Five easy ways to turn your coin collection into an investment.
As coin collections grow they become more valuable. This article is a catalyst that will help you transform your hobby into an investment. Follow these five tips to maximize growth, navigate appraisals, and protect your newly minted asset.
Market Trends for Beginners
The metal markets tell investors when to invest in what metals. This includes gold and silver, other metals like tin, lithium, and palladium, and currency spot prices.
Being a Coin Investor requires following metal and currency trends. It’s important to stay grounded in reality. Watching spot prices shows the savvy investor how metals and currencies rise and fall over time. Business Insider provides real-time data about the prices of trade goods. [1] Observation of real-time data for an extended period can reveal cycles and trends that can inform your purchasing decisions.
In addition to the actual price of these goods, the Futures market tries to predict the opening market direction of the same goods. Futures can be informative if we keep one foot planted in the here and now. Bloomburg provides a great currency and metal futures summary [2]. Observing futures can help you predict the change in value of your investment.
For example, at the time of writing, gold was trading at $2,329.49 per ounce. It was down 0.01%. However, observation of real-time pricing for the past year indicates that gold generally trends up. Also at the time of writing, gold futures were trading at $2,330.08. This information reveals that, despite today’s losses, the long-term upward trend of gold prices will continue.
[1] https://markets.businessinsider.com/commodities/platinum-price
[2] https://www.bloomberg.com/markets/commodities/futures/metals
Storage Solutions for Your Coin Collection
Protecting your coin collection is integral to converting your coin hobby into an investment.
Acrylic coin holders are a simple way to ensure the coins do not incur damage from other coins in your collection and they come in different sizes. Bin-storage systems allow scratches to form on the acrylic holders. It is advisable to sort your acrylic-protected coins into binders with pocket-pages. [3]
Appraisers value their time. The more organized your collection is the easier it is to evaluate. Appraisers and other professionals (adjusters, examinators, financial managers) share a personality trait that includes an appreciation for presentation and an aversion to disorganization.
A shoe box of coins will likely get a lower total value quote due to poor presentation, than a well-organized collection.
[3] Coin holders, acrylic capsules, coin sheets, and binders from Amazon.
Valuating and Appraising Your Coin Collection
Valuing your coin collection is easiest if you value the coins as you collect them. If you are valuing the entire collection, allow yourself ample time.
Before you seek outside opinions it is wise to form an idea of the value of your collection(s). It is difficult for most collectors to separate sentimental value from objective value. If you have a coin with a high sentimental value and a low objective value, perhaps it is best to keep it in your sentimental collection rather than your investment collection. As you organize your coin collection you can make these judgments one coin at a time.
After you divide and research your coin collections you can estimate a value range. After you develop a value range, seek professional valuation.
Professional numismatic appraisers will charge between $100 and $300 an hour to value your collection. In-home appraisals cost more than in-office appraisals.
Although all coin shops will gladly value single coins, only some will value collections. Coin shops usually provide free valuations as an opening bid to purchase a single or a few coins.
Some coin shops will value collections, but call ahead. Be aware that coin shops are in the business of selling coins, if you are not interested in selling your collection then the coin shop might not be the right place to seek valuation.
Instead you can contact a licensed numismatist in your area. Remember that coins increase in value over time. Have your Investment Coin Collection re-valued about every ten years.
Digitizing Your Coin Collection
A digitized collection can be as complex or as simple as you would like. Your investment collection should at least include photographs and specific information about each coin.
Most smartphones have acceptable cameras. Use the close up option in your camera app. Do not zoom in by pinching the screen. Zoom in by moving the phone closer to the coin. This keeps the pixel density high and allows more zooming when you view the image.
Here are a few tips to take great coin photos:
– use a tripod to dial in on the best distance and prevent shaking
– take straight-on shots with the phone parallel to the coin
– take additional photos of errors at angles to show height and depth
– no flash, use natural light
– black or white background
– photograph both sides of your coin in
– take many photos
– only keep the best obverse photo and reverse photo
We have further details about photographing your jewelry collection in another post. [4] Some of those details would be helpful here too.
Lastly, save your photos in multiple places like dedicated cloud storage, a shielded USB or SSD drive, and a secondary shielded drive in your safety deposit box.
Use the alt-text to store information about the photographed coins including, year, country, denomination, and grade (actual or speculative).
In addition to photos, we made a printable coin collection form to fill out and keep details about your collection organized. [5] The list includes
– year of production
– coin composition
– denomination (face value)
– mintage
– coin diameter
– coin weight
– cost
– value
Your appraiser can use a copy of this form to show you their valuation of individual coins in your collection. Alternately – your appraiser may have their own forms with similar useful information and other methods of valuation.
[4] Photographing Your Jewelry Collection
[5] Free Printable – How To Organize Your Coin Collection
Insuring Your Investment Coin Collection
In addition to coins; your capsules, binders, mounts, displays, individually graded coins, authentications, provenances, and frames all factor into your insurance evaluation. Everything contributes to the overall insurable value of your Investment Collection.
Some insurance companies limit the amount they will cover on a coin collection. In that case, it is advisable to further divide your Investment Coin Collection into a series of Investment Coin Collections and insure each one separately.
Organization is key in making sure your items are truly protected. Investment Coin Collections 1 through 5 may have the same number of coins, or be insured at the same specific value. Investment Coin Collection #6 may be smaller in size or value and continue to grow until it reaches the insurance cap.
In closing remember that coin values increase over time. Revalue your collection every ten years to keep your investments protected.
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