Overwhelmed by Modern Silver in Series, and Series, and Series....

[NewMSmatist15]

For a good portion of the summer I stopped buying any coins, gold or silver, proof or bullion, because I felt a bit overwhelmed by all the series that are available. 

There's the Chinese Panda series, the Chinese Lunar series, the Britannia Series (my personal favorite, but not much love from a lot of collectors nowadays), the Great Britain Lunar series, the Perth Lunar series, the Canadian Lunar series, the Rwandan Lunar series (these are quite lovely, but I didn't set aside cash for them or buy any 😥), the Canada Predator series, the Kangaroos, the Kookaburras, the Saltwater Crocodiles, the Birds of Paradise, the Emus, and the Sharks. The Queen's Beasts, the Lion Dollars, and the Bisons.

Not to mention the Ukrainian Archangels, the Isle of Man Nobles, the Niue hawksbills, superheroes, and star wars coins. Colorized coins, incuse coins, concave coins, egg shaped coins, coins that are square, coins that have scalloped edges, and privy marks on everything!

Just tossing a discussion out to the Forum in general. Does anyone else feel overwhelmed by all of these? Are there forum members that have culled down their collections and eliminated collecting certain series? If so, which series are you avoiding or stopping?

[Xander]

I only buy a coin if I like it. There is a danger of becoming a slave to coin series collections, result, instead of enjoying collecting you become frustrated.

[NewMSmatist15]

1 minute ago, Xander said:

I only buy a coin if I like it. There is a danger of becoming a slave to coin series collections, result, instead of enjoying collecting you become frustrated.

I should note, at the moment I only collect the Britannia and Proof Silver Queen's Beast series. I just really like some of the other series and haven't delved into any of them. I'm more confused about which series are popular and therefore have a healthy secondary market than frustrated with having options.

[RoughDog]

Does make me wonder about silver as gold doesn't have the same issue.  Yet to see privy gold coins.

[AppleZippoandMetronome]

Yeah I very much agree it can be overwhelming. I had a very long break where I focused on other things so didn't keep up with what new coins were being released and was pretty shocked to see all of the different series that now exist. I always think it is best to just focus on what you like. I agree completely with @Xander . Personally I have one series that I am collecting for and anything else I buy is because I really like it and the price is right. I think you could easily drive yourself crazy if you start trying to get everything out there.

[NewMSmatist15]

5 minutes ago, RoughDog said:

Does make me wonder about silver as gold doesn't have the same issue.  Yet to see privy gold coins.

Great point... wonder why it is a "silver" specific phenomenon. Price point maybe 🤔

[Coolsmp]

You can also spend more than you realise and then trying to back date if you want to collect a set.😕

[RoughDog]

27 minutes ago, NewMSmatist15 said:

Great point... wonder why it is a "silver" specific phenomenon. Price point maybe 🤔

Looking at only the Royal mint.  It seems that prior to the Queens Beast series (started 2016) and lunar series (started ?) it only had sovereigns and britannias.

Standard sovereigns and brits are pure bullion.  Queens beast are new thing and maybe semi numi? 

Looks like historically gold is pure bullion and maybe the people that buy it want pure bullion.

 

Not sure about silver.  Ideas?

[Bullionaire]

32 minutes ago, NewMSmatist15 said:

Great point... wonder why it is a "silver" specific phenomenon. Price point maybe 🤔

Probably just because they know people can usually afford to buy all the different silver varieties. People just wouldn't buy a gold britannia for 1k, then a gold privy britannia for 1.2k. Whereas a sliver britannia for £14, then a privy britannia for £16 doesn't seem so bad.

[RoughDog]

2 minutes ago, Bullionaire said:

Probably just because they know people can usually afford to buy all the different silver varieties. People just wouldn't buy a gold britannia for 1k, then a gold privy britannia for 1.2k. Whereas a sliver britannia for £14, then a privy britannia for £16 doesn't seem so bad.

Does to me when it is more or less the same artwork with an extra little image.

