Just how erratic can a fellow get?

I would like to think I am rational in all of my coin purchase decisions. But looking at it dispassionately, I know that I am not. This is particularly in evidence when I look at my record of purchasing modern Mint issues.

Circumstances and whim seem to play roles, too.

I began by buying 1969 proof sets and mint sets. There is something appealing about being able to buy new coins directly from the Mint. When I began, it was a little bit like going into Aladdin’s cave.

Soon enough I was confronted by the fact that these sets very often fell in price. I even became acquainted with John Kamin of The Forecaster’s Rule of 10, which says don’t buy new Mint issues until they are 10 years old. Sure, you will miss a good issue or two along the way, but on balance you will save a lot of money on all the sets that decline in value.

What did I do? I still bought the sets. I told myself that I was a collector, not a speculator – though I certainly didn’t shirk the speculator label if I thought a particular issue was going to go up in price after I purchased them. In this way I enjoyed the explosive value increases of the 1970 mint set, the 1973 silver proof and uncirculated Ike dollars and others along the way. But mostly, I lost money.

Getting a job here in 1978 helped. Buying sets and losing money continued, but I rationalized that I was still a collector and what’s more I needed to be familiar with what interested readers.

I had to get picky as the commemorative era dawned and then American Eagles and silver proof sets arrived. Sure, familiarity with new issues was nice, but I had to eat, too. I guess this is rational, but I never truly fixed on a guiding principle for new issues.

I got more selective. While I bought some new gold issues a time or two, there was no way I was going to be able to buy all of the gold issues year in and year out.

When Numismatic News ad manager Joel Edler retired in 2006, I stopped being current. In the final years leading up to his retirement he had basically consolidated office demand for various sets, thereby saving us all a lot of trouble and the individual $4.95 per order shipping and handling charge. I dutifully continued to order proof and mint sets and silver proof sets and an occasional commemorative with his help.

Who could resist the 2001 Buffalo commemorative, or the 2006 Old San Francisco Mint Centennial issues that included a Morgan dollar eagle on the reverse of the silver dollar? I sure couldn’t.

Joel retired. I ceased being a regular purchaser. I am erratic. It is a bother. There is that irksome $4.95 charge. Rising bullion prices also deterred me from placing orders. I just can’t see myself paying $505 for the Star-Spangled Banner gold $5 proof as compared to $175 for the three-coin Statue of Liberty proof set of 1986 that also included a gold $5.

Price resistance? Perhaps. Or maybe it took me 35 years to follow Kamin’s Rule of 10. Am I such a slow learner?

• State Quarters Deluxe Folder By Warmans

• Subscribe to our Coin Price Guide, buy Coin Books & Coin Folders and join the NumisMaster VIP Program

• Strike It Rich with Pocket Change, 2nd Edition