Want To Start Collecting - Advice Please

If you really like the American Eagle design then go for it. Bullion, so price is tied to market conditions. But a 'coin' in the loosest sense of the word. And prettier than a bar of metal.
As for being in Great Britain, that provides its own problem. Most Americans could not tell the difference between a threepence and a 2 shilling 6d. But they ooh and ah when seeing a gold sovereign.
I while ago I traded with a collector in Sweden. I had an extra GSA dollar and asked if he
were interested. "Those are hard to find over here!" was his answer. See what your fellow Brits like in American coins.
Other than that, we are all glad to help any time.

Hi Tom - thanks for your reply.

I have diversified my retirement (Government Pension, SIPP, ISA - cash and stocks and shares, one rental property (so far), stamps - stanley gibbins, and bullion

I still have 35-40 years to go till retirement (im 30) I just like to plan ahead :)

So I've not tried to put all my eggs in one basket. I totally understand what your saying about stanley gibbons, they are the lowest percentage of my entire portfolio at 100GBP per month outgoing. As part of the contract, they store the stamps for me, and when it comes to selling, they guarantee that they will buy back all the stamps from me (at catalogue price) and give me 70% of the money (which maybe a win or a loss for me)

They seemed like the best place to go, they are pretty reputable, like you said, and their advice and storage included seemed like the perfect solution.

So as part of my diversification, I thought id look into coins. so thats my story :)

I have read the posts and just have one comment...I would never invest in coins or stamps and allow someone else to have possession of them, with the exception of storing them in a bank box (which I consider to be in my possession.) That strategy is ripe for fraud and abuse by the other party and their employees. I don't care if they're reputable or not. Of course, I wouldn't invest in anything tangible that I didn't have passion for anyway. If you're passionate about something then you'll want to have possession of it.

I read an interesting comment a couple days ago on another forum. It made me sit up and take notice, especially if you don't intend on selling your collection yourself to private buyers. When it comes time to disperse of the inventory, you will rarely get full market value. The reason being when selling to a dealer or through an auction house, they have operating costs to cover along with needing to realize a profit. Therefore they operate on a spread. This means you will receive less than what a private buyer will pay, when buying through the dealer or auction. This reality is built in to the hobby of collecting. Then there's the rate of price increase vs inflation over time. These are 2 hurdles any collection for pure investment purposes must over come to realize any profit. Something else you need to look at are the opportunity costs of investing your money elsewhere. Meaning buy investing in coins: are you passing on another opportunity with a better return, given the same or less risk. Put another way X amount of money can only be spent once. What is the value of the other choices, being bypassed?

This is something most of us fail to consider, when we think of our collections as future investments. It has become popular to think of collections as future investments, given the variety of current TV shows advocating this view point! It is very easy to get convinced of this fiction, especially when sales of large collections of collectables hit the media. We don't realize how rare this achievement is, or the extent of the original investment. Coin collecting is known as the hobby of kings for a reason.

I have reread all the post 3 X and I find excellent advice for any new comer to collecting coins. This thread has many valid view points, based on a vast amount of years of collecting experience from its contributors. I wish I had read a thread of this quality, when I first started spending large amounts of money. It would have saved me from making several mistakes. It should be required reading for the budding collector, a sticky maybe?

First off; welcome underworldmagic to CCF!! I did notice you mentioned two points: they are 1) it will cost 30% commission when it's time to sell, 2) you pay to store the stamps. These are added costs to be subtracted from any potential profit to be realized. Already you have to gain enough to make these built in cost, inconsequential when it's selling time. My question is: from your research of past gains in the stamp world, is this realistic? It is another element in the equation to consider, when looking at a pure investment perspective.

Underworldmagic you have posed a brilliant question and I thank you for it!!
It is one more people need to consider and research, if they intend this hobby to be duel purpose. I applaud everyone, who has taken time to consider an answer and share their wealth of experience and knowledge! The posts have covered this question from many angles, I may have never considered. Sometimes in collecting we can get stuck in our own brand of tunnel vision. I look forward to reading further comments.

You have to be carefull today. Coins are really popular and so is the counterfeiting buisness. So many say to run out and buy the best, highest priced, most valuable. Yet those are the same ones that are counterfeited the most. For example with US coins such coins as the 1909S VDB, the 1916D Mercury dime and many others have been counterfeited to the point of possibly half of the ones out there are fakes. Same with many others. AND the old myth of buying them in slabs too, is fading away. Counterfeiters now make fake coins in fake slabs too. Long, loooooooong before you jump into purchasing expensive coins of any kind, try to find out how to tell a real one from a fake. You would be better off purchasing books on how to tell a fake than running out and buying expensive coins.
And also, while your at it, look into how to sell what you have. So many people think coins are a good investment. YEAH, right. Try selling one for a profit. Yes it is done but in many instances that does not work well. This is why so many use ebay. And there too, there are expenses, lost in mail, insurances and many other problems. And too you'll hear so many say how easy it all is. And too it is easy to say anything on the internet, true or not.
As with many hobbies, coins are just that, a hobby. Not a really good idea ot invest in what may or may not have a future. Remember the sporting card craze? Hot wheels? Beanie Babies?

One thing that investors keep forgetting is the correct way of handling and storing coins. This is something novice collectors will have already established. The same applies to stamps. With poor handling, you can essentially wipe the value of your coins. With poor environment, i.e room with full of humid, smog - all these can lead your coins to tarnish. Need to invest a fair bit with storage.

Lastly, if you have coins that are worth tens of thousands of dollars, how can you guarantee that you will not be attracting potential robbers 30 years down the roads? Security is another problem.