Best Coins To Collect To Preserve Value Or Appreciate In Value

This is true and most high end 50 c and 25 c vickies are already in a 3rd party holder. ..and they are usually very pricey..but that is the way to go...

..go for the best that you can afford..

Collecting coins is a wonderful pastime and a hobby. Once you start thinking INVESTMENT and coin in the same thought process you are going to get yourself into trouble big time.
Not saying you cannot make money in coins, but it sure is a tough way to make an easy living.

While a hobby is not an investment, I can't help but notice a strong relationship to the mentality that goes hand-in-hand with the investment industry (all things money related) in general. When the stock market is low, people tend to scare-sell and take a loss thinking it's going to go even lower or perhaps crash entirely. Then when it increases, they regret selling low. But when it's high, they do nothing, satisfied with their gains while waiting for it to go even higher. Then when it takes a sharp drop they regret not having sold at the peak. Others buy at the top peak with the notion that past returns are indicative of future trends. The outcome is that many investors do the exact opposite of the old adage - "buy low, sell high" and then become discouraged.

I notice a similar buying and selling mindset somewhat applies to coin collecting. Fear of buying when prices are low, new collectors jump in at higher prices. Recently gold bullion has risen somewhat, and accordingly gold coins have increased in popularity.

Silver coins, not so. As others have mentioned, I also think this a good time for coin collectors to accumulate or upgrade. While it's not an investment, buying at lower prices certainly reduces the ultimate cost of the hobby.

Depending on how much effort you to put in selling coins, one of the best investments can be FV uncirculated rolls, hold them for 20-30 years and sell as individual coins. You will get a 4x to 10x return on a simple coins, later discovered varieties are a bonus and always have a guaranteed redemption value at original cost. The down side is, you have to sell a ton to make a worthwhile return.

Vickie's are always nice, but can be hard to find at a discount, like many others I would suggest collecting for what you like and try to buy under market value. Hopefully you will make a return when you sell coins. If you are looking for a safe investment with a good chance at upward potential, coins are probably not the first choice.

Sounds like the play if investment is really your goal is to make a metals play on unloved Canadian coins near melt value.

I like Canadian junk silver, and not just because I once pulled an 1878 20 cent piece out and got it at a junk silver quarter price.

As an American collector, I really enjoy my little Canadian hoard / silver type set in progress. I buy every silver 5 cent piece I can from the junk bin.

I actually like the Mexican silver coins better, but I don't discriminate, all North American silver coins are great to me.

Anyway, that is how I collect Canadian coins and rationalize it as an investment / hobby. I don't have anything high end other than a score or three, but I have a lot of variety and that is fun to collect.

Canadian type collecting is fun and with the number of US junk silver collectors, it is a welcome addition to the mix in the LCS's I frequent anyway.

Lots of buyers of junk silver in the US, not enough bins of Canadian or Mexican junk silver for my taste. There is your growth outlet, all low end, but there is growth.

Heed the advice of those who have experience, that is the best investment you will ever make. Its a hobby but temptation is always there like a little bird on the shoulder whispering in your ear, " Look at that, I can get it for 30% of Trends and sell it for a killing someday, the wife will think I'm a genius" that is until she inherits all of your investment and will want to dig you up and bury you again.

Yes, I believe a small percentage of total collectors can do quite well. But again making an unfair comparison, anyone can learn how to pick a stock that has possible growth potential by taking a course to gain knowledge in analyzing financial reports without investing more than the tuition fee. Step #1, gaining knowledge.

Coins, well there's no easy or quick way to learn. All the knowledge comes through hands on experience of buying, selling, trial and a lot of errors (the costly kind). Otherwise the only resource is networking with other collectors who are willing to mentor and share their lifelong knowledge, for example through coin clubs (a diminishing thing) but learning is still not going to happen overnight.

That's one aspect that I think makes new collectors somewhat reluctant - where to begin and it's easy to become discouraged. Just one example is non-standard grading by various TPG and how it impacts value when an assigned grade, another is trends pricing and what's the going percentage.

I've learned that numismatics is certainly far more complex than meets the eye and my conclusion is that the success of some is due to lack of opportunity to increase knowledge by the majority. A unique hobby, in that regard... It is what it is.