Monday,
January 30th, 2006
Coin collecting! That is the topic for this
week, collecting...
When purchasing coins there are basically two avenues
to approach you can take, buying to invest or buying
for the hobby (actually, either way you are investing
which I will explain by the end of this story). I
started my journey into the Numismatic world when
I was around 12 years old as a kid who found something
to collect that really fascinated me, my father gave
me a little treasure chest with circulated Morgan
dollars, Buffalo nickels, Franklin half dollars, Kennedy
Half dollars, Indian head cents, and Wheat pennies.
My friends at the time were collecting either comic
books or sports cards and I fell in love with coins
because I thought of them as treasures and history,
and also the fact that they were something different
then the ordinary to collect as a kid. I didn’t
even have a clue about the industry, making money
or the investment side of these tiny little pieces
of history, I just loved the fact of what each date
read and would think what it must have been like back
in those days.
If I were to know then that I would be buying and
selling coins for a living when I was an adult I would
have never believed it or understood how this could
be possible. So I guess because I truly loved coins
before I knew how to make money really helped me excel
in this industry and kept me true without thinking
of ways to make money the fast way by lying to people
who trusted me like a lot of people do in any profession
unfortunately.
My father started to assemble common date Morgan’s,
Franklin’s and other fairly low priced certified
coins and would take me to our area’s coin show
in Rochester, NY, the RNA. They were small shows but
at the time huge to me, I would sit there all day
listening to my father talk with people for hours
about the wonder of coins and at the end of the day
we usually sold only a couple $50 - $100 coins but
to us we didn’t care if we sold anything, my
father was doing it part time just for fun and I was
just a kid being introduced to a whole new world.
I would walk the aisles and glare into the cases and
it was then that I really discovered the type of coins
that grabbed my attention. It was the Seated Liberty
designs, Saint Gaudens Double Eagles, Bust halves,
and Mercury dimes. My father explained how I was attracted
to early type coins and 20th century dimes that were
in circulation before the present Roosevelt. He would
ask friends to let me hold and look at coins under
the lamps with a loop at the table while he was talking
to people, so I would do this all day while my other
friends were at home on the weekend sleeping in or
playing football.
Years went on and by my senior year in high school
the internet was brand new and my father did the very
first internet coin auction on Teletrade. Time went
on and he discovered coins that I truly loved and
he also was bringing more money then he had ever seen
in his life. He was also still selling modern coins
too because of the demand and doing this part time
it was a fun way for him to make extra cash to pay
the bills.
Well, I moved away from home and years went on, I
became married and had my first child and my fathers
coin business had gotten so extreme that he needed
someone to help him that really loved and could "see
coins", so he asked me if I wanted to help him
full time seeing as he retired early and dedicated
his time fully to his true passion. I didn’t
hesitate even though nothing was guaranteed and I
had a new young family of my own with a lot of responsibility,
I just believed if I had a chance to do something
I loved for a living then I would be a fool not to
try it. So I quit my job at the local bank and delved
into the coin business, my father and I clicked instantly
from the beginning having a perfect chemistry and
the advantage of my older brother Darrin having come
up with the idea of using the Internet to sell coins.
Darrin showed me all I needed to know, setting up
auctions on excel and typing my dad’s descriptions
among a few other odds and ends. My brother didn’t
have the love for coins that I did, he was helping
my father part time because dad needed the help desperately.
So when I came aboard he was confident enough to stop
helping because he knew I loved coins and dad wouldn’t
be without help.
Well a few months went by and my Dad took me to my
first ANA show in Chicago 1999. I was blown away by
the size and attendance! We walked for a few days
around the floor and when we came home I said, “We
have to set up at these shows to get to know people
and get our name out there.” He wasn’t
too hip on traveling but he did for a year and then
he was diagnosed with prostate cancer and decided
to stay home for a while which actually was perfect
for him to stay busy on the phones talking to clients.
So I went out and began my journey’s setting
up at every major coin show by myself not knowing
anyone or anything it seemed. I took my time and met
some good people; I eventually made some friends for
life who took the time to give me some of the best
advice in my life. I also had people take advantage
of me being I was so young, alone and susceptible
to being taken advantage of, But that is the only
way to learn so I never held grudges; I just looked
at everyone as teachers in a world that no college
could ever teach you for all the money in the world,
I was loving it!
To make a much longer story short, years went by and
I read as many books as I could and asked as many
questions as I could come up with and I made our webpage
with my best friend who ended up being my brother
in law as well. I found a niche to find coins that
I personally loved and put them on my webpage along
with advertising them in Coin World’s publication.
So our client list grew and grew because we stayed
true to only be associated with coins that we loved.
There is so much more but I’ll have to just
save it for a book.
The point to all of this is if you really
concentrate on coins that you are truly blown away
with, the treasures that captivate your attention
and make you want to study about them to learn all
you can, these are the coins that will turn your hobby
into a definite investment. When I sold my first certified
coin for $65 I would have never guessed 7 years later
I would have sold a coin for over $2 million dollars
and a few others for over $1 million. I believe things
like this happen because of staying honest, true,
and keeping it fun without getting caught up in the
rat race thinking of money first and your love second.
Have a great
week and I sincerely "Thank You" for reading
this weeks write up!
Very Best,
Dean Albanese
dean@coinace.com
|