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 Replies: 26 / Views: 2,899 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1911 Posts |
Hi all, just wanted some opinions on something I have been thinking on and off about for a while. Basically, right now my collection consists of the following: ALBUMS - 7070 US Type (cool to see a complete set of "all" the coins made in the US for historical purposes and ignition of possible future collecting goals) - Date set silver proof state/ATB quarters (nice silver collection, different designs, educational information within the Dansco album about the parks/states) - P&D toned Kennedy half dollars (most are face value and have nice colors that are pretty/cool to look at even if AT) - custom world silver crown-sized coins (love bigger silver coins, shows examples of around-the-world designs, historical perspective of many different countries) - early US Commemorative type album (only 2 coins so far, cool designs, historical aspect as it commemorates different things about the US) RANDOM - binder filled with various 2x2s of world coins (some silver, mostly cheap stuff that I find, gives different views on designs around the world, basically a really cheap version of the crown collection) - small pile of cool toned us/world coins (cool colors on random designs) - small bag of random silver (mostly 40% kennedys, whatever I keep from my LCS that I don't sell (buy $3 worth, sell $2.50 for what I paid so I get to keep the rest for free, who knows when the day will come when people will need silver to barter for stuff) - small German states collection (about 10 coins so far, love the designs of the eagle) - 3 x Silver Dollar City .999 silver rounds (always wanted a silver dollar from silver dollar city) - small chest with some random us/world coins (for son to find someday, perhaps get him interested in coins, if not just a fun scavenger hunt to do with him) With that all being listed out, I was thinking about downsizing a lot. My reasoning for this is that my family still has debts (student loans) and I feel like the hobby should come after paying those off for a few reasons. One being responsibility to my family, and second, if I did look at it from a financial perspective, paying off the loans faster would in turn save more money than I would gain from increasing value in my collection. But then I also figure that it is a hobby and hobbies are there for people to enjoy life, just maybe not as much as I have been doing lately. So my reason for posting this here was to get some opinions, possibly on both sides of the argument, from people who may have been in the same boat or at least those that understand the hobby (my wife would say get rid of them all, why not? lol). Then the next question would be if I was going to downsize, where would I start? That is a tougher question to ask and I know that many will say "depends on what you like, we can't answer for you" but wanted to here opinions on the various aspects of my collection if possible. For example, I like the state/atb quarters because 1. the educational information found in the Dansco albums, which can be taught to my son (and I even learned some stuff about states/parks I never knew) that adds value above and beyond just the silver value of the coins and 2. of course they are silver and will always be worth the bullion value. Stuff like that based off just my little notes next to each item in my collection. Any thoughts will be examined and helpful to me as I think about my collecting future! Thanks and have a great day!  |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
1911 Posts |
Also wanted to say I am definitely leaning towards downsizing and paying off some debt but wanted to still get opinions didn't wanna seem like I'm putting my family in huge debt with my collecting problem ;)
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Pillar of the Community
United States
968 Posts |
I'd definitely consider selling anything you keep in "piles" or "bags" as they probably aren't as important to you as something you'd put in individual flips and keep organized.
Overall you need to figure out how much your collection is worth and how much of a dent you would make in your student loans. If it doesn't knock out a significant percentage of the total it might not be worth doing too much downsizing. More important would be to put a moratorium on adding new coins to your collection until you have made more progress on the loan.
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Rest in Peace
United States
7075 Posts |
"It depends ..."  Okay -- If your collection suddenly became mine and I couldn't keep it all I would still want the 7070 because of the work that had to go into putting that together. I'd keep the silver quarters for the reasons you mentioned. Without knowing which commemorative coins you have, I can't really say. Some are worth a lot and some not so much. I'd sell the toned coins because I don't really like them and I don't see those improving with age -- I could be wrong about that. All the random stuff could go except what your son wants, that is if he is old enough to pick some favorites or if you can identify a theme he might like, such as coins with ships or coins with animals. My REAL advice -- select what you might be willing to sell and set it aside and add up the value. WAIT a MONTH before selling anything. Then decide. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1911 Posts |
Hm good points made thanks! My son is about to turn 2 years old so that stuff will have to wait a while but stuff for him doesn't cost much.. and I only have a Columbus and circulated Alabama half dollars. I think this may be one I definitely put on hold but trying to sell this would only bring $30-40 I think. I guess I just need to figure out between the 7070 and the world crowns. The 7070 is at least $1000+ and the world crowns total about $850 so far. These are the largest parts that would make a dent in my loans.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7390 Posts |
Yes but is it the kind of dent from a pebble, a rock or a boulder? I say if you're already thinking about it then you've already made up your mind  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1911 Posts |
Well it would be approximately a tenth if I sold off either the crowns or 7070... so not a huge dent. And I guess looking at it that way it is not a huge dent and if I ever want to go back and collect these again... may not be worth getting rid of them most of my coins are relatively good deals I got on them which makes it harder in my mind too since some of these are really good deals is it better to cash in on the deal or keep the coin which I got for that good deal.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7390 Posts |
Yeah, I too like keeping the killer deal coins I can make huge amounts on over what I paid and would rather sell coins I can only make a little on. Strange how that works. Stupid psycology lol
Take my avatar coin. At long beach I put $2500 on it and had an offer of $1500. Wouldn't take it even though I only have about $70 into it after grading
Edited by Cascade
09/29/2016 3:25 pm
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Pillar of the Community
Poland
3201 Posts |
I'd start with selling all the random cheap world ones. You can always get that later on - the supply won't dry out and the prices are unlikely to increase either. The toned silver could be put up for sale at higher than regular prices... someone may bite. I don't know how much difference toning makes for non-US collectors, though.
