How much do you spend on coins

[PunkReaper 0]

Here is a question I am nosey enough to want to know. I know that one mans £1000 is another mans 10p so what the question is:

What percentage of your monthly income have or would you spend on a coin?

[Peter 615]

It varies and sometimes I go for a few months without a purchase and then I may have a little spree.

I have been selling and buying.I don't buy like a headless chicken and have specific targets.

[Rob 3,152]

Here is a question I am nosey enough to want to know. I know that one mans £1000 is another mans 10p so what the question is:

What percentage of your monthly income have or would you spend on a coin?

Wrong question. Most people buy expensive coins out of savings as well as disposable income, so the answer isn't related to earned income. How many people would say "I must spend £XXX more this month, I'm falling behind with my spending"? One, two.. perhaps, but then again, maybe not.

Buying something out of the 50p bin is no different to buying a bar of chocolate. What percentage of your income do you spend on chocolate?

[Colin G. 147]

I don't buy like a headless chicken.

I do but I do have a few specific targets as well....but I never seem to find them so I go back into headless chicken mode

[PunkReaper 0]

I don't buy like a headless chicken.

I do but I do have a few specific targets as well....but I never seem to find them so I go back into headless chicken mode

What I meant was, not what do you spend on a monthly basis but what is the maximum you would spend expressed as a percentage of your monthly income.

For example if your monthly income (to make it easy) is £10,000 and the most you would spend on a coin is £1000 its 10% which is the equivalent to £100 if you are on £1,000 per month. I was just wondering what your relative financial commitment to your hobby is.....

for example my most expensive coin so far was about at the 3% level.

[coin watch 1]

I spend far too much what ever way I look at it ....In all honesty I made a collection firstly with a budget of disposable savings to gain a collection with an interest, then as time went by when I realised I got the main run of my collection in place I then just added coins with a much smaller budget and more in line with my income. But lately I only buy with what I can afford, which is not a great deal!!!

[PunkReaper 0]

I spend far too much what ever way I look at it ....In all honesty I made a collection firstly with a budget of disposable savings to gain a collection with an interest, then as time went by when I realised I got the main run of my collection in place I then just added coins with a much smaller budget and more in line with my income. But lately I only buy with what I can afford, which is not a great deal!!!

Perhaps this thread should be removed before our spouses have a read.....

[moneyer12 0]

depends on what is available at the time, most i have spent in one go was £4500................

[moneyer12 0]

depends on what is available at the time, most i have spent in one go was £4500................

[Coinery 1,148]

About 10 years ago I regularly spent the equivalent of over 100% of my monthly income on single coins, I was consistently spending more than I could afford.

However, I'm not sure if this really counts, because whilst I would love to have been/be in the position where I could buy a coin and own it forever more, I simply can't! Everything I've ever bought has always been for sale - negative side...I have always had a fluctuating collection. Positive side...I have a fluctuating collection, and have also enjoyed a large number of coins I would never have hoped to even touch, let alone personally paw over and research, had I been accumulating and damaging my cashflow by sitting on a fixed collection.

I do one day wish to compile a personal encyclopaedia of coins, of the very very best. However, I need to be sure I'll never have to sell them, before I can fully put my heart into it.

[coin watch 1]

I spend far too much what ever way I look at it ....In all honesty I made a collection firstly with a budget of disposable savings to gain a collection with an interest, then as time went by when I realised I got the main run of my collection in place I then just added coins with a much smaller budget and more in line with my income. But lately I only buy with what I can afford, which is not a great deal!!!

Perhaps this thread should be removed before our spouses have a read.....

After I explained the insignificance of savings, banks and pensions to my spouse she eventually came around to my way of thinking!!!

[PunkReaper 0]

About 10 years ago I regularly spent the equivalent of over 100% of my monthly income on single coins, I was consistently spending more than I could afford.

However, I'm not sure if this really counts, because whilst I would love to have been/be in the position where I could buy a coin and own it forever more, I simply can't! Everything I've ever bought has always been for sale - negative side...I have always had a fluctuating collection. Positive side...I have a fluctuating collection, and have also enjoyed a large number of coins I would never have hoped to even touch, let alone personally paw over and research, had I been accumulating and damaging my cashflow by sitting on a fixed collection.

