every year and mint mark that was non-silver, and still commonly available in circulation. After sorting through about 200 lbs of dirty coins, I realized that at best I had AU coins in the nearer dates, and dirty coins in the older ones, and very few 'P' mintmarked coins for any dates since I live in California... After filling what I could in my albums, I had glaring gaps where the 'S' Proofs should have been. Then I dropped $400 on ebay, and bought a large quantity of San Franscisco MS coins to fills my gaps... Now, I am staring at an album without so many glaring empty slots, but instead a bunch of dull coins with a few shiny proofs mixed in. Next step is to start replacing those dull coins with MS coins. I found an online coin dealer 'jake' who has an arsenal of MS coins at affordable prices, so I just placed an order for $150 worth of Jefferson nickels from 38 - present missing a few dates... If those coins look good, I'll do the same for my other types. When all of the aforementioned albums (save maybe the Buffalo nickels and indian heads) are filled with shiny MS60+ coins, then I'll start work on the franklins, indians, and buffalos, and I'll be filling in everything I can afford to. Chances are the key dates will be last, since they are the hardest to come by, but if for some reason they make themselves available early, they will be mine :) No, I'm not rich ... I just buy when I can, when I can afford it. It's terribly fun! |
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Rest in Peace
United States
3730 Posts |
Wow, Sounds like you have the start of a great collection!
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
1091 Posts |
Finishing a collection...Hummmmm, now there's an idea.
I have collected lots of different coins in different areas but do not have a full/complete set of anything. Keeps me looking and collecting on all fronts.
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Valued Member
United States
382 Posts |
I picked up this advice at a F.U.N. seminar awhile back:
"If given the chance and the choice, BUY the KEYS first!"
After all, commons will always be common. Sure they will go up (slightly) as you only have a fixed number of coins for a growing population base but they will never increase in value and speed like the "keys".
I only wish I received that advice years ago. Now if I go to a show, I may only buy one or two coins instead of the 30 or 40 commons I used to pick up. I'll fill in my slots at my leisure as common keys are obviously easier and less costly to find. They keys are NOT!
Again, junk will always be junk...but the keys will ALWAYS outpace "coin inflation" (unless the government releases another lost hoard, which I seriously doubt). It is NOT easy if you are looking at a bunch of open slots next to your 1914-D Lincoln or 1909-S VDB, but you will thank me later.
For me personally, I took the plunge back in 2003 when I purchased a 1909-S VDB graded by PCGS as MS63BN for $1,075! I was thinking, "What am I doing spending so much for a penny?" But obviously, I am now glad I made this purchase. This same coin is selling for around $1,600! in just over 3 years.
Every year you hear collectors cry out, "Did you see how much that coin increased over last year?"
Edited by zakgold
06/22/2006 06:55 am
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
14454 Posts |
Another thing with morgans, you may be buying a common coin to fill a hole and get it and find it is a super rare VAM which is worth more money than the Key Date coins. So I think Morgan is close to being a exception to the rule just because there are so many verieties of them out there (with more being found just about every week)you can buy a common date and it be a rare coin and ALOT of people dont look for VAM's or even know what they are and if they are in a slab that says 1878 reverse of 1878 thats all they know about it, when in fact there are over 100 1878 VAM's just from Philadelphia alone(not to mention O and S mints)so when you get the coin it could be a VAM-70 which is a TOP-100 coin then you have the most common Morgan of all, The 1921 there are almost as many varieties of 1921 as they are 1878 . One thing alot of people dont understand, the grading companies like NGC and PCGS charge for variety attribution and if you dont pay for it they dont put it on the slab most of the times. I have bought most of my B1 reverse Morgans in unattributed slabs and have gotten some pretty good deals because of it Edited by Bryan1315
06/22/2006 07:38 am
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
1626 Posts |
I guess it boils down to, commons will always be commons and easy to obtain and Holes in ablums will always be holes until filled. I guess I will just buy what appeals at the time the money is in hand and what deals are available
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
12437 Posts |
I am currently assembling a US type collection so I am just trying to find nice representative examples of each series. Although, some of those type coins could be considered "keys" such as the Twenty Cent, Trade dollar, Seated Liberty dollars, and some of the early bust coins. Fortunately, my local coin shop has a bid board that allows me to bid on ~75 different coins every week. It has been a godsend for me trying to obtain some of the less common types. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4870 Posts |
There really isn't a right way or wrong way to collect coins. It's all personal preference. I have done it both ways. Right now I'm working on my canadian quarter collection and buying the key coins and I will focus on the rest later when I find some deals.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1327 Posts |
I personal collect the common, simi keys first since that is what I can afford. Also since I am fairly new I have to still convece the wife why I need to spend 500-800 on a Dime. She does not see the joy of collecting the same whay I do. So with me mine is more of a money to buy the keys. It hard to spend alot on one coin right now for me since I have 3 young kids and a wife and they take alot of money. plus I enjoy feeling wholes in my book and I now collecting coin is something I will be dooing for year and hope at some point in my lif eto be able to buy those key dates when the time is right.
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Replies: 19 / Views: 2,035 |
Posted 06/21/2006 8:49 pm
