Hi, I’m Tom Pilitowski, coin dealer
and owner of US Rare Coin Investments. I have been in what
is known as the retail end of the coin business for many
years. What that means is that I deal directly with the
public. In the 30 or so years I have been engaged fulltime
in the coin business with positions ranging from buying
scrap precious metals and coins from dealers and precious
metals buyers in NJ in the late 70’s, sole proprietor
of small shop on main street in Belmar NJ scratching to
make a living in 81 to a top producer at the world’s
largest rare coin firms then on to building a successful
open to the public business in 1991. Probably 75% of that
time has been spent dealing directly with the public. Whether
they are collectors, investors. or those who consider themselves
a combination of both, these are the people who make up
the largest part of my business. I couldn’t imagine
being in the coin business wearing any other hat.
Over the years what became apparent to me
was what I considered the relatively small percentage of
collectors/investors/ that seemed to have any real plan
as to what they were doing with coins and seemed to be sort
of wandering all over the place without any real set plans
or direction. Now this is to be expected somewhat in the
beginning but at some point it’s a good idea to follow
a plan or strategy which includes having at least a basic
idea of what that plan is going to eventually cost, the
approximate time for acquisition (or liquidation but that’s
for another time) and the sooner the collector or investor
has that understanding the better in my opinion. I don’t
think you can have too much information.
For years, I also have maintained and expanded
a very large website with millions of dollars in ever changing
and diverse inventory of some of the best coins in the world
while also supplying a considerable amount of information
including one of the most targeted and informative archives
in the business. I’ve met many nice people via this
website who I may have never met via more conventional ways
and I’ve helped assemble collections ranging from
a few single coins to multi million dollars collections
of proof gold, early and better date coins of all kinds
and I’be been called upon to help liquidate millions
of dollars in rare coins ranging from single gold coins
to million dollar collections of US gold.
Something that I never understood was how
people could spend huge amounts of money, sometime big percentages
of their retirement capital on coins and fail to ever develop
a clear, concise, cohesive strategy or plan for buying or
selling rare coins. I take great pride in working with those
people in developing a direction and sound footing with
something they can see the completion of and enjoy the benefits
of owning. I have also helped many collectors, as well as
investors develop a plan even helping one of the more famous
ones think about a pedigree for his collection which has
become quite important numismatically speaking. One doesn’t
need to put a complete set of US Quarter Eagles from 1796
– 1929 to have fun or put away for the future and
it may even be somewhat counterproductive for a new collector
or investor to take on anything so complex until he’s
gained some experience and is working with a specialist
or two. There’s a multitude of mini sets or mini missions
undertaken that can be assembled that are fun and exciting
and can range from the affordable to quite exotic and expensive
and everything in between and can help quench the thirst
for history, adventure, art, commerce, trade, finance and
all the things that numismatics is about.
A story I was told long ago regards to finance
and saving, right from a man of the cloth’s mouth.
Fill the Barrel and Live off the overflow. Wise words of
sound advice for long term retirement planning. One can
look similarly to their coin collections or nest egg of
gold and silver coins. Strive to get the better coins, the
rarities, the tougher to aquire coins of the series first,
and then the commons. Once you’ve got the hard part
down the rest is easy. Think of it as filling the barrel.
Planning
can also help with intelligently timing the purchases of
coins for financial gains and these coins aren’t always
rare but scarce with something else going in the coins favor….history.
.In recent years for example we’ve witnessed price
increases for those common 1861 double eagles which have
been quite significant and far above and beyond the price
of gold. Collectors who purchased these coins in the past
few years have seen rather nice returns on their investments
while having fun too. Interestingly at the same time there
has been a steady flow of people acquiring these coins,
assembling 1861 Gold sets which are are a pretty neat set
of American Civil War gold coins to own and in the midst
of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. CAC’d specimens
of this common date double eagle are not so common with
only 98 specimens being approved by CAC as of 12/2012 out
of thousands graded.A CAC’d specimen of this first
year Civil War gold seems like a fun coin to own .Some ideas
for smaller affordable sets could be mint state indian quarter
and half eagle sets, a single specimen or example of the
type I, II, and III Double Eagles purchasing high grade
and/or better date examples for each specimen, type sets
of all kinds from early gold and civil war to Proof gold
in singles type sets and collections. There are multitudes
of ways to enjoy both the collecting and investing aspects
of coins and planning and developing a plan are just the
beginning.
With CAC we are witnessing huge differences
of opinion in populations of solid for the grade coins.
While there will always be disagreements of some kind, one
thing we are in agreement with is the overall consistentcy
of CAC’d quality coins and it shows in the premiums
paid for many of these coins which can run into the double
digits. In the cases of early coins CAC’d specimens
account for only 10% or less of the populations of the 2
major grading services. Some of these differences particularly
in the realm of early coins have been well known to early
coin specialists for a long time and the fact that CAC is
uncovering these facts is surely great news for the buyer
of real quality. While surely these numbers will change
in the future they are telling for the present and good
planning for the future will include these coins in a sound
collection or diversification in an investment portfolio.
David Hall developed the famous ”Box of Twenty”
and certainly this could be a fun and challenging investment,
a Box of Twenty CAC’d coins. Now that could be a good
investment too!
In conclusion, develop a plan of action
and stick to it. Find and work with a dealer who has extensive
experience with the types of coins that interest you. Educate
yourself with the investment of information. There’s
a whole world wide web out there to be explored, great books
that include specialized references for just about any series
of coin that interests you, and there are great book dealers
and other great numismatic reference sources. There’s
auction prices realized and various price lists to use in
pricing coins. In short there are plenty of good reasons
for you to have a sound plan of action which can lead to
more than just returns on investment over the years ahead.
Numismatically Yours, Tom Pilitowski
US Rare Coin Investments
