People speculate on many different things. Some people buy and sell used cars; other people broker much larger things, like yachts. The problem with these things is that the worth of the items is generally fixed, and therefore there is a much smaller chance of making a real profit. The most interesting fields within which to speculate are fields where the worth of objects is not fixed; in other words, where there is a much larger potential for arbitrage (i.e., profiting off buying and selling).
The question is, what kind of fields are these? What products do not actually have fixed universal price tags attached to them? What kind of product can you sell for significantly more than you paid for it, and who will pay these higher prices? These are all questions that many people struggle with their entire lives, without realizing the simple answer: collectors. Yes, buying and selling collectors’ items is a much more profitable game, because collectors’ items do not necessarily have fixed universal values that everyone agrees upon. Why? Because the fundamental nature of the collector is to value something because of its personal value to the collector, rather than its fixed value on the market. Most serious collectors tend to be willing to spend serious cash on objects and artifacts that they think will make a good part of their existing collection. There is sound reasoning behind this madness; many objects automatically become worth more when they are part of a larger collection, because they augment and add value to the collection, and that value-add ends up being larger than the object would be worth by itself.
The question, then, becomes what kind of product you should speculate in. There are several – stamps, for example, are a big market because there are so many stamp collectors out there. Unfortunately, this also means that there has been a large amount of consolidation and proliferation of the stamp inventory in the world – in other words, it is very difficult to find a truly valuable stamp that does not already belong to someone’s collection. This is the same problem that plagues the world of baseball cards; and it is partly due to the fact that obth stamps and baseball cards are rarely used anymore, so the number of rare stamps and baseball cards on the market has shot down dramatically, even as their value has shot up.
Perhaps a better idea, then, would be more solid objects like coins. Many collectors have large collections of old and rare coins, and they buy and sell them frequently – as a result, the market is hot and if you know what you’re looking for there are always deals to be had. This becomes particularly visible in times of recession and economic strife such as these, as many collectors try to liquidate their collections by selling off their more valuable pieces – as a result, you will often see gold coins for sale in the newspaper, online classified sites and ebay. Many old coins are particularly interesting, because they can be worth more then their gold melt value– if you monitor the market closely, you will occasionally see truly ancient coins as well. The holy grail of the coin world is probably the Roman coins; of course, they are very rare to see, but when you do, you are probably in luck, especially if the coins are on sale at a good price. Of course, don’t enter the market as a speculator before you do your research. Find out how much these coins are worth to established collectors before you make your move.
With the price of silver on rise any a lot of older U.S. and Canadian coinage is being bought up by scrap gold dealers for melting, this is unfortunate as soon there will be very little left. On the up side this will drive the price of these coins up which will benefit the coin collecting individuals and coin dealers. For example Canadian silver dollar coins that are 1966 and older contain 80% actual silver content and are currently fetching over $9.00 per $1.00 coin. U.S. silver dollars are getting just over $11.00 per face dollar.