I do one day wish to compile a personal encyclopaedia of coins, of the very very best. However, I need to be sure I'll never have to sell them, before I can fully put my heart into it.

Are coins your main business or a hobby? Or do you just fund your hobby by buying and selling coins..... Either way as you say you have been able to examine and research a large number of coins. I suppose a real lover of coins doesn't have to own a coin to get pleasure out of examining one

[PunkReaper 0]

depends on what is available at the time, most i have spent in one go was £4500................

Gulp... Ok I am framing this response for the next time the wife looks over my shoulder at my next acquisition

[azda 979]

I recently purchased quite a few from "someone i know" (shady eh) Basically he had a lot and kept offering just before and after xmas and recently as a few weeks ago. I've probably bought 90% of what he's thrown at me and out of them sold about 90% or in the process of doing so.

I've hopefully kept the good stuff which has now basically cost me nothing, about 7 coins in total out of perhaps 100..........I'm still mulling over what to do with the Commonwealth Crown, so yes, i've spent a wedge just recently. The most on 1 coin so far has been €1500

[Rob 3,152]

depends on what is available at the time, most i have spent in one go was £4500................

Gulp... Ok I am framing this response for the next time the wife looks over my shoulder at my next acquisition

Some people wouldn't pay more than 99p on ebay for a coin or live their lives searching the 50p bins whereas some pay a six figure sum or even more. Why assume this forum is any different? We are a broad cross section of collecting society and it's each to their own. As long as your priorities are to provide the basics for your family and dependants and that is covered, the surplus is disposable income/savings to be spent in any way you or your partner chooses or not. In the case of the above sum, £4500 will buy a nice coin, but there is an ever increasing list of things that it won't. As long as it is within your means, £45.00 or £4500 is irrelevant.

[Generic Lad 25]

Depends really. I'm a student, so I really don't have that much disposable income to spend, but I do patrol eBay daily. Really I haven't bought anything significant in about a month, my last purchase was a bag of various world coins for 15 cents a piece (along with an Indian Head Penny I sniped in there ) along with a dollar face value of (worn) Standing Liberty Quarters (I don't know why, but every trip to the coin store has me buying a few). I mostly buy like a headless chicken, if I find something that looks shiny, I generally buy it. I really haven't established my collecting pattern yet, currently just getting a small type set together of denomination/monarch but I've been dabbling a bit in ancient coins along with a few ventures in love tokens and other interesting things.

But I get a lot of my coins quantity wise from coin roll hunting and sell off the silver I find to fund my British coin habit.

[PunkReaper 0]

depends on what is available at the time, most i have spent in one go was £4500................

Gulp... Ok I am framing this response for the next time the wife looks over my shoulder at my next acquisition

Some people wouldn't pay more than 99p on ebay for a coin or live their lives searching the 50p bins whereas some pay a six figure sum or even more. Why assume this forum is any different? We are a broad cross section of collecting society and it's each to their own. As long as your priorities are to provide the basics for your family and dependants and that is covered, the surplus is disposable income/savings to be spent in any way you or your partner chooses or not. In the case of the above sum, £4500 will buy a nice coin, but there is an ever increasing list of things that it won't. As long as it is within your means, £45.00 or £4500 is irrelevant.

Of course you can spend what you wish to, it's your money, it was just interesting to see how different people go about their hobby. Didn't mean to irritate you.

[PunkReaper 0]

Depends really. I'm a student, so I really don't have that much disposable income to spend, but I do patrol eBay daily. Really I haven't bought anything significant in about a month, my last purchase was a bag of various world coins for 15 cents a piece (along with an Indian Head Penny I sniped in there ) along with a dollar face value of (worn) Standing Liberty Quarters (I don't know why, but every trip to the coin store has me buying a few). I mostly buy like a headless chicken, if I find something that looks shiny, I generally buy it. I really haven't established my collecting pattern yet, currently just getting a small type set together of denomination/monarch but I've been dabbling a bit in ancient coins along with a few ventures in love tokens and other interesting things.

But I get a lot of my coins quantity wise from coin roll hunting and sell off the silver I find to fund my British coin habit.

I've pottered around collecting a variety of coins mostly British with. A few ancients as well. Reading this forum I feel the time has come to increase my knowledge by some serious reading and perhaps focus my collecting more.

