First of all, let me say, I am by no means a coin expert. This advice is simply meant to help people who are new to coins, and it covers most of what I have learned in the past few months, a lot of it here at cointalk. The advice is in no particular order, but I consider it good advice, and I'd like to thank all the kind folks here at coin talk for putting up with me : ) If you guys see any problems with my advice, please feel free to say so, so people don't get misinformed from me! 1.Do not clean your coins, if you need them cleaned, due to damage or corrosion, let a professional do it, unless your coins have little to no value. 2.Buy a copy of the red book, and study it, but do not use it as a price guide. If you do, you will end up paying too much for most of your coins. Instead, rely on ebay completed listings, and heritage auction's realized prices: http://coins.heritagegalleries.com/common/auction/pricesrealized.php 3.Learn how to grade, it will help you when you buy slabbed or raw coins. Just because a coin is slabbed by a reputable company, doesn't mean that the grade is right. Everyone makes a mistake sometimes. Some good guides for grading are the PCGS guide to grading and counterfeit detection, as well as the ANA grading guide. 4.Buy a set of greysheets. You can purchase and download them for 4 dollars at www.greysheet.com, this list the prices most dealers will pay, as well as the price you should expect to pay at a dealer. 5.Only buy coins that are slabbed by reputable companies. These include, PCGS, NGC, ICG, and ANACS, and occasionally PCI. Here is a site that tells you how to recognize good PCI slabs: http://www.k6az.com/pci/pci.htm 6.Make sure that you store your coins in a place that has low humidity, and where they will not get jostled around. Also, make sure they are in a place where they won't get stolen. A good way to store your coins are in airtites, and also flips, but make sure that your flips do not contain PVC. If your flips are flexible, and do not snap when you bend them, they most likely contain PVC. 7.If you see a coin that has green crud on it, it quite possibly has PVC contamination, where the plastic has reacted with heat, and produced a compound which damages the coin through the formation of hydrochloric acid. If your coin has PVC residue, the best way to remove it, is to soak it pure acetone, until it is gone. Unless you are getting a coin at a steal price, it is best to avoid buying these coins. 8.Watch out for counterfeit coins. If you see a coin such as a 1909-s vdb, and it is not slabbed by a major coin grading company, you probably shouldn't buy it. There are some fakes that are so good, that only experts can see that these coins are fake. It would be terrible to shell out large sums of money for a counterfeit coin. 9.Do not use coins as an investment, unless you REALLY know what you are doing. Coins can be a good investment, or they can be a terrible investment. The coin market is extremely volatile, and if someone tells you a coin is an investment quality coin, they are probably ripping you off. Coins are best enjoyed, well simply for enjoyment's sake. 10.Many coin collectors use ebay. Ebay is home to some unscrupulous sellers who sell coins that are listed as ms-67 by SGS, one of many terrible grading services, and then link to the PCGS price guide. The PCGS price guide is usually inflated, and the coin you would potentially buy, probably isn't a 67, unless it is in one of the slabs mentioned above. Make sure when you do buy a coin, that the seller has good feedback, preferably a return policy, and accept paypal. Paypal protects you up to 1000 dollars on purchases, which can help prevent you from getting ripped off. 11.Often times people dip coins to make a coin look like it has original luster. On high grade silver coins, it may be impossible to tell, but on lower grade coins after a while it should be easy to spot. Often times these coins are cleaned as well. You should check for a dipped coin, by looking directly around the edges of the raised areas of the coin. If these are darker in color than the rest of the coin, there is a good chance it has been dipped. Also look for numerous shallow scratches on a coin. If you see these, the coin may have been whizzed or cleaned. Here is a picture of a coin that was both dipped and cleaned. There are two coins in the picture below. The one on the left has been cleaned. Note that the coin has been worn smooth, yet has even toning, much too polished for a coin in that condition. The coin on the right, has been dipped. Note the darkness surrounding the lettering amongst other places 12. Finally, ask questions, read all you can, find a reputable dealer, PNG dealers are good, and enjoy the hobby. The more you learn, the more fun you will have!
Great post, and a fabulous overview that all beginners should read!!! Unfortunately, I'm going to have to disagree with your choice of examples for cleaned coins. In my opinion, both the coins you showed have been cleaned/dipped. The second one was done long ago and the coin has since retoned. Truth be told, most bust halves from this time have been cleaned in their lifetime, so it becomes a matter of what you can accept. Here is an example of an original skin half dollar: Here is an example of a bust half that has been cleaned, but has since retoned in an album: Again, great post....Mike
Great summary. Here are a couple of thoughts... Regarding #7, it was my understanding that acetone should not be used on copper coins, only silver. I'm not exactly sure of the best way to remove PVC from copper other than with a toothpick or soft toothbrush [and hope for the best]. Others are welcome to correct this if it is wrong. Regarding #9, the best pure investment coins seem to be the bullion coins or other coins when they can be obtained near or below melt value. Coins shouldn't be priced this low but sometimes are. If you plan on buying a scarce date MS65 coin as an investment, you are in a whole other realm and had better really really really know what you are doing.
Zane Great!....I hope collectors read that young or old...everyone learns something new everyday! Speedy
Great post, thanks for the advice. I think #9 is a great point. Don't lose sight of the fact that coin collecting is fun.
Absollutely a great post. To bad posts like this are not always at the top of forums for all to read. Then with an occational addition or modification it would become something that everyone could point to for all new collectors.
Thanks for a great post with excellent advice for both new and experienced collectors, imo. