The 1 Percent

[Danye West]

How equal is the value distributed across your coin collection?

 

Is one of your coins a trophy, worth 50+% of your collection?

 

Are a few coins most valued?

 

Or do you have larger sets, where coins are about the same value?

 

I have a bunch of $20 coins from when I first started collecting, and my 5 big toned Franklins which probably make up 90% of my collection's value.

[clarkbar04]

I have 3 coins that make up about 2/3 of the value of my collection, which doesn't even consist of a box of 20 yet. This does not take into account toning premiums, of which I have no clue most of the time.

 

I too call these "trophy coins".

 

 

[RWB]

Just checked my collection. The two US quarters are worth the most --- 25-cents each or $35 each in slabs. The Canadian quarter is worth about 20-cents, but it has a Moose on the reverse, so it must be a "moose" of a coin and worth lots more. The dime and cent are also OK, but not worth nearly as much as the quarters. (But both are shiny and HAVE to be MS68 or better...) Together the quarters are worth about 80% of my entire coin collection. (AND --- that does not include unique and valuable the pocket lint!)

[World Colonial]

I have in the vicinity of 300 NGC and PCGS coins. Probably 20 account for 25% of the value.

[KMAG100]

I'd say about 3% of my coins make up about 60% of the value

[Matt_dac]

I have one coin worth 33% of my collection.

[AHFreak]

Just checked my collection. The two US quarters are worth the most --- 25-cents each of $35 each in slabs. The Canadian quarter is worth about 20-cents, but it has a Moose on the reverse, so it must be a "moose" of a coin and worth lots more. The dime and cent are also OK, but not worth nearly as much as the quarters. Together the quarters are worth about 80% of my entire coin collection. (AND --- that does not include unique and valuable the pocket lint!)

 

What do I need to do to be first in line at buying your coins when they are being sold?

[RWB]

I expect there will be considerable bidding among large auction companies for the right to sell the collection. I hope it will go intact, but if not, that's OK. There will be a deluxe printed catalog and a 24/7 streaming/cable show about the coins. The BBC has also expressed interest in showcasing the collection instead of the Olympics or Football -- I fully expect the World Cup to be canceled so that people can attend the auction in person.

 

(I'm also in secret humanitarian negotiations with Kim Jong Kim Kim Il Kim of North Korea to end all their nuclear, missile and military programs in exchange for half of the collection....but I can't mention the negotiations -- that's what the so-called "Party Congress" was all about. It was really a Congress party, anyway, with lots of flowers and polyester suits.)

[mumu]

I collect what legends would call dreck so my 500 or so coins range from 20-2k and I would say 10 of those coins on the high end account for about 40% of the value. Some of my dreck is world stuff so that's ultra dreck.

[physics-fan3.14]

Interesting question....

 

According to my rough estimates, my most valuable coin accounts for roughly 9% of the value of my collection.

 

My top 5 accounts for roughly 28% of my collection.

 

Over the entire range of my collection, the average value is 0.2% of the total (with 352 pieces counted). Values range from a couple dollars up through 5 figures.

 

But, I think these proportions are natural for most collectors/collections. There are a few high dollar coins which are showcases, and then there is a long tail of exponentially lower value coins. If you look at Newman's collection, there were a few coins which got headlines - the million dollar coins. But the collection has thousands more coins - many worth only a couple/few hundred bucks.

 

We can't all have collections like Partrick and Gardner, where it seems they only bought hundred thousand dollar-plus coins.

 

 

[messydesk]

According to my registry values, the top 1% of the coins by number is 8.7% of the value, and the top 5% is 29%. This doesn't include stuff in the registry, but I don't think any of that would break the top 10%.

[Mohawk]

This is a tough one for me to answer......but I know that the majority of the value in my collection are my German and Ottoman key dates. I have some really good coins for those collections. I actually don't have a lot of what I would consider "dreck", and that I have is mostly moderns. I try to buy well with anything I purchase. But, to be honest with everyone, I don't really know what my collection is worth. I don't really collect for that reason....I just do what I like and if the money comes, that's nice and if it doesn't, it doesn't. I still have a collection that I love and enjoy in any case.

