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 Replies: 19 / Views: 3,874 |
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
3831 Posts |
I'm at the stage in life where I need to free up some cash. So far it's not too bad but it doesn't hurt to have more savings just in case something happens.
When I look at my coin collection - perhaps it has gone out of control as I have boxes of them, ranging from mere change to bulky books. I remembered when I had to move house and when I placed boxes of coins at the trunk, it just seemed like I've loaded too much weight.
So far I have been selling off some of the lower grade coins and common duplicates. That was easy. The real challenge comes to this - there's some coins that are easily in the range of hundreds of dollars. This would have been very easy if there was grade differences. But no, this is what I faced -
1) Similar grade but they are softly struck - one has weakly struck image on the left side, the other on the left. Put the two together and you have one perfect coin. Ugh.
2) One is in strong XF condition but environmentally damaged, the other in VF condition and lightly cleaned
3) Similar condition but different varieties.
4) Cleaned XF versus a decent VF
5) A holed F+ coin versus a worn coin.
And the list goes on.
My current aim is to keep the ones that have better eye appeal. What makes it harder to part with some of them is that even if I wanted to buy them later down the road, the sales record for some of them are in between 1 - 5 on a yearly basis, if not less.
I guess at the end of the day, I can't just live on coins (unless I become a professional coin dealer). It might be a lot easier to just sell the whole lot off and not worry about it. :)
Have you gone through such experience and what did you do?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4691 Posts |
After all, they are just pieces of metal. I have been selling off over the last several years with no regrets.
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21786 Posts |
You may need to consider what was the original strategy that was behind the building of the collection.
Now is the time to come to a sharp definition of that strategy in your mind. Perhaps you should even write it down after some thought.
If you are downsizing, use that strategy as a tool for deciding what coins are to stay, and what coins are to go.
Perhaps you may wish to use your collection to illustrate some sort of historic numismatic story, or stories of particular countries.
Then comes the updating of your data base.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
Become a dealer and sell everything. Unfortunately that seldom works well. If your a dealer and attend coin shows or just sell somewhere, there are always people that will approach you and want you to buy their stuff. So next thing you know is you now have more and more to sell. Eventually you will have ten times what you now have and a bigger problem trying to sell it all. Then you get on the internet and have your own web site and buy more and more and sell more and more. Now you become a really big dealer with lots of taxes, books to keep, you hire an accountant, an attorney, make a will and ............. OH, just keep what you've got now and retire.   |
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Moderator
 United States
188213 Posts |
There is no joy in downsizing.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
940 Posts |
Quote:
My current aim is to keep the ones that have better eye appeal. That sounds like the best strategy. Building a collection of anything is a continuous improvement process - out with the least appealing . . . My goal when buying coins is to avoid the ones that will be difficult to sell when I want to downsize/upgrade. Edited by Classic Coins
06/12/2015 9:46 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
675 Posts |
Completely agree with Classic Coins. Sometimes if the collection gets to be too much it is time to cull the herd. I would agree with keeping the pieces with the best eye appeal.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
11951 Posts |
I feel I am slowly getting to that point, where I too
should be downsizing my collection.
Reading your thoughts on how you are dividing up your
collections gives me some good ideas.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6478 Posts |
Quote:
After all, they are just pieces of metal.  The reason I collect coins is because these disks of metal are not just metal, they have effected so many lifes, bought people food who needed it, lived through amazingly historical events, so much more. These things are pieces of millions of peoples lifes and the worlds history. That is my take on coins.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2815 Posts |
GR58- you must not downsize. You must become the "Redfield" of quarter dollars. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
11951 Posts |
Quote:
GR58- you must not downsize. You must become the "Redfield" of quarter dollars I like how your thinking .. Should I shoot for a number .. 25,000 ...50,000 I think Redfield had something like 400,000 plus silver dollars. Not sure I want to shoot for that many quarters. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7390 Posts |
Just remember not to store your canned peaches to close to em GR! |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4333 Posts |
Nothing wrong with your plan. I'm in my 50's and have found myself cash-heavy, not a bad place to be. So, I hoard.
When I listen to LED ZEPPELIN...so do my neighbors...
Roll hunting since '77
Dirt fishing since '72
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Bedrock of the Community
 United States
12819 Posts |
If you have to downsize, figure out a way to take the emotion out of it. I know from personal experience that can be very difficult to do...
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Valued Member
United States
75 Posts |
I'm also getting to a point where I think I've amassed a bit too much. Better to pare off some of the items and find some specific areas to focus on.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3486 Posts |
"Less is More!" My battle cry for the last few years.
Sell stuff I do not care for to concentrate on what I do care for.
But there is something else: pride of ownership. Be it a single coin or
a long-worked-on set, that pride has sustained me through the disposal of those coins which not longer suit me.
So, gxseries, ask yourself which coins instill pride in your collecting
and I suspect it may help make your decisions easier.
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Replies: 19 / Views: 3,874 |
Posted 06/12/2015 03:36 am
