Pleasure & Profit: 100 Lessons for Building and Selling a Collection of Rare Coins

by Robert W. Shippee, Q. David Bowers (Foreword)

Pleasure and Profit: 100 Lessons for Building and Selling a Collection of Rare Coins

Longtime collector Robert W. Shippee dissects how, twenty years ago, he got serious about building a collection of rare coins, gradually and carefully assembled the Waccabuc Collection, and later sold its half cents through double eagles. He tells the story "warts and all" --- from creating a grand vision to the emotional rush of live auctions, the learning process, successful purchases, as well as duds and costly mistakes. Learn how he assembled and eventually sold his collection of 150 copper, nickel, silver, and gold coins for $1.5 million at public auction. The story includes Shippee's observations on acquisition strategies, storage choices, and disposition options, supplemented with commentary on grading services, auction houses, famous dealers, numismatic personalities, market valuations, and --- with candor that's rare these days --- his laid-bare financial results. His insight is humorous, wise and unflinching --- uniquely valuable for today's collector and investor. Q. David Bowers calls "Pleasure and Profit" "One of the most useful books in American numismatics," and says "It will change your buying strategies."


320 Pages, Full Color, Paperback

320 pages, Paperback

First published August 20, 2014

Reviews

[Adam Spikes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I purchased this book with the intention of reading through it before reading the recently released 2nd edition. The content was insightful and informative and though I may never reach the level of collecting he achieved, I am now educated in the blunders to avoid (some I knew, others I didn’t) and wisdom to follow on my own collecting journey. Overall, a must read for beginners. It will save them a LOT of money to read this one book before purchasing their first rate coin. For the intermediate and advanced collectors, they will appreciate Robert’s humor and candor as I’m sure they all too can relate with his experience.

[Jarrod Ranney · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book. It’s filled with real-world lessons that can be used for collectors in any budget range. Full of advice like “make your first purchase your best purchase,” “if a coin shouts BUY ME, listen,” and “enjoy the coins you own. Otherwise what’s the point?” I also appreciate the breakdown of profit at the end because it helps set expectations for what may happen to others. A truly wonderful read and reference that I’ve used to enhance my own collection.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love coin collecting! But this book is more about buying and selling coins for profit, something I do not do. But for any coin enthusiast, it is a very interesting read.

[John Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the 1990s, Robert W. Shippee started building a complete type set of U.S. coins that he named the Waccabuc Collection. He then sold it at auction at Stack's Bowers Galleries in November 2007, the same year he completed it. This book is about that collection. There is a section that describes every coin in the collection along with some information about the purchase of most of them. At the beginning of each coin's part, you see the description written by Stacks in their auction catalog. Next is Shippee's discussion. That discussion might be about that particular coin or about coins of that type. Next, in a box, is a Lesson learned from that sale. The title of the book says there are 100 lessons. In actuality, there are 138. You also see the financial information about each coin; how much Shippee paid for the coins, how much the coin brought at auction, and how long Shippee owned the coin.

The coins in this book are almost all very rare, expensive coins, putting them out of the reach of most collectors (myself included), but the information provided is useful for any collector who would like to know about the coins he or she collects. The book is very well written and I found it enjoyable to read. Plus, there are a lot of golf references, so there's that...