[AppleZippoandMetronome]

I would guess there has been such an upsurge in silver bullion sets because it is a much more affordable price point for collectors. 1oz silver coins are pretty inexpensive and by creating more and more sets they just cast the net wider. Bound to catch someone's interest and make more sales.

[vand]

I totally agree.. the market is completely saturated with new competing coin series. 

Ultimately it doesn't take much effort to release a new coin with a new design and launch it as a new series, hoping to stand out and draw in the punters.  Even a small time operation like Silver Bullet/Silver shield can do it every couple of months, seemingly. There's nothing special about them. It's all just silver at the end of the day.

[watchesandwhisky]

There is a very easy solution, forget collecting and buy the cheapest recognizable bullion you can buy. It might be less exciting, but ultimately you will have a bigger stack for it. 

[AppleZippoandMetronome]

56 minutes ago, Coolsmp said:

You can also spend more than you realise and then trying to back date if you want to collect a set.😕

Yeah this is what stops me from wanting to get in to some collections - even some I like. If the first coins have too high a premium I just see it as not being worth it. It is hard to imagine it being possible to recoup that premium years down the line when everyone has moved on to the newest things. In the end the coins are just silver bullion and I'm just not enough of a gambler to stake money on something that is popular today still being popular 20 or 30 years down the line.

[Abyss]

Stacking Britannia (foundation stack) series I follow 

Rwanda Nautical / Rwanda Wild Life / Marvel and Queens Beast series. Bought five Eagles / philharmonic / Maples and Kangaroo because just curious more anything else. But only been stacking for four months. But before started stacking watched lot of you tube videos realised too many series.

Paid 60 euros per coin on German bullion dealer website this weekend to backdate 2012 rwanda rhino 1 oz having to use google translate figure out how to purchase the coin. I don’t want to get into any other collection. Think expensive back date 1 oz Silver coins try backdating 1 oz Gold Coins 😭.

[sovereignsteve]

Personally collecting too many series now and just going through the motions if I'm being honest.

I think it's about time they stopped some of the long running series like kooks, roos and brits, they are getting too "samey" although the last one pretty much did stop in bullion form when they started issuing the same boring design and screwing up the finish; proofs only now in essence.

I actually think I' m secretly hoping the Perth don's start another lunar series but not much chance of that happening!

[Pete]

I started collecting several coin series and every year have to remember to order the next ones.
This is beginning to become expensive because some coins are carrying a high premium like the RAM Kangaroos.
Then you find your nice bespoke box that you purchased to keep the date run in check is full, so do you buy another box placing your new 2019 coin into the first of 20 spare slots knowing it will be another 19 years before it is complete; assuming the series continues or the coin diameter doesn't change a tiny bit. There is nothing more depressing than a beautiful coin box with only 1 or 2 coins inside.

 

PS - cannot think of an alternative word to "depressing" - isn't depressing at all but you get the drift.

[blackadder]

I started buying all sorts,fancy boxes for some sets too which i now regret.I think you have to be aware of paying to much and high premiums etc.I can see some items i've bought making huge losses if i ever had to sell them.all because i tried to collect sets of lots of things,How many of the coin sets you listed are going to be popular and hold their value in years to come.

Also most people just wouldn't beable to collect everything,there's just far to much.I just stick to the more interesting brits,queens beasts and whatever else takes my fancy at the time.

I bought afew of the british trade dollars,thinking it was a one off.Now i know its a set i feel compelled to buy all the rest lol.

[sovereignsteve]

It all depends where you are within the hobby.

I am chiefly a collector and I'm probably sitting on a fair "profit" for most of my gold coins, as well as the profit on metal value alone. Much of my silver collection will be about break even but some will have made substantial losses. However, I have had a great deal of pleasure from the hobby and could even say fun!! I have made several good friends and even more good acquaintances.

I don't think I could have said all that if I'd confined myself to simply being a stacker!

