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 Replies: 13 / Views: 1,774 |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
3692 Posts |
So I was looking at HoosierDaddy's trading thread and it made me think. US coinage is arguably the top coin in the numismatic market. The most widely collected in the world, agree? I think it benefits non-American collectors to partly indulge in this field so that we can trade with you guys for coins that we want. Most of the US coins that I have were either given to me or I believed that I was getting a very good deal for resale purposes. I have very few US coins in my "keep" album page. Just wondering how many people out there follow this idea. What are some of your tactics when collecting this way? Just as an example, when I was in my teens I would save all the US coins that floated my way and tried to sell them at where I thought the top was of the exchange rate (it's pretty predictable). And these days, I'll sometimes buy "better than bullion" silver coins from a scrap/junk bag, and it's the same with coins that I feel were undergraded. They were never coins that I was actively seeking out. This category never comprised more than maybe 5% of my collection so I wasn't heavily invested in them. But I felt that since I got a good deal that I could trade them for coins that I wanted later should my tastes change. Thoughts? Edited by Libertad
02/18/2014 2:50 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1358 Posts |
I feel like it's always a good deal to have good items on hand for trades for stuff you actually want! Especially if you can get them at a good price.
At one time I had up an offer in the Looking to buy/trade forum for "something interesting for $30." (Offer since retracted.) I felt like I needed more good items for my collection either just to have or use as trade bait. Right now, my collection consists of a bunch of low-value coins that I would have a hard time either selling or trading away. I can almost never make trades in that forum because I never really have anything of interest.
Anyway, with this mentality coin collecting is almost more of an investment than a hobby, and many would wish not to go down that route. Once it becomes an investment, it may lose its fun. However, in the end, it is all up to the individual collector as to how or what to buy for his collection/stash.
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Moderator
 United States
23522 Posts |
I think your better target for trading US coins is outside the US; folks building "type" sets of World coins who won't have the picky attitude of an American collecting their own coinage. Perfectly valid and desirable way to go about it; I'd personally stock coins from any country possible for the same reason. Maybe not deliberately purchased, but there's no reason to arbitrarily dump coins not relevant to your own interests if there's a chance they'd be appropriate trade fodder down the road. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1804 Posts |
Quote:
Anyway, with this mentality coin collecting is almost more of an investment than a hobby, and many would wish not to go down that route. Once it becomes an investment, it may lose its fun. However, in the end, it is all up to the individual collector as to how or what to buy for his collection/stash. I do mix investment with collection stuff. I use investment stuff to buy-sell-trade for collection stuff. Sometimes in reverse order. |
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Valued Member
United States
179 Posts |
I've traded coins in many ways and found if you've got good coins it works good. Very good idea to use CAC stickered coins for your "trading".
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Pillar of the Community
United States
593 Posts |
I do have a lot of Foreign coins mostly early 1900`s and mid 1800`s, some late 1700`s. Many silver pieces and some key dates like a Panama 1/4 Balboa xf with 45,000 minted.
Alot of nice Canadian sets etc. Not very much into modern coinage, it dont appeal to me like old circulated silver etc
I probably would like to trade with another collector that would be interested in swapping with me.
I probably wont be able to do this til I get up to the 250 post rule. I'm sure SuperDave will let me know.
This seems like a good forum with a lot of respectful folks as members in all parts of the world that have my interest in collectables.
