Collecting/ stacking or investing

[Pipers]

Collecting/ stacking or investing

 

Are you a collector a stacker or an investor in precious metals?

 A straight forward question isn’t it, well no not really,  one has to identify first of all what you do, why you do it and what you want out of it. 

Let’s take the’ I’m a stacker’.  He waits - for dips - then he pounces with his large order of his/her chosen precious metal according to Gold/silver ratio.  He generally buys the best coins or bars for his country so when he sells he will easily be able to off load the large amount quickly into either another metal or into cash, then reinvest or walk away he also use vaults. 

Then we have the investor he/she buys precious metals in vaults or for delivery he can buy more than one coin of a type eg a sovereign 2017 proof , then hopes to sell at a profit releasing cash to reinvest into other investments or back into precious metals.  He also may have to ‘advertise his wares ‘ on social media to generate interest. 

The Collector, He or she is only interested in acquiring a collection of coins or bars.  He is not interested in buying 2 2017 proof sovereigns  as funds can be used to acquire other coins or sets, he may use all his time sourcing coins that he wants, he is not a trader per say, though he may trade a few coins he comes across at very good prices, though he does not speculate he recoups a few £s because of his gained knowledge of coins .  The collector will pay a high premium for hard to find coins and sets though he is not an idiot and will let things go as he knows there will be another one that will be coming around in a few months/years and there is plenty to collect.   

 

I have written this because I have read the mania on the 2017 sovereigns threads, collectors have all of a sudden become investors and it is true you have cornered the market.  There are a few people who will pay a lot for the coins you hold, but at some point you will want to sell the extra coins!  Are you all going to take it in turns to sell and divide the difference?   I was talking to some British coin collectors the other week who were more interested in other coins than the 2017 sovereign and they are well aware of the few hands that held them and they said they will not buy them at those prices.  I do hope for your sakes you all make money on them  but I fear some will make lots and the rest will just get your money back and may even lose a little with  action fees.        

 

 

 

[shawy2510]

I try to be all 3

[metallica73]

49 minutes ago, Pipers said:

 but I fear some will make lots and the rest will just get your money back and may even lose a little with  action fees.        

 

 

I collect knowing I can sell for a chunk of cash should I need it. And I enjoy the chase of getting a numismatic piece that triples in value.

That above quote by the way, is decent odds for a gambler. Which I also am. If over the course of 10 purchases I lose very little or nothing on 9 of them but the 10th pays off and more than covers not making anything on the others then i'm up.

Gambling with silver & gold is better than the Horses, worse case scenario you never lose it all.

[KDave]

I started as an investor trying to diversify, became a stacker, then fell for the collecting side of things. 

I get the point though. There is a great deal of pumping that goes on in this hobby/investment/religion 

Remember the quarter ounce bullion lion selling for crazy money a year or so back? I have recently seen them for sale for around what the newer ones are worth, certainly not the premiums people were buying them for last year. Perhaps something similar will happen with some of the many versions of the 2017 proof sovereign too, who knows.

Fear of missing out is a very strong driver. It is very easy to fall for it, how many times do we hear the need to buy gold and silver now before xyz. You see it in every market, especially gold and silver, spot and collectable coins, more recently in crypto. When buying ask yourself why and are you happy with that reason. If it's to make quick gains then you are none of the above, you are just gambling and that's fine too so long as you recognise it and it fits with what you are trying to achieve. I would also add that when it comes to pm's, at least they have spot as the floor for any potential losses. 

 

 

[Vacendak]

Investor first and foremost, stockmarket is the way to accumulate wealth for me.
Gold and silver is to provide a hedge, around 12% at the moment, but hoping to be 20% precious metal in the portfolio at some point; hopefully just before a mighty crash.

Then I split further into Signature Gold with the Royal Mint (for easy trading) and actual coins at home because if I own a bit of gold and silver, I would rather have it in a form I like to hold and look at it: Queen Beasts, Britannias, Sovereigns and the like. Those are destined to become "family silver/gold".