[Big23]

2 hours ago, Abyss said:

Paid 60 euros per coin on German bullion dealer website this weekend to backdate 2012 rwanda rhino 1 oz having to use google translate figure out how to purchase the coin

If anybody needs help with German translations or dealers I'm here to help

[RoughDog]

2 hours ago, blackadder said:

I started buying all sorts,fancy boxes for some sets too which i now regret.I think you have to be aware of paying to much and high premiums etc.I can see some items i've bought making huge losses if i ever had to sell them.all because i tried to collect sets of lots of things,How many of the coin sets you listed are going to be popular and hold their value in years to come.

Also most people just wouldn't beable to collect everything,there's just far to much.I just stick to the more interesting brits,queens beasts and whatever else takes my fancy at the time.

I bought afew of the british trade dollars,thinking it was a one off.Now i know its a set i feel compelled to buy all the rest lol.

The way I try to look at it is by asking myself how much I would be willing to pay.  I know there are certain coins I would pay a premium for if they become available.  I won't pay crazy premiums.  Maybe an extra amount as a flat rate, not crazy percentages.  Obviously all coins are not equal and some coins clearly look like they cost more to make.  I am talking about the coins in the same series and the early coins being mega expensive.

It is the way everything works.  Art, music etc.  If someone has what you want it is up to the buyer to pay the sellers price or walk away.  The older coins can't be bought new anymore and are in the hands of stackers or collectors.

I have also noticed that we seem to be in an era like no other.  Historical coins all seem to be of a similar nature, one that seems very old.  Some of the new coins seem kind of timeless in their design and nothing like the older coins.  Noone knows what they could be worth in 20 years.  I personally think some will end up as pure bullion and others as treasure like everything else.  Some music ends up be worth next to nothing and some music is mega expensive, same with art.

[Martlet]

One doesnt have to buy all of a series.  I decided after buying Koala and Kooks in 2017 that i didn't care for the 2018 design, so haven't bought any.  I do very much like the Rwandan lunar and nautical so buy each one.  I'm not sure i would have got far into silver if it was only a choice of Britannia, Eagle, Mapleleaf standards, the variation of all the other series makes it interesting to get involved. 

[vand]

It comes down to definition of a stacker vs collector, and where on the spectrum you sit.

Pure dyed-in-the-wool stackers are only interested in weight and don't give a monkey's what is printed on the front.

Pure collectors only care about the coin, not the metal.

Very few people sit right on either end of the scale, although I would say that most people sit more towards the stacker end rather than the collector end.

 

I consider myself primarily a stacker, and at least 3/4ths of my stack is nothing fancier than a current-year Britannia. The more I see threads talking about new series being launched the less I care about whats on the front my own coins. If everything's special then nothing is special.

 

[Gildeon]

In my first year I started collecting too many series and other stuff. Some months ago I reduced it to almost half. This had two benefits for me. First I had many coins available to sell, creating free cash. Second having this extra cash and less stuff to buy, my other collections are filling up much faster. There is always the chance of collecting something new but this starts after deciding to discontinue 1-2 of the older ones.

On another note, when I finally complete a set I was collecting thoroughly, I often have the urge to sell it! Is this happening to anyone else or do I need to check it with a specialist...? 😬

[vand]

11 hours ago, blackadder said:

I started buying all sorts,fancy boxes for some sets too which i now regret.I think you have to be aware of paying to much and high premiums etc.I can see some items i've bought making huge losses if i ever had to sell them.all because i tried to collect sets of lots of things,How many of the coin sets you listed are going to be popular and hold their value in years to come.

Also most people just wouldn't beable to collect everything,there's just far to much.I just stick to the more interesting brits,queens beasts and whatever else takes my fancy at the time.

I bought afew of the british trade dollars,thinking it was a one off.Now i know its a set i feel compelled to buy all the rest lol.

I also wonder about all those who cite Silver's Higher premiums and storage issues... are also those who store their collections in expensive fancy boxes and display cases.. lol

Not really a dig a you, just an example of how when anything is out of fashion people will also find a reason to dislike it. When GSR is towards the other extreme they will probably complain that a gold coin is so small it's easy to misplace or lose and silver's bulk makes it easier to see where your money is going.