Thanks
Gary
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2805 Posts |
I think that American coins are actually less desirable to foreign collectors. Here's my speculation... - American coins are average in design, especially older classics. OK, we go on about the incredible wonder about owning an American coin from the 1700s, but these coins look fairly average. If you like Liberty, pick up some French coins. Then look at just about any country in South or Central America. Peru did a much nicer Seated Liberty than America, and Mexico continually outclassed America in artistic merit for about a century. Then move to Europe... the early Baltic coins are beautiful, the various German states did more silver commemoratives than you'd ever need, Great Britain and Switzerland provide a currency that remained stable for a very long time, and France started to come into its own later in the 1800s with maybe the best Liberty coins ever. All of these are cheaper than their American equivalents. After World War I American coin designs maybe become world leaders, but I still think there are quite a few coins from this era that at least match the American coins in beauty. - Only Americans have a patriotic allegiance to American coins - sure, we like to buy expensive American coins because their histories and designs are American, but people who aren't American obviously don't feel as much of a connection here. - American coins are really, really expensive. Recently I bought an 1863 Peruvian dinero, which is the exact same size and fineness as the American silver dime. It's in maybe VG condition, and it cost me $2.25. Compare this to a VG Seated Liberty from the same era running around $20. The dinero even features a Seated Liberty. But, since it doesn't appeal to the huge American collector base, prices and demand stay low. Most of all, though... - Many world coin collectors avoid American coins because they cost so much. I have started to focus on world coins instead of Canadian coins because of the huge variety involved and the much lower prices. So far, I am at 198 different countries in my collection, and it was very fun to put together for very little money! American coins might get top money in America because of all the native collectors, but overseas they just seem to be ignored. I have experimental evidence: on my Numista swap page, I put up some Canadian commemorative quarters to exchange and my duplicate State Quarters to exchange. Nobody has ever asked about the State Quarters, but I can't even find the Canadian commemoratives fast enough because there is a huge demand for them. The cheap modern coins are probably too common and also too boring, and the classic coins are really expensive - none of this appeals to the bargain-hunting world coin collector who wants to find a large variety of attractive coins for low prices. |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2805 Posts |
Furthermore, American slabs are not appreciated at all in different countries in my trading experience. So, a huge part of the American market is viewed as a weird oddity everywhere else (and even in Canada, there's always more ICCS flips than hard plastic slabs at shows).
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Pillar of the Community
 Canada
3692 Posts |
It's not fair to compare a Peruvian dinero to an American coin based solely on its size and fineness. Does ICCS even grade US coins? These comparisons are weak. The whole point is about hoarding US coins to trade with Americans or US collectors to get what I needed because of evolving tastes. Before I knew how to properly buy coins I knew that my style would change and my methods would refine so I anticipated it with the most liquid coins I could think of. So, nala, if you want a certain coin for the sake of it being a coin and you appreciate the design etc, then great, but realize that a lot of the coin market is American therefore the demand is greater and so is the price. A worn circulated coin may be cool to have because of its history but law of economics say that the mint state coin is more desirable. Or a coin could be unique (1) in the world but without that demand it's a worthless art slug. I think you missed my point entirely. |
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Pillar of the Community
Germany
1063 Posts |
I'd say US coins aren't so desirable to those outside of North America. More based around how many people actually collect than anything else. Many collect their own coinage and just that. Others do world coins and maybe choose a country that interests them. For historical the US has nothing on say, Roman, Greek and other coins if that's your thing. Probably the one thing is that coins from countries with heavy prices are less likely to be attractive to those outside of the area, and US coins seem to be more expensive than perhaps other countries. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1804 Posts |
Liberdad... Quote:
They were never coins that I was actively seeking out. This category never comprised more than maybe 5% of my collection so I wasn't heavily invested in them. But I felt that since I got a good deal that I could trade them for coins that I wanted later should my tastes change. I try to get "stuff" alone the way with the intent to trade for stuff I really want in the future. I see trading better than selling. When I earn the privilege on CCF I will be offering my stuff I think I have only 71 more days to go |
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2133 Posts |
I agree with many of these statements. As a Scottish collector, US coins generally seem very expensive compared with British coins, or indeed coins of other European territories, with the exception of Morgan dollars which seem cheap. However those prices presumably reflect high US demand and scarcity - other than educating US collectors about the bargains to be had in world coins, you just have to accept pricing trends. I think collectors of modern large denomination US and Canada coins could find lots of appeal and dirt cheap prices in modern world crowns. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1804 Posts |
((I think that American coins are actually less desirable to foreign collectors.))
Newbie here...
May I please respectfully disagree?
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2805 Posts |
Quote:
I think you missed my point entirely. Ouch... Quote:
US coinage is arguably the top coin in the numismatic market. The most widely collected in the world, agree? It sounds as if you are indeed talking about the appeal of American coins in other countries... |
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Replies: 13 / Views: 1,774 |
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Posted 02/19/2014 09:11 am
