Hobby Vs Investment

Exactly one of the many problems with thinking of coins as an way to make money or a profit. However, there are ways but for a 9 year old, not to many. Even for you to start trying to sell coins is sort of a time wasting, monitary loosing situation. Selling almost anything may or may not be like that. You could stick around here and try selling coins here but if no ne is buying, then what?
You could try ebay or other on line auctions but again, if your not into those, you must join, get accounts there, get a paypal account and then face the lost in mail, no bidders, etc.
You could try coin or hobby stores and really loose out with any profit. Coin shows too are a great place to buy but not sell unless you rent a table and try selling as if you were a dealer.
The main thing is to really think of this as a hobby, not an investment. Think of coin collecting similar to those stickers kids collect. Just a real lot of fun.

Again I think some have missed what we have here ..

Coin collecting is a hobby .. that over the long term can be a good investment.

My coin collection that I have been putting together for the past 40+ years,
is worth much more that my fishing poles .. golf clubs and guns .. combined.

There are many of my better date/grade early Lincolns that I purchased from
coin dealers 20 years ago, that I know I could take into most any coin dealer
and get several times what I paid for them. Same goes for many of my type coins
and of course common silver.

I am not sure what members are buying and then thinking they are getting ripped
when they try to sell back to a dealer, so would be hard to answer that question.

I do buy and sell some stock .. and know that also can be very hard to pick winners.

Started off as a hobby, but now I consider it more of an investment actually.
Of course, I used to be more into the numismatic value, but that has since been mostly replaced by my appreciation of the bullion value of my collection.
I like to find good deals on nice coins that are under spot, then attempt to liquidate some of my collection when I feel the spot price is high...not an exact science, but I've been right more than I am wrong...and I don't just mean in the last 10 years when the value has been going up up up, I'm talking about back in the late 80's and 90's too. I'm the kind of collector that sees beauty in a nice old worn common date coin almost as much as a MS-65 coin. I love the thought of where that old coin has been!
I'd rather have a roll of worn Walking Liberty halves worth $200 today, than a slabbed gem walker that is worth $200+ today... that's just me!

Sorry, I didn't bother reading all the above posts.

Back to the original question: Hobby vs investment

Hobby all the way for me!

I'm not a dealer, trader, seller, grader or investor. If I had to make a living out of this hobby, I would have starved long ago! The only real investment from where I sit is creating (trying to create) a legacy collection to "hopefully" be past on to family members.

However, your collections and family members?!?!?! We all know that's a whole other subject.

This one was almost dormant seven years.

I guess it was a worthy bump.

It is dormant no longer!




Worth remembering.

I have never really looked at any hobby as an investment until recently. When I became disabled in 2010 I became tired and depressed at sitting around doing nothing. After four years of it it became clear I needed to do something. I've loved to fish since child hood but packing all the gear is no longer an option so I got into flying quadcopters. That was fun for a minute, next thing I knew was the cost of replacing the motors, props, upgrading camera was getting out of control. This turned out yo be way more than my new fixed income could handle. Next was carving walking sticks and canes, very relaxing and not too much strain on the beat up body. That was until I went to purchase carving knives. A whopping $750 for a set of 6 of the essential knives. Needless to say, that didn't last long. I needed something that I can enjoy and maybe start out slow, something that kept its value just in case I grew tired of it. But what?
Well, in Febuary f this year I inherited my grandfathers coin collection that my mother has held onto since my grandfather passed in 1979. My mother passed in Febuary and the coins became mine. After going through this collection I became hooked and realized that this is a hobby that, almost every dollar that I put into it stays with it! I don't have to keep replacing motors every other month like the quad, that was a money pit. This however, pretty much keeps what ever you put into I it. You can spend as little as you want or as much as you can afford. The quads I paid a couple of hundred dollars for will only bring about $25 if I'm lucky. My coin collection to me is priceless as it not only brings me joy, it also hold its value for the most part. It is also something that I share with my grandchildren. Which will probably be theirs someday. Unless I make a foolish purchase, I'm not throwing my money away. I feel that it is one of the only hobbies that retains it's value

I guess I should of added that I don't collect coins to profit on. I don't plan (at least right now) on selling any of the coins that I have purchased or inherited! However, I do see coin collecting as a hobby first and foremost, and as an investment as a bonus of the hobby, not as for a future profit.