[Rob 3,152]

depends on what is available at the time, most i have spent in one go was £4500................

Gulp... Ok I am framing this response for the next time the wife looks over my shoulder at my next acquisition

Some people wouldn't pay more than 99p on ebay for a coin or live their lives searching the 50p bins whereas some pay a six figure sum or even more. Why assume this forum is any different? We are a broad cross section of collecting society and it's each to their own. As long as your priorities are to provide the basics for your family and dependants and that is covered, the surplus is disposable income/savings to be spent in any way you or your partner chooses or not. In the case of the above sum, £4500 will buy a nice coin, but there is an ever increasing list of things that it won't. As long as it is within your means, £45.00 or £4500 is irrelevant.

Of course you can spend what you wish to, it's your money, it was just interesting to see how different people go about their hobby. Didn't mean to irritate you.

Doesn't irritate me, just that some people like to keep their cards close to their chest and might feel the question a little intrusive.

[declanwmagee 122]

I spend far more than my monthly income on coins! Every penny I spend on coins has been earned by the coins, whereas my actual cash income is pretty small. I never convert coins to cash, and never spend sweat-earned cash on coins - the same money (always PayPal, I'm afraid, although not always eBay), just goes round and round. I did a calculation the other day. On average, the same PayPal pound gets spent once every 10 days. It comes in, buys coins, those coins go into the collection (if I'm shopping well), kicks out a lesser coin, which goes into the shop, which generates more PayPal.

When you're looking at economies, they call it the Velocity of Money. Divide the money supply into GDP and you get an idea of how many times the same pound changes hands each year. For a western economy, it tends to be somewhere between 1.5 and 2.0. Think about that. That means that the vast majority of pounds floating about tend not to change hands AT ALL. The Velocity of Money in my little coin business was 36. The same pound changed hands 36 times each year, on average.

As Josie would say...just posting!

[Debbie 58]

That’s interesting Declan – I quite like the idea that you are constantly converting virtual money into the real stuff!

Isn’t that why coin collecting is so brilliant – you can derive just as much please from collecting them no matter how little or much you choose to spend.

Does anyone know what the most expensive coin sold to date is?

[coin watch 1]

That’s interesting Declan – I quite like the idea that you are constantly converting virtual money into the real stuff!

Isn’t that why coin collecting is so brilliant – you can derive just as much please from collecting them no matter how little or much you choose to spend.

Does anyone know what the most expensive coin sold to date is?

I think 90% of 'money' these days is virtual with the remainder of the cash being constantly devalued, so buy what you like (just watch out for virtual debt!)

[moneyer12 0]

depends on what is available at the time, most i have spent in one go was £4500................

Gulp... Ok I am framing this response for the next time the wife looks over my shoulder at my next acquisition

Some people wouldn't pay more than 99p on ebay for a coin or live their lives searching the 50p bins whereas some pay a six figure sum or even more. Why assume this forum is any different? We are a broad cross section of collecting society and it's each to their own. As long as your priorities are to provide the basics for your family and dependants and that is covered, the surplus is disposable income/savings to be spent in any way you or your partner chooses or not. In the case of the above sum, £4500 will buy a nice coin, but there is an ever increasing list of things that it won't. As long as it is within your means, £45.00 or £4500 is irrelevant.

the last 2 coins i bought were 1987 uncirculated 1p and 2p coins from chris for 30p each, the coin that has given me the most pleasure of of all buying was the 1941 netherlands zinc 2 1/2 cent, i had searched for 20 years to find a really nice example and eventually i found it in a box at a flea market for 10p. whether you spend thousands or pence makes no difference it's the coin you want to buy that counts.

[PunkReaper 0]

Very true, When the children were younger we had great fun collecting the best coin they could find in our change and collecting sets of coins etc. Sadly they could only find coins in the decimal age but when I was young we would have fun finding Victorian coins in our change.

[Peter 615]

Very true, When the children were younger we had great fun collecting the best coin they could find in our change and collecting sets of coins etc. Sadly they could only find coins in the decimal age but when I was young we would have fun finding Victorian coins in our change.

I had access to my parents "CARD" tin and got reasonable quality date runs.

I also fondly remember trips to the coastal arcades and always came home with a handful of Vickies.