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 Replies: 44 / Views: 5,432 |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1751 Posts |
This month I've been seriously thinking about how much I should spend at the mint. Here are some of the things I've been wrestling with: 1) Value for my money - this is because prices have risen when spot has gone the other direction. 2) How fast will my coins depreciate; ie is it better to wait and buy them for under issue from the secondary market. 3) Am I just flushing my hard earned cash down the drain? Meaning can I reasonably expect the coin to remain around issue price, for several years, just in case I need money for an emergency. Or is it like smoking,/ drinking once the money is spent the money is gone? 4) Is design & quality suffering due to several monthly releases? 5) Monthly releases, will this reduce the secondary market appeal, due to too many choices, in the event I need to raise quick cash by selling a part of my collection? 6) Am I becoming addicted to buying monthly, then put the coin away when it arrives? 7) No time to thoroughly enjoy the new coin, before the next coin arrives. 8) why am I settling for substandard service while making the Govt richer. 9) How are the Chinese Counterfeits going to impact the hobby? Will it scare off new collectors. 10) Why won't the RCM say what action they are taking/ rather than pass the buck. 11) All the post changes to issued coins: example O Canada half Oz turns 40,000 coins into 3 different subscriptions, after advertising it as 1 Subscription and single coins. Then issuing boxes for allegory and War of 1812 singles. Is the mint reliable in what it first prints, or are we to expect constant changes to what they post? Where is the truth? This is the biggest Turnoff! 12) The 1 positive I can think of, for ordering mint direct is the assurance your coin is not counterfeit!! However, is this reason enough to counterbalance the other points? The more I ponder these points, I seriously think a better strategy is to be 1 coin quarterly, until I see some positive changes take place! Credit cards make it too easy to buy now and pay later. I still have a teen son to raise, I'm not an empty nester yet. One or two Subs for the year should be enough. Until this year we never had to deal with the effects of a monthly release of several desirable coins. Couple this with the panic to get it at release for issue. I find myself gambling by grabbing the coin if it appears, it will go for more on secondary market. Often it doesn't give me the time, I need to carefully decide if I really want the coin. As I feel pressure to grab the coin before it sells out. One bad decision I made was quickly grabbing Dino 2 on secondary market at $50. I was worried they'd increase to $100 like the first one. I panicked trying to guess the market. Now they can be had for under issue. I'd like to hear what others think, in relation to the points I raised. Edited by pocket change 50
11/17/2013 04:53 am
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2019 Posts |
Quote:
3) Am I just flushing my hard earned cash down the drain? Meaning can I reasonably expect the coin to remain around issue price, for several years, just in case I need money for an emergency. Or is it like smoking,/ drinking once the money is spent the money is gone? Its not like smoking or drinking thats for sure lol, atleast you have something after the money is spent other then a hangover/ bad liver/ lung cancer. Is it better then collecting just bullion ? That is what I struggle with lately, I do think we tend to buy more NCLT then we should be for sure,and its not all going to go up in value, the question is how far will some of it drop in value down the road if you needed to sell. Quote:
6) Am I becoming addicted to buying monthly, then put the coin away when it arrives? Ya I wonder how many people do just that lol, I do on some of the things I buy for sure, so maybe bullion is better if that is what your going to do anyway. If your not displaying them or taking them out to look at now and again you just might be a addict/hoarder ...  Edited by Northerncoins
11/17/2013 09:05 am
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
814 Posts |
I stopped buying from the RCM.....if I want a coin I just get it at Canada Post or I wait 2 months and get it on ebay for 25% or more less then issue price. There are a few coins that I couldn't get below issue price ( autumn bliss, glass butterfly) but other than that.... RCM has terrible customer service....I was so sick of waiting for coins I just canceled all of them I think bullion is a better buy....at least its going to hold its value or go up depending on the collectability Im not buying any coins from RCM in 2014 and instead doing a 2014 bullion set from pieces from every different country |
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Valued Member
Canada
234 Posts |
last couple years I was a little coin crazy, this year I'm more pick and choose over RCM coins for a couple of those reasons |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
6768 Posts |
Very very valid points, pocket changeIn the response / addition could say, that here everyone will make his own calculation. And the decision "not to buy from RCM" shouldn't be as kind of "to punish the Mint", but to make collection more pleasant. As per myself - I do not care all this delays and customer care, cause I have some other things rather to waist my nerves on these. But, I've decided (and started) drastically decrease to spend money on the RCM NCLT. Two reasons: Budget and this huge quantity of coins just started to lose value in my eyes. One coin per release - this is good for me (instead 3 or 4) In addition - special items (example: 5-coins Penny Set). Now bullions: was time that I collected both in parallel: NCLT and bullion coins. But with the time, I saw the superior of NCLT over bullion, and since didn't want to keep "A+" collection and "B" collection, I stopped with the bullion, when made my own F15 set. And now days buying annually one coin of: Koala, Kookaburra, Panda, Somalia Elephant. |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
789 Posts |
I am not a masochist, but I still prefer buying directly from RCM, rather than from dealers and Canada Post. The reason is not that I like RCM, but rather I am disappointed with their quality control since they switched to monthly releases. I found myself returning, on average, one coin per release for exchange because of quality issues. And sometimes I have to return the same coin twice. That said, their quality control might be bad, but their return policy is top-notch, so I will continue buying from them. |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2366 Posts |
All very valid points that I think a lot of us have been mulling over this year. When I looked at it a couple of years back I decided to stick with the RCM for a couple of reasons a) free shipping; b) the savings from buying after market on some coins was roughly being offset by the markup on other coins (ladybug, poppy silver dollar, Sun silver dollar etc); and c) the convenience of knowing I had everything I wanted on order and not having to spend the hours hunting through ebay and following auctions was worth the remainder of the potential cost savings. But I buy more coins than your average bear :-). I haven't finished crunching through Charlton 2014 Vol 2 yet to see if that analysis has changed but I'm expecting to find that the savings for buying the 'hot' coins at issue has decreased and the savings for buying on the aftermarket have increased and I'm also expecting those changes to accelerate with the current RCM release strategy. I'm then expecting the poor 'flippers' are going to find it's not economical to stock up at issue price anymore, sell outs will decrease and then MAYBE the RCM will adjust. But I'm getting really deep into the tea leaves at this point! |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
746 Posts |
Quote:last couple years I was a little coin crazy, this year I'm more pick and choose over RCM coins for a couple of those reasons  And that goes for CP too! |
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New Member
42 Posts |
I never been think that these toy coins like specially the bug and other play stuff would be worth it in long run, as maybe they are the novelty thing, no
my opinion its better much to buy a rare old time real coin than these things, they will forever go up in the value, eh?
