Market Blog - Written by Doug Winter on Friday, September 10, 2010 11:40 - 5 Comments
Five Things You Can Do to Make Your Coins Worth More
If you have been collecting rare coins for more than a few years, there is a good chance that you have “found money” in your holdings. What I mean by this is that there are a number of things that you can do–often with little or no cost–that can significantly improve the appearance and value of your coins. Here are five suggestions:
1. Send Your Coins to CAC. CAC is now well established as an important factor in the high-end segment of the market. In certain areas, CAC coins trade for a nice premium and there is no doubt in my mind that a CAC sticker makes a coin more marketable. Submitting a coin to CAC is very inexpensive; typically just $10 to $20 per item. Another thing that’s nice about submitting coins to CAC is that you are getting an expert’s opinion (in this case John Albanese) for next to nothing. You might try sending a sample of your five best coins to CAC. If you get CAC approval on all five coins, you know you are doing something right. If only one or two get the coveted “green bean” then you can assume that the dealer you are buying from needs to be replaced.
2. Attribute Your Coins. Let’s say that you are a date collector of early half eagles. It makes sense to purchase the Bass-Dannreuther book on early gold to attribute all your coins to “BD” numbers. You might get lucky and find that one of the coins that you own is a very rare die variety. This isn’t necessarily an immediate financial upgrade, as it would be in a series like Bust half dollars or Large cents which are avidly collected by variety. But wouldn’t you rather keep the potential financial upgrade for yourself than to read on page three of Coin World how some lucky collector just cherry-picked an excessively rare variety of 1806 half eagle? Also, if PCGS or NGC attributes varieties in the series you collect and you find a good variety, have it marked on the slab.
3. Pedigree Your Coins. If you have a coin from a famous collection like Bass, Garrett, Eliasberg or Norweb, a pedigree can add value. Some coins from these collection are clearly marked on the PCGS or NGC insert. But there are hundreds of others that have “lost” their pedigree for one reason or another. I’d suggest that you purchase all of the major auction catalogs in the area that you specialize in and spend a few hours searching through them. Your coin(s) may have a different appearance than they did in an earlier sale, but if they have an obvious mark this will make it easy to trace them. If a great pedigree is easy to prove, send the coin along with a xerox of the catalog page to PCGS or NGC.
4. Reslab Your Coins. Please note that I didn’t say “regrade” your coins. That’s another subject entirely and one that, if you have coins in old green label or “fatty” holders, I do not necessarily think will add value to your coins. What I mean by “reslabbing” is that many coins are in holders that show severe scuffing, wear, or dullness. A great coin can look just so-so if the holder it’s in doesn’t present itself well. I know this sounds a little hokey but its no different than deep-cleaning your house when you get ready to sell it. If all of your coins are in pretty, fresh slabs it is going to make your coins look nicer.
5. Create a “Cult of Personality.” For a number of reasons, there are many collectors who become larger than life because of what they collect. Some of these individuals become famous because they buy seven figure coins. Others become famous because they write books or articles about the area(s) that they specialize in. And others become famous because they are “mensches” who endear themselves to collectors and dealers alike. A collector who has worked hard to establish himself as a leading authority on Charlotte gold coins is probably going to have an easier time selling his coins than a collector who is totally unknown; even if the mensch has inferior coins, the belief that he has high quality will typically outweigh the reality. The same holds true for collectors on the PCGS and NGC Message Boards. Creating the illusion of collecting greatness is a lot easier today than it was in the pre-Internet era.
These are just five suggestions. There are many others that I can think of, and I’d be interested in hearing your suggestions as well.
5 Comments
Doug,
Great blog entry with excellent advice. Thanks for that. Also, I really like the new RSS feed. It works great.
Can you submit a coin directly to CAC or do you have to go through an authorized rep.
Doug,
Yes, great blog. You describe human nature, especially the part where a collector starts out tentative and then builds confidence to buy higher end coins. That pretty much sums up my relatively recent (six years) entry into the coin collecting hobby.
Another cost of churn is state sales/use tax. Yes, I live in one of those states and yes, I am a good citizen and pay the tax – 5%. That makes it hard to want to sell anything, and so I create duplicates when I have had the opportunity to make geniune upgrades, such as the one you describe with the AU55 1854-D quarter eagle. So, this behavior ends up developing a pretty interesting shadow set. What to do?
Another topic: how long does a coin have to be held to be considered “fresh” when it returns to the market? 10 years, 20 years? Longer? In other words, what should be a serious collector’s time horizon, assuming it is not forever? I don’t want to leave it to my heirs to sell my collection, as I think that would be irresponsible. They don’t know what I know about the collection and the market. On the other hand, I don’t have any need or desire to sell any time within the next decade. Hopefully, anyways.
I find it interesting that we collectors are always trying to build a “set”, that consists of all the dates of something. Why is that? I am certainly in that camp, and yet when you step back, you ask yourself, “why has it evolved that way?” Yes, there is a certain pride in becoming a specialist. Plus, this is what builds confidence. Hopefully, this element of human nature will still exist when it is time to sell. Otherwise, these little piece of metal have a whole lot less value. That also means that you need to live foreever, Doug. We are counting on you!
Final question, are all pedigrees pretty much already created? Or, are new pedigrees being created today, when we look back from the distant future? When will the next big pedigree collection come on the market in our rare, pre 20th century, gold coin space. How many are out there that are worthy of this distinction?
JL
Thanks, Doug.
Value of a collection depends on saleability. Semi-numismatics are more saleable than rare coins, generally, which may require auctions and other lengthy prerequisites to getting top dollar. The CAC sticker helps in some cases, check out the coins selling at Teletrade or Heritage auctions. CAC brings more $$, and the coins have a better chance of selling. On the other hand, if you call up Heritage or Spectrum, CAC doesn’t do much for the common coins in added offers from them. The Heritage “buy” sheets show large bonuses for CAC stickered coins in MS64 on up, but when called, they will explain that these are conditional on their liking the coins as premium, etc..
After reading JL’s comment, It made me think about what YOUR succession plan is? Do you have anyone following you in the wings with the same passion, market insight, and collecting prowess if you were to “not live foreever”?
Another thought and question – you recommended not “regrading”, however, isn’t that happening somewhat today with the “+” grading? just wanting to know your perspective on that… “+” grading, “*” or NGC star ratings, CAC, etc. which actually are better or should be avoided? etc. Maybe that would be a future article topic?
Thanks.
TG
Mark - Sep 10, 2010 04:28 pm