I'm fairly new to the game but have been buying up a nice little nest-egg. In doing so I've caught the bug bad and really love the world of gold and silver. My question is: when it comes to collectable pieces, what are the caveats and tricks to buying responsibly? I want pieces I can display but I also want have something that will hold its value over spot.
NO SUCH THING. If you are going to collect gold and silver you should ONLY EVER COUNT ON SPOT PRICE AT RESALE. That's how to buy responsibly.
SterlingNZ, What you say is good advice to help keep a newbie out of trouble years later, but it is technically not accurate. I am a "stacker" at heart, but I have felt the pain of dropping prices and a couple of years ago decided to start seeking semi numis stuff at roughly bullion prices (sometimes I pay a bit more) to "hedge" the value of my stash against falling prices. I can go on ebay and see completed sales in my country and KNOW that I can get roughly that if I sell on ebay too. Of course things change over time and you can't depend on getting the same amount necessarily if you wait to sell a long time. The main issue that would make me agree with you 100% Sterling is if silver were to RISE precipitously in price from where it is now (let's say get to $30 per ounce or higher). Then you would see the premiums start to really dissipate on many semi numis items. If prices stay low or go lower, you might see some semi numis coins worth more at that point than when silver was higher. That has been happening on some of my semi numis stuff and makes me want to sell now on ebay instead of procrastinating like I've been doing. To the OP: My spin on this only matters when you can get the semi numis stuff MUCH cheaper than current market value. If you have to pay retail, I would avoid it unless you like it as a "work of art" and aren't concerned about making money off it in the future. I have spent several years developing relationships with a few dealers who now treat me like a fellow "dealer" and sell to me wholesale or sometimes less so they don't have to ship the stuff off and instead get cash from me right away. I recently even had a booth at a large local coin show and this has helped me get even more "street cred" with the dealers I know plus I made a couple out of state connections. Fortunately for me locally, cool stuff like foreign proof coins and sets, etc, are considered "melters" by most of the local dealers I know and many don't mess with ebay (especially the old timers) so normally they would send it to the refiners or wholesale it if there is a demand for it. I can often get such foreign silver coins (not the real popular stuff) and odd ball stuff that the local dealers don't want to retail in their stores, very cheap (relative to retail) when it is available. Much of this stuff is worth much more on ebay. Just my opinion. Jim
"Buying responsibly" is an individually-defined term and it can mean anything to anybody, so giving general advice about "buying responsibly" isn't possible. That having been said........ If any of today's bubble popularity, market darling DuJour silver coins (whether they're proof, reverse proof, high relief, ultra-high relief, gilded, painted, diseased with imbedded glass chips or anything else you can name) develop milk spots, the resale value of such coins will drop like a rock. Even the lowest-numbered COA's and designer packaging that looks like space ships, time machines, etc will be of no help to coin value retention if spots ever develop. Sticking with current (whether "low" or not) mintage "collectible" pieces puts you at the mercy of value-destroying possible coin deterioration like milk spots and at the mercy of the tides of future popularity trends---which are totally unpredictable could go in any direction. You have two options: you can buy high-priced, current "collectible" stuff that's vulnerable to possible significant loss of value or you can buy bullion (the value of which is welded to spot). As the old saying goes, "Ya takes yer choice and ya pays yer money." Above all else --- Use your own mind, do your own thinking and make your own decisions. Good luck.
My view on this is simple: for semi-numis, buy what you like and will enjoy owning. If you can sell it for more than you bought it for later on, so much the better. Trying to pick what will be a popular coin in the future, both short term and long term, is pretty much impossible. And if you're really focused on your ROI for a particular purchase, dont forget to include the utility value you derived by owning the coin. Happy stacking and collecting!
