Worst Coin Investments/Purchases In Your Opinion

I did say consumed, not wasted. I hope the distinction is appreciated.


I have never sold a coin. I never expect to sell a coin. If I had to sell everything to survive, then they would be the last to go.

That being said, if they are gone, why go on living?


Kidding aside, for those who wish to invest in coins, there is good advice here.

I don't invest in coins, I collect them. It is a relaxing hobby, not a daily lamentation over then price of silver/gold or grieving over my continued yearly "investment" in the U.S. Mint. To me it is the thrill of the hunt not a constant calculation of future financial benefits or detriments to finishing a series.

Remember Eric Newman spent $7500 on his collection, which at the time was a boat load of money , no one knew.

My advise, "LET IT GO". Do not fixate on a coin. Do your research, study, have patience, make sure this is the coin you want at the price you want to pay, BEFORE bidding on it, not after it is in your hands. I came into the middle of an online auction once. I saw a 1989 Panda going for a low price, I had not examined the photos or investigated the coin or the auction house. All I knew was that I needed that coin for my collection and I was not to be denied. Topped the high bid, won the coin, went back to the catalog to examine what I had won and saw the markers of a counterfeit Panda. It was , I should have known, would have known if I had been patient.

IMO the worst investment is bullion coins.
Coins should be looked at as collectibles, not investments.
Yes, many will increase in value BUT inflation will eat that increase up.

If you want to invest buy .9999 bars.
There's no overhead for making dies and planchets.
You are just buying pure metal.

Look at the cost of buying ASE's vs. the value of the metal in them.
Then try and sell them for a profit.

Here are some poor investments, in my observation.

1. Damaged coins. I recall about ten years ago seeing two identical-looking coins from Georgia (the country south of Russia, not the American state) in a dealer's display, one undamaged for $75 and one holed for $25. Being budget-conscious and merely wanting a Georgian coin for my collection, I went for the $25 coin. But if those two coins were in a dealer's window today, the unholed one would be selling for $200 or $300. The holed one would still be selling for $25, maybe $30.

2. Modern coins with no "natural" collector base. Many world mints these days church out vast numbers of coins, many of which "commemorate" things which have nothing to do with the country that issued them and have very little appeal to either actual coin collectors or "collectors" of other things to whom a coin could conceivable appeal. When buying moderns on speculation, don't bother looking at mintages, etc. Instead, think, "why would a coin collector want this coin in ten years time?". If you can't think of any reason more compelling than "it's a coin", then don't buy it. Very few coin collectors still think like that.

3. Ancients. This is mainly a personal thing (I don't want investors buying up ancients, driving the prices up for me), but there are a couple of valid reasons to be cautious of them. Firstly, governments are becoming more and more proscriptive on who can sell ancient coins, and how; you may find that in ten years time, selling your coins is more trouble, paperwork and legal headaches than they are worth. Second, it does not seem wise to pay big bucks for a super-rare ancient coin when someone could dig up a bucketful of them next week and dump them on the market. Finally, it's much easier to be fooled by fake ancients than by fake moderns.

jbuck,
"I did say consumed, not wasted. I hope the distinction is appreciated."
Missed the distinction.
I thought, "Food consumed ends up ... " Well, you know!
Yes, the replies pretty much cover the area of both 'good'
and 'bad' appreciation possibilities.
And I have yet to see any controversy being generated.

Ah, yes, I see now.

I second Barry's comments about "coins with crap on them".

These are the worst of the commemorative coins usually released by private mints, but sometimes major national mints as well. Coins that have been painted, or have pictures or holograms glued to the surface. I've even seen coins with diamonds and sapphires embedded in the surface as decoration. Whatever it is, it looks nasty and I think most collectors would agree.

For the record, I think a coin should be a purely a piece of metal, ideally the same metal through and through (no plating).