No Simple Matter
By now you can see that being a collector is no simple
matter! Suppose that money were no object, and you could buy whatever you
wanted. If you aspired to build a complete set of Morgan silver dollars in MS-65
grade, this would take planning in order to figure out which varieties you
wanted to include, then it would take persistence in order to track down
rarities. If you gave me a blank check it might take me months or even years to
find superb MS-65 examples of such issues as 1892-S, 1893-S, 1895-O, 1896-O, and
other varieties which are seldom seen in higher grade levels.
Being an accumulator poses no such problems. Tell me or any
other dealer that you want to buy $100,000 worth of MS-65 dollars and that you
don't care if you have any scarce varieties, and on your doorstep the next day
can be a trunkful of 1881-S, 1884-O, 1885-O and other common issues. Actually,
if you gave me such a purchase order, I would try to talk you out of the idea -
and suggest that you start building a collection and buy rare dollars along with
the common ones. But the point is that there is no lack of coins to buy if you
are not particular about whether you acquire pieces which are scarce or rare,
and are satisfied with common issues.
Common Coins: Advantages and Disadvantages
ADVANTAGES: Common coins offer these advantages:
- They are easy to buy, for there are plenty of them
around.
- They are often available in high grades such as MS-65.
- You can spend your money quickly, for countless dealers
and investment advisors would be delighted to move these coins from their bank
vaults to yours.
DISADVANTAGE: Common coins offer this disadvantage:
- No one will get excited when the time comes for you to
sell. Yawn.
