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 Replies: 13 / Views: 2,587 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
819 Posts |
If you wanted to use coins as the medium to makig a profit, what is the best way to go about it in your opinion? Here are some ideas I thought of, but not sure which wouold yeild the most for the time spent: 1) roll searching for errors, premium dates, etc and selling on ebay. 2) perusing auction sites for sleepers, mislabeled, unrecognized VAMS, etc and buying and reselling with correct listing. 3) selectively buying key/unique special sets, commeratives from the mint, holding and re-selling after out of stock and potential demand increases 4) Specializing in one type, ie getting to know all about Morgan VAMs and finding them wherever (flea markets, estate auctions, online auctions, trade shows, etc) and reselling them correctly identified what else? maybe getting key coins slabbed and reselling? I am retired with plenty of time, notice on ebay if you search for "us coin" with "ending soonest" there are pages and pages of auctions ending every few minutes, many with coins that seem to be going for far too little. |
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Moderator
 United States
6563 Posts |
I'd have to go with Number 2. If you can become versed enough to know what to look for your can make a decent return for your investment.
One thing I have done in the past is to buy large assorted lots of various items and resell them one at a time.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2335 Posts |
There is only 1 sure way to make money on coins & that is buying at below market prices. That could mean getting a quantity discount, buying at venues that have underpriced coins(yard sales, antique malls, craigslist, etc), or learning to cherrypick VAMs & varieties. You could also go with the 3rd method listed above, but IMO that's speculating.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
952 Posts |
#1 is def a way to make money - easiest way is by finding silver (easier said than done, of course).
I also like the idea of buying in bulk and selling piecemeal, but it is getting tougher to do - I see a lot of local auctions where the whole collection is broken down into lots of 1 coin to maybe a rool or two, so it seems that not many are dumping the whole collection all at once anymore. That really annoys me, esp since now I finally have the $$ the spend buying whole collections that they aren't available.
I always seem to be 1 step too late!!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1406 Posts |
I would go with one, searching for silver halves. Four years of searching for errors and I have yet to find one, although I know I will one day.
Two, I've seen lots of people 'risking' on bad pictures who sometimes do well. I've also seen people do well with mislabeled things as well. VAMS always seem to pop up!
Three, although hard to predict, huge profits can be made off some of the mints products. I'm going to buy into the quarters, dollars, and halves this year because the banks will no longer be able to purchase them from the Fed anymore. Will the 5oz silver commemoratives do well? The gold has done really well recently for sure! Lincoln Cronicals, WOW! I guess you can never tell though. As I said hard to predict and can be expensive.
Four might be your best bet. Specializing in one thing might keep the focus on one thing...making profits! You will KNOW if something is undervalued based on your knowledge which carries less risk then any of the other options.
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Valued Member
United States
487 Posts |
Newbie here! For my continuing education in coin collecting. Help me out Captiankurt. What are VAM's?  |
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Valued Member
United States
56 Posts |
From About's website: A VAM is a Peace or Morgan dollar die variety that has been identified in an important book called The Comprehensive Catalog and Encyclopedia of Morgan and Peace dollars by Leroy C. Van Allen and A. George Mallis. The term VAM derives from the first initials of Van Allen's and Mallis' last names. |
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Valued Member
United States
265 Posts |
I would search older slabs for things that might upgrade or things prior to designations were added to coins(ie: FBL, FS, FB, FH) which wouldnt technically count as mislabeled.
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Valued Member
United States
58 Posts |
I agree with TRD, set up at coin shows and buy below market value and put them back in your case at retail. The problem you will run into is people wanting full retail for their coins. A lot do not understand why a dealer can not give them retail and then resell it for retail and stay in business. But, basically, selling and buying at shows as a dealer would be your best bet.
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
819 Posts |
thanxZ for all the input
I have tried roll searching without much luck, out of $500 in half rolls only found one silver, one proof non-silver. Pennies, dimes, nickels nothing out of many many rolls. For the time invested decided it wasn't worth it or I was going behind someone else at those banks and getting previous searched rolls.
have made a few good buys at aucions
made some good buys from the mint and re-sold, so far that is my best avenue
haven't tried buying collections, will have to try that next.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1534 Posts |
Also, I've gotten some good deals at pawn shops and resold them quickly on Craigslist or some other sites.
Edited by wheatguy
01/16/2010 3:47 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
677 Posts |
Try misspelled searches on e-bay. It's amazing how many people don't check their spelling. I have gotten a couple good deals on reichspfennig by switching around the "e" and "i". Or leaving out one "n".
I know a lot of people know this trick, but apparently not everyone. It can really cut down on the number of people bidding against you!
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Valued Member
United States
97 Posts |
If you do some research and get the permission to search an area that was populated decades or centuries ago a metal detector offers some good returns (or a popular beach) old park, farm etc. as for coins above the ground I've had good luck roll searching and looking for mislabeled items  at antique malls. got a 1918-d buff nickel for a 1.50 once that way. sniping a sleeper auction can be good too. happy hunting  |
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Valued Member
United States
467 Posts |
1 and 3 are by far the easiest methods to make some money. These are the ones I have done the best with.
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Replies: 13 / Views: 2,587 |
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Posted 01/16/2010 12:21 pm
