What is the best way to start a coin collection?

Answer 1

I would suggest that you start by buying a book, or borrowing one from the library. If you are interested in US Coins, my choice would be A Guide Book of United States Coins by R.S. Yeoman. For world coins, look through the Standard Catalog of World Coins - you might want to check the library copy of this one as it is four large volumes and not inexpensive. From these books you can get an idea of what might interest you. If you want to get a child interested in collecting, buy one of the maps or folders for the State Quarter series and let him search all your pocket change to fill it. Don't buy one that includes spaces for the "S" mintmarks unless you are willing to purchase the proof coins to fill them. Some folders don't even have spaces for both (P and D) mintmarks found on the circulating coins, just one coin of each state design. Even the earliest (1999) quarters that were "scarce" are now showing up in circulation as people who saved multiple rolls or even bags of them have found that they are not valuable. the red book by Yeoman is great , having a weekly newspaper Coinworld or Numismatic News is great for up to date information for United States Mint released coins, proof sets,and new nickel , quarter designs. Information is the key,Personally I have been interested in coins since I was 8 years old, and have had both of the above papers plus the red and blue book by Yeoman. Robert E. Flora www.1refco.com I suggest that you pick up the 2006 Red Book by R.S. Yeoman. It explains everything you need to know about coins and how to get started on coin collecting (coil bound is the best for easy-to-use and cheaper than hard back). I myself started less than a year ago on coin collecting at the age of 13 with the 2005 Red Book and I picked up and learned extremely fast. It is really fun if you take the time to learn.

Answer 2

Glad to hear you are interested in starting a collection. Depending on what you want to collect, I would suggest spending your first 20 dollars on a book. If you want to collect Canadian I suggest the "Charlton guide to Canadian Coins" Or for American coins, "The Redbook"

This will give you an idea of what coins are out there that you aren't aware of, and give you a better idea of what you want to collect.

Usually when someone collects coins the smart way to do it is to narrow down your interest to one series, learn all you can about it, and then start pursuing it. The typical collection consists of one coin from every year for the series. So for example, my collection consists of every coin minted as a large cent from 1858 up to 1920.

But another aspect is to collect all the varieties that are available for the series.

So another example would be, my large cent collection, I already have all the years for the set, and now I am just looking for all the little varieties that are available for the run.

So whether you want to just look for one coin from every year, or for every variety it's up to you.

But I strongly suggest you spend your first 20 dollars on a book, and soak up as much information as you can before you buy a coin. There are a lot of crooked dealers out there that will try their hardest to hose you, and sell you a crummy coin, for the price of a good coin.

Good luck on your adventure, and have fun.

For good coin collecting Sources, check out the link I attached at the bottom of the answer.

Answer 3

First you might get yourself a pocket coin guide and even subscribe to a coin collecting newsletter. This will allow you to watch for fakes and fraudulent coins that are for sale, and really try to buy in person so you can handle and touch the coin.

Answer 4

The first thing to learn is grading. For example a coin book might have prices for:

G-4, VG-8, F-12, etc. all the way up to say MS-65

And the prices for some coins rises exponentially the higher the grade. For example many Barber coins are worth little more than melt in G-4 condition, but in mint state they can be worth several hundred dollars. So unless you can accurately grade your coin, you cannot accurately value it.

There are many tools to learn how to grade, there is a book called Photograde that is the de-facto standard for grading US coins.

Next, you need to fully identify your coin, some coins such as large cents or Morgan dollars are frequently collected by variety, where a common variety might sell for, say, $30, a rare variety might sell for $300. In order to accurately identify some of the smaller varieties you will need a loupe or magnifying glass. For these you can either search online for varieties or buy specialty books about it. Some of these guides will have a price guide for the varieties and so the value is there.

If you do not have a special variety of coin, you need a (roughly) up to date price guide. For US coins the standard is known as The Red Book (full title is A Guide Book to United States Coins), these can be purchased at booksellers such as Barnes and Noble or online at places like Amazon, they are also frequently found at stores such as Hobby Lobby. I wouldn't worry about getting the latest edition if your budget doesn't let you spend $20 on the latest one, but I'd recommend getting one published in the last 3 years, and also be aware that silver prices are fairly high and so the values of low-grade common date silver coins may be a bit low for older guides. You should be able to find some of the back-dated guides on Amazon or a used bookstore for a couple bucks.


Of course, for rare or expensive coins you might be best off going to a professional, trustworthy dealer for a more accurate evaluation.

Answer 5

If someone want to start a stamps collection, he should first buy a packet of whole-world stamps and an album. This will provide him some knowledge about different stamps from all over the world and how to sort them by countries.

Answer 6

I would start by collecting current date cents out of pocket change. Then, later, visit coin shops and flea markets to purchase those you can not find in circulation. I would not look at mail order companies for coins.

Answer 7

Start collecting stamps from your mail. Ask friends and family to do the same. The purchase of a couple of large packets of stamps from a stamp dealer is an inexpensive way to get started.