But then if the crowns or 7070 account for 10% of the target amount each, then selling the random ones won't make much of a difference, I guess...
Let's look at it the other way round: if you saved the 7070, the crowns (both of which may be more difficult to replace later on, depending on what you currently have), and the ATBs (since you seem to like them), would selling all the rest make much of a difference for your budget?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1911 Posts |
The total of everything else would basically come to maybe a few hundred dollars and that would only make up about 2-3% of my loans. Although that would still be a little bit off if I only kept those main areas of focus. Last night, I was looking through the 7070 and not going to lie it would be somewhat hard to get rid of them. Yes a lot of them are cleaned but still all the different designs and types are an awesome thing to look at. I possibly could do without the gold page though.. I have a $2.5 and $5 indian which would be able to get me at least $500 by themselves.. was able to get the $5 indian using a fractional gold panda I got for christmas and the $2.5 at a pawn shop for $200 but I still had birthday money. If I didn't focus on gold at all (since it will take forever to be able to afford another $5 or higher denomination gold coin), that could be about 5% off my loans with just two coins as well.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7390 Posts |
Help kill your loans kairu. Coins ain't going anywhere and you can get better coins in the future when you have a decent paying job. Unless you like thinking about this because it will always be on your mind until you do it or pay off your loans by some other means. Sometimes one needs to cut off a limb to save the body. Just make it fast and clean
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1911 Posts |
Welp after thinking some more about it I think I have come up with a part-way immediate decision. I know it would take forever to ever get a gold page finished and I hate staring at holes so if I sold those two gold coins that by itself would be approx $500 (5-ish % of the loan) and also the random stuff not in albums. That would leave me with my 7070, crown collection, and the state/ATBs. Everything else being sold would amount to approx 6-7% of the loan. It'd be a nice small chunk and I would still have time to think about getting rid of anything else. The hard part to cope with in my mind is that of what is left, I got them at pretty good deals or basically free over the years so it is not like I have given up much money we already had for coins over the loan it is just giving up potential money for the loan and I may still consolidate later on too at least it is a starting point and once it is gone may be easier to just keep selling. Thanks for all the opinions and insights!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3540 Posts |
Let's take a step back for a moment.
On one hand...BUILDING your collection, whatever it may be, IS definitely more than half of the endearment.
On the other, knocking off debt is a GOOD thing. After that debt is cleared, you make focus on what you wish.
And on the third option, IF, the interest rate on the student loans is low, then use the knowledge and experience you have gained by buying/selling to pay off the student loan early.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1911 Posts |
I wish your first point applied to me more.. I hate the journey and only enjoy the finished product (at least for now :p) but I do understand your points... And definitely we are well on our way to paying the debt off earlier than required it is just it could be even earlier than that if I sold some or most of my coins. I am just finding the balance between the hobby and financial peace I guess. I buy/sell lots it is just that I usually don't touch my actual collection
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Rest in Peace
United States
7075 Posts |
Clearly this debt weighs on your mind.
I don't know your situation but I have known others with college loans. They complained about the debt but still went on vacations and bought $7 coffee treats whenever they felt like it.
My point - and I do have one - is that if you could find a way to come up with $40 a month you could pay an extra $480 a year on the loan. That's just $10 a week -- well actually $10 a week will get you to $520. So you don't have to sell a bunch of coins all at once.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1911 Posts |
Thanks for the advice buddy! We have a budget set up and right now we are around 6-7 months ahead of the next required payment. Luckily the wife and I only like the smell of coffee and not the taste too ;) my thoughts were just if I have the means to be even MORE ahead, should I? Good valid points all
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Replies: 26 / Views: 2,899 |
Posted 09/29/2016 12:48 pm
