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 Replies: 39 / Views: 5,342 |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1269 Posts |
I guess I am more a quality over quantity person. This probably has something to do with my area of interest. I like Roman coins from the first 100 or so years of the empire. I am working on putting together a set of the Twelve Caesars in silver. I have a total of 9 ancient coins and five of those are from the Caesars set. 2 of these are "hole fillers" as some of these coins are quite hard to find and as a result are also quite expensive. However, I always try to buy the best I can afford at the time, even if this means that it will take me months to add a single coin. There is always the temptation to buy some of the cheaper easier to find coins from the set but I really want to get the tough ones out of the way first. Anyway, I am greatly enjoying the journey. I really like scouring the auction catalogues and other sources online. I am finding that I am learning a lot from this process, and what I am learning is affecting my collecting habits.Although I do have 4 coins that do not fit into the set, I am becoming much more picky in terms of the coins I am adding. I have been to 2 coin shows and have bought 1 coin at each of these shows. I am going to another show in July and if I find one coin to buy I will consider myself lucky.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
606 Posts |
I am starting to approach this from a couple angles. I am working on a set up State Quarters with the kid. I have a feeling that it will branch out into all "ultra-modern" US coins. Fairly easy to get from circulation in good grades or mint sets. I like to stack 90% every so often for quantity. I recently discovered that I rather prefer type collecting to series. So, in that respect, I plan to go for quality. I figure the other pursuits will keep my interest on a regular basis while saving/searching for the next high grade type coin. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
I don't really see a problem. Regardless of future goals, just accumulate every coin you can. Real cheap, sort of cheap, expensive, rare, whatever. Just keep on accumulating until you run out of room for them. Then too, just get a bigger house to put them all in next.
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Valued Member
United States
115 Posts |
i have a mixture of quantity and quality, depends what denomination we are talking about. My indian head set is on the higher end, still missing the 1877 and 09s though. my Barber dime set is on the lower end. The coin has to be problem free and have a clear dates. I won't buy a buffalo with a partial date. |
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Valued Member
United States
115 Posts |
lol great plan just carl!!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7390 Posts |
I wish JustCarl will write a book... I'd be a buyer whatever the subject matter  |
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Moderator
 United States
189340 Posts |
I am in the mix. I like to fill album holes, that is the quantity. However, I try to fill them with the best I can afford, even though they are not the best that exist.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4469 Posts |
TKBSIC,
Sell $300 worth of your low price common date or problem coins to buy a $300 quality coin and I think that you will find your own answer.
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Valued Member
United States
258 Posts |
I guess I'm a quantity guy. I like to buy interesting looking coins so I end up with a good bit of lower grade stuff, but that's what makes this such a great hobby....there is no right or wrong answer!
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
1158 Posts |
Thinking a bit more about where I was going with this: I have a couple of relatively modern sets I've started on that I do want to finish and will not require very expensive coins. There are no key dates. For these, I can get a full set of AU/MS grade coins for well within my budget, so why not do the whole set? I don't think a single MS-66 Franklin is really going to be that amazing over a folder of MS-62's. There are also sets where you'd never be able to collect it all in higher grade. Like Barber halves. It would take me a long time to even collect a folder full of very, very low grade ones. Numismedia says a set of G-4 Barber halves is worth $2700! Or for that kind of money I could probably score a couple of MS-64's. I think I'd get more of a kick out of pulling out those MS-64's to ogle their perfection over a folder full of slicks. So I guess maybe thinking about this has made me consider that a single coin may be better than a set, depending on what it is. And then there's my Kennedy Set. I'm 1/3 of the way through and there are just so many of them! Maybe I'll end where I am and save up for that 1998 SMS and call it a set. Edited by tkbslc
06/12/2015 2:57 pm
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
19964 Posts |
Quality! Right now, I feel completely overwhelmed with the volume of coins I have. I just have too many and the burden of reducing the herd is hanging over me as I get older. I really don't want to die and leave this for my family as it stands. None of them collect and they will most certainly not properly liquidate them when the time comes.
Edited by BadThad
06/12/2015 4:07 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
589 Posts |
I will always be somewhere in the middle. With whatever coin budget I'll always want more than just one coin. This could explain why I don't have any key or semi-key date in my collection.  |
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Valued Member
United States
336 Posts |
Its been quality over quantity for about 6 years for me now. I was lucky and had a knowledgeable collector redirect me at that point. I haven't regretted it since. I've stuck to a EF or better rule on all my coin purchases since then and during the period of my life where my income was a bit better I went to AU or better for a wail.
Now a days I mainly just look at beautiful coins. Pretty soon thatll change though when one of these employers out there bite on my job apps and I can move to a much better job!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
606 Posts |
I think that is really good advice Eco. I might just have to adopt the EF or better rule myself.
I always find myself tempted by something just because it is cheap. Especially if it is a type/denomination I do not have. lol
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Pillar of the Community
United States
513 Posts |
I was, and am, a hole filler** (OCD?) and accumulator. But now that I have so many holes filled (too many albums) and too much accumulated, I've been finding new holes to fill (British, anyone?) and upgrading the hole fillers. Thing is, when I upgrade the filled holes, I often would rather not *actually* put it in the hole, but keep it in a "better" holder. So the hole still has the hole filler.
**There is a reason some coins are graded as "filler."
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Replies: 39 / Views: 5,342 |
First Page
Posted 06/11/2015 04:37 am