I try to convince myself NOT to collect and remain bullion only, so I say no to proof coins and similar "low mintage" candy; even if the photos of the various proof coins posted on this forum are at times very tempting.

Of course, I am weak and have fallen for the ¼ oz gold Queen Beasts collection. Having missed the Lion I got it at a small premium when Atkinson started to sell them again. I resisted hunted them down as overpriced second-hand though.

[Agpanda]

Pure collector

[Kman]

I would count myself as a little of each 3 to varying degrees

• I like gold as a nest egg outside of the bank
• I like trying to get modern proofs that will gain in value
• I can only buy coins I personally find attractive 

That being said, I also feel like I have good restraint atm against being too much a collector, I've resisted buying coins just for the vanity of having them

RE: the 2017 sovereigns, the only one I think that could struggle to sell for a profit and perhaps lose is the £5, since it's such a high price already. The other two releases will do just fine, I don't believe they will have any problem holding their value (even with fees) in the short term and are most likely to gain decently in future. 

 

[Silverstackeruk]

I was a stacker then became a collector as bullion became boring..if I could go back in time I would put all my money in gold. Silver is so hard to shift as noone wants a monster box and your only option is getting spot price off one of the dealers..then you have to carry the silver around you have accumulated if you move where's as a small briefcase off gold could hold 100k..and after taking a look at some of the silver I have accumulated finding milkspots and toning on alot of my premium proofs makes me want to quit buying altogether and sell everything..

[vand]

It's just silver

[jc1989]

Stacker primarily with core gold stack been made up from bullion sovs.

some fractional gold has crept in if I liked the coin or the price was right.....

same with silver I buy the cheapest bullion coins as a rule but somehow end up getting various coins I like the look of.

Despite the milk spots I love silver coins with animals on so try to get a few in order I make from STG etc 

 

[matrawr]

Can't remember why I started but I've always enjoyed collecting things I like the look of! Not sure which category I'd fall into because I haven't tried to purposefully be any so it would be that I've literally just fell into one of the categories! I started purchasing anything I like the look of then onto the vintage JM bars which I try to pick up when I can but atm my main focus is the old silver morgans I'd take a guess that I'd be a collector.

[Xander]

I just recently started buying gold coins for the future, as far as I was concerned, a gold coin was a gold coin, I bought some 1oz Brits to start with and intended to keep adding to them.

I came across this forum by chance. After seeing your enthusiasm for the Sovereign it prompted me to do some research about the coin, it's not just a gold coin, the history behind it is intriguing, cut a long story short, I am now hooked and have started collecting them.

[sgcoins]

I'm a collector/ investor!!  The collecting part is the most important bit as I only buy coins that I like. So i'm not buying many bullion coins, and if I do it's only one of each design. From an investment point of view one collector/ dealer tolt me, that I have to buy the best quality coin that I can afford (mainly for pre 1950 coins). Not only does a MS65 coin look better then a AU55, the value of a MS65 coin is most likely to go up faster than the AU55. There for I only buy coins that will get at least an MS64 ( even coins from 1750) at NGC/PCGS.   I do also collect panda coins, and I always try to get an MS/PF70 for the new coins that come out. For the older panda's MS69 is the minimum grade I will buy, this is also from an investment point of view.  But I be leave that most collector are also investors!!!

[Guest]

I am a collector who hates the idea of losing money. I like to think like many of you here I am an educated collector and the more I collect the more educated I am.

I do not mind if I do not make a profit but I do not like the idea of losing money. In practice, anything that stops me from wasting money that I would lose 100% of is a good bet.

I got into this to avoid having no wealth apart from property. I would say that I have been successful in this endeavor as well as having a fun time, learning a lot about history, and pitting my wits against the market which is hell-bent on encouraging me to buy items that will almost certainly lose 50% of that value within one year.