An' like all the money them guy they spend on the last roll of pennies, that was little bit crazy in my mind, they just all get carry away maybe
But the old saying go that we all have right spend our owned money foolish
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Valued Member
Canada
480 Posts |
It is probably wishful thinking on my part. But who really knows what is going to be worth money and what will be junk in the future. All I can do is hope the hobby in which I love may bear fruit in the future. I don't think when people were buying those Canada pl set pre 1961 they could image their value today. I'm not making the argument that this will be the case for NCLT, but there's always hope. As for the RCM. The market will decide weather their company can sustain this type of new direction. I've already stated I've started buying coins from my local dealer or CP. This is not a cheap hobby and picking coins you like over coins with hype will lead to less trouble. ( not to say I'm not guilty of buying into the hype at times as well ) If the RCM products were a guarantee everyone would be doing it. |
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Valued Member
Canada
246 Posts |
For me I stick with the coins I like... I started 2013 doing this and I was satisfied enough... I don't try to speculate or buy coins because they can go up in value... I think it's the problem of lots of people and they will be frustrated sooner of later if it's not already the case... You don't collect coins to be rich, you collect coins because you like the arts, the design, whatever... If you want to do money, there's so much other way... And by the way, look around you, do you think there's so much people who spent on coins today? In my family, I'm the only one and when I told them that I spent for exemple 100$ to buy 1 coin, they look at me like I'm crazy! Just a reminder to let you know that it's a costly hobby...
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Valued Member
Canada
55 Posts |
I agree with your points. So much so that I have actually started selling a lot of coins from my collection for issue prices or slightly above and am slowly making the switch to bullion. The margins on the coins sold by the mint has become quite ridiculous.
That being said I have the 1kg gold maple leaf forever if anyone is interested at issue haha.
I don't collect to make big money, but I'd rather not buy something that is sold for 4-8x spot price.
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Moderator
 Canada
10456 Posts |
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Just a reminder to let you know that it's a costly hobby... Actually, it is all a matter of perspective... try golf for a costly hobby, or see how much return you get with a set of track tires after a few weekends of ripping around a race track... Historically, the odds are against you with NCLT and return on investment. I buy NCLT because of the beauty and allure of the coin, or it has special meaning to me (thematically)... from that, there is pleasure, and that is why I collect coins.  "Discovery follows discovery, each both raising and answering questions, each ending a long search, and each providing the new instruments for a new search." -- J. Robert OppenheimerContent of this post is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses...0/deed.en_USMy eBay store
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1189 Posts |
1000% agree with SPP-O. Just buy the coins, the theme you like. I spend $0 on this November RCM release, because I am not interested in any of them.. |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
871 Posts |
I will still continue to buy from RCM. However, too many choices. |
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Pillar of the Community
 Canada
1751 Posts |
I love your posts SPP, I also got one of those rare 50 cent Vancouver lenticular hockey pucks it very cool. One day I hope to get the others. It is true perspective has a lot to do with it. Great cartoon, it gave me a good laugh, greatly appreciated. It's just lately the mint is raising prices while spot is falling. Then there the counterfeit issue, it causes me to wonder about coin collecting's future.
Then I will like maybe 3 coins every other release, and it is getting expensive. I second guess myself when I see the coin I just bought go for 75% off issue price, not even a month later. I don't intend to sell my coins either, but if a medical emergency ever occurs, I'd need to consider selling a portion.
I started buying silver coins last summer, after I paid off my mortgage. It's just I like value for my money. Even when buying junk food, I wait until it's on sale and it's better value. I only collect the designs that speak to me, however, lately it's been many. I hate it when a release has more than 1 I like, it makes the decision hard .
I guess after mulling over your post SPP, I could look at coin collecting like setting an entertainment budget. It will reduce the stress factor, if there's a set amount monthly and I have no expectations of monetary performance. I tend to forget its expectations that will cause disharmony.
Edited by pocket change 50
11/19/2013 02:53 am
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Replies: 44 / Views: 5,432 |
Posted 11/17/2013 11:34 am