Just my two kurushes or reichspfennigs on the issue

~Tom

[ThothAmon]

Just checked my collection. The two US quarters are worth the most --- 25-cents each of $35 each in slabs. The Canadian quarter is worth about 20-cents, but it has a Moose on the reverse, so it must be a "moose" of a coin and worth lots more. The dime and cent are also OK, but not worth nearly as much as the quarters. Together the quarters are worth about 80% of my entire coin collection. (AND --- that does not include unique and valuable the pocket lint!)

 

What do I need to do to be first in line at buying your coins when they are being sold?

I'm a private client banker at the Bank of Change and I'd be interested in your account.

[MarkVIIIMarc]

I have a half dozen or so $20 something coins, a roll or two of old silver dimes, some semi valuable wheats and nickels then a half dozen or so oddball silver rounds.

[Conder101]

If you collect sets the key issues will almost always be worth significantly more than the bulk of the collection. For example if you have a set of Lincolns mos of the value is in the SVDB, 09 S, 14 D, and 31 S. Often so much so that if a dealer is estimating the value for purchase he will figure those and the rest of the set comes along for the ride.

[SkyMan]

THEORETICALLY "my" centerpiece coin is worth roughly 18% of "my" collection.

[coinman_23885]

THEORETICALLY "my" centerpiece coin is worth roughly 18% of "my" collection.

 

You have so many nice coins listed in your registry sets; which one is the "centerpiece?" My personal favorite is the 1938 cameo half, which is in a different league than many of the other designated cameo coins out there. Your coin should have be awarded a star in addition to the cameo designation for unusually strong contrasts.

[SkyMan]

THEORETICALLY "my" centerpiece coin is worth roughly 18% of "my" collection.

 

You have so many nice coins listed in your registry sets; which one is the "centerpiece?" My personal favorite is the 1938 cameo half, which is in a different league than many of the other designated cameo coins out there. Your coin should have be awarded a star in addition to the cameo designation for unusually strong contrasts.

 

 

Thank you for your kind comments. It's an 1802 DBHE $1. Graded MS61 in a rattler, clearly under graded by today's standards. Multiple dealers have offered MS63 - MS64 money on it.

 

 

[rrantique]

THEORETICALLY "my" centerpiece coin is worth roughly 18% of "my" collection.

 

You have so many nice coins listed in your registry sets; which one is the "centerpiece?" My personal favorite is the 1938 cameo half, which is in a different league than many of the other designated cameo coins out there. Your coin should have be awarded a star in addition to the cameo designation for unusually strong contrasts.

 

 

Thank you for your kind comments. It's an 1802 DBHE $1. Graded MS61 in a rattler, clearly under graded by today's standards. Multiple dealers have offered MS63 - MS64 money on it.

 

 

 

Superb!!

[RWB]

Very nice 1802.

[USAuPzlBxBob]

Six and two-thirds percent of my collection holds two-fifths of my collection's worth.

 

Smaller than a breadbox, but larger than a cupcake, the entire collection numbers less than a score.

 

How many coins do I have in my collection?

[bourse28]

I like a diversified portfolio, not one skewed where everything just riding on a couple of pieces.

 

So on a portfolio of say 100 slabbed coins with a $20,000 investment I would have 100 coins averaging about $200 apiece cost wise. There might be some coins cost wise I had $400 in and some I had $50 in. These coins would have been acquired on average of about 65% of market retail. Their market value (selling price) would be about $31,000.

 

These are more than enough slabbed enough coins to fill up a case at a show with the other case devoted to currency. Obviously I might acquire larger value pieces which were in the $500- $1000 range bc of the deal. The bigger ticket the coin, the bigger the risk......