Guide for new and young collectors, how to buy coins safely and securely.

If possible I wish for moderators to make this a sticky.

The 1st thing for any new or young collectors is to purchase a coin price guide. One of the best one's out there is a called the "Red Book".

The red book is very helpful as it has:

Full Color Photos of Most US Coins.
Mintage numbers for most coins.
A small guide to help you grade a coin.
A price guide.

However please be aware that the price guide is not set in stone. Not everyone prices coins at this price, some may be lower, some may be higher.

The price guide is a just a tool to help you understand an estimate of the price. If the price guide shows a coin for $200, and someone wants $900, then the price guide prevented you from getting burned and over paying. There are unscrupulous people who will take advantage of a new collector. Buy the book BEFORE the coin.

If the price guide says $200, and someone wants $250, then it's up to you to decide if you want to buy it or not. Check other resources ( I will talk about this later) to see if you can get the coin cheaper, and if it looks as nice or nicer as the one you want.

Cleaning a coin will ruin it's value. But please remember that there is a difference between cleaning, and conserving a coin.

A cleaned coin will be worth much less, and you should not expect to pay as much for one.

However remember that someone can and will sell you a cleaned coin for full price, educate yourself the difference.

Here is a very good link:
http://coins.about.com/od/caringforcoins/f/shiny_coins.htm

Also remember that if a coin has had a hole drilled in it, if it's bent, deeply scratched, etc, it will be worth much less.

The BEST place to purchase coins are online auction sites such as:
Teletrade. (www.teletrade.com).
Heritage Auctions (www.ha.com).

Teletrade sells slabbed coins.

A coin that has been slabbed is a coin that is encapsulated in a plastic holder, graded, and serial numbered by a company.

Just like reputable places to buy coins, there are also reputable companies that slab coins. Only buy coins from these 3 companies.

PCGS
ANACS
NGC.

Now you may be thinking, why should I buy a slabbed coin?

Buying a slabbed coin:
Eliminates the need for you to grade a coin, it's already done with good accuracy. (Note that the grade is not always right, sometimes it slightly off).
Eliminates the need for you to tell if a coin has been cleaned or not. It will usually say "Cleaned" or "Genuine".

Buying a slab coin is a good option if you want a coin, but have not or don't have time to educate yourself.

Some people don't like slabbed coins, it's a matter of taste. A slab coin will cost more too.

Once you are confident of your coin skills, you can safely buy raw coins.

Another good website to bid and buy coins in eBay, and I'm sure you already knew of eBay.

Don't buy from sellers with low feedback, or low feedback percentages. Check their feedback for good reviews. There are many sellers on eBay that have 1000s of good feedback, and your better off buying a coin from them, because they will usually tell you the grade, and if it's been cleaned or not.

Coin dealers are another good place to buy coins. However if possible, google the dealer and check their reviews.

Some dealers will not be honest with you, but for the most part they will be, honesty is what keeps them in business.

If you have a flea market in your area, that is a good place too.

BUT...arm yourself with a high amount of education before going to one. Tons of fake coins exist and someone could easily sell you one, even if they did not know better. Flea markets can be a very good place to buy coins, provided you know what your doing. I've gotten some good buys from ones.

The most important thing that I can tell you, is to educate yourself quite a bit. If you know someone who collects coins, they can help to. If a dealer is really nice, sometimes they can give you advice too.

 

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Even when it's free, you don't take advice.

 

There are other companies you could buy from like if you wanted to crack the coin out or something and some people consider ICG reputable.

 

I dont know about anyone else but i got a lot out of that. Detecto do you have a blog or is there a way whenever you post something i can be emailed.

 

Please tell me this is sarcasm.

 

ICG is somewhat reputable, but I've heard some bad, The top 3 (anacs, pcgs, ngc), are very trusted and respected.

 

What bad experiences have you had with ICG?

 

"Cleaning a coin will ruin it's value."

However, a rock tumbler...

 

I've heard some people like ICG better but it's all opinion. However, that doesn't mean you CAN'T buy from other companies. This is pretty well written overall you should just change that to say something like "the top three" or something because what you said implies to NEVER buy from those other companies.

 

http://www.cointalk.com/t203708/

http://www.cointalk.com/t203708/#post1409127

 

"Buy the book before the coin" doesn't mean buy a Red Book. It means buying a guide to the particular area of collecting you want to specialize in. The Red Book is too general and limited in scope.

 

I truly, truly hope so. Now just give it a few hours and he will have his own blog up.


An even more helpful sticky would be a "Newbie's Guide to Detecto"

 

that is soo true green. i dont even know when the last time i looked at my redbook. i dont even know what year i have.. i get coin magazine and i think the prices are much more accurate. and i do lots of research before i buy a coin that i dont know alot about

 

It depends on the type of collector you are. Some people collect series, some (like me), collect it all. I am working on the Franklin series though.

 

This thread is cute (sarcasm here)

 

I agree with green, it is better to have more than one source for the coin you are buying. Magazines are good and so are guides on one specific coin.

 

Erm.

Honorable effort, but when I said "the best way to fight unscrupulous sellers <...> is to educate new collectors about them," this wasn't really what I meant. All of this stuff is really common sense stuff and it leaves out a bunch of stuff, some of which others have already pointed out - there is much, much, much, MUCH more that needs to be known than this. What is the difference between cleaning and conservation? How do you tell if a coin has been cleaned? If I'm buying online, what signs of cleaning should I look for in a photo? How can I tell if a photo's been edited? Can I tell if a photo's been edited? If there's a $900 price difference between an XF coin and an AU coin, how do I tell the difference between the two grades so I don't get tricked? How do you tell a forgery from a fake? How do I tell real errors from PMD/faked errors? Among other questions I'm probably forgetting.

Many of these can only be learned through experience. Also, IMO an online auction house is hardly the best place for a new collector to buy coins. Yeah, you can buy slabs all you want, but the best place for a new collector to buy coins would be at a dealer or coin show, under the guidance of someone with experience, so that the new collector can hold the coins, see them in person before purchase, examine them get an idea of what coins should look like and what certain grades look like, etc. An Internet photo can only show you so much and can hide things you would see in person. I know, I've experienced this myself, for better and for worse.

 

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Detecto, thanks for taking the time to write your post. Even if it isn't made into a sticky or perhaps is under appreciated, at least one person learned a lot from it ~~Yourself. Others will read it and find it lacking in certain areas, and some will give suggestions on improvement, and others will just feel that if they know it, everyone must also, and it was a waste of reading. Take such criticism with the thought that Yes, you could improve it, and keep working at extending your own knowledge.

Jim