My Top 10 Coin Picks for 2008
Sunday December 23, 2007
At the end of one year and the beginning of the next, it is popular to proffer one's views on the Top 10 this-and-that. Since I often asked what kinds of coins people should buy, I thought that a Top 10 Coin Picks list might be fun. Keep in mind that this list is my own personal Top 10 shopping list, not necessarily what is best for you to buy, (or even what's best for my own long-term investment purposes.) Coin collecting is, before all else, a hobby to me; therefore, my personal shopping list plays heavily toward bargain-hunting and hours spent searching for treasures among the typical. At some point soon, I'll do a Top 10 Recommended Coin Picks List, but until then, here's my Top 10 personal list for 2008 along with the reasons why they're on my list.
A word about why it is impossible to do a Top 10 "one size fits all" recommended coin-buying list - We all collect coins for different reasons, and on different budgets. Although most experts agree that buying high-grade key coins is one of the best investments going, not everybody can afford $1,000 coins all the time. When I give collecting advice, I am considering the average novice-to-intermediate collector on a working person's budget. Sure, if your collecting budget is $250 per month, you can go out and buy yourself one high-grade semi-key coin, but what fun is that? After looking at it for a few minutes and then storing it away, what are you left with?
The view I take of the hobby is that it should occupy some period of time, and provide some opportunity to learn something new, in addition to hopefully increasing in value over time. I'd much rather buy an unsearched 5,000 coin bag of Wheat pennies for $200, and leave $50 to buy a nicer coin or two, and a coin-related book. The Wheat pennies will fill up many hours of hobby time, I can show off the nice coin I bought for $25 or so (not to mention showing all the "finds" in the Wheat bag,) and still have some bedtime reading about my favorite topic. (Right now I'm reading, "The Million Dollar Nickels" about the 1913 Liberty Head Nickels.) Now, who got the best value for his money? The guy who bought one coin, or me? :)
A word about why it is impossible to do a Top 10 "one size fits all" recommended coin-buying list - We all collect coins for different reasons, and on different budgets. Although most experts agree that buying high-grade key coins is one of the best investments going, not everybody can afford $1,000 coins all the time. When I give collecting advice, I am considering the average novice-to-intermediate collector on a working person's budget. Sure, if your collecting budget is $250 per month, you can go out and buy yourself one high-grade semi-key coin, but what fun is that? After looking at it for a few minutes and then storing it away, what are you left with?
The view I take of the hobby is that it should occupy some period of time, and provide some opportunity to learn something new, in addition to hopefully increasing in value over time. I'd much rather buy an unsearched 5,000 coin bag of Wheat pennies for $200, and leave $50 to buy a nicer coin or two, and a coin-related book. The Wheat pennies will fill up many hours of hobby time, I can show off the nice coin I bought for $25 or so (not to mention showing all the "finds" in the Wheat bag,) and still have some bedtime reading about my favorite topic. (Right now I'm reading, "The Million Dollar Nickels" about the 1913 Liberty Head Nickels.) Now, who got the best value for his money? The guy who bought one coin, or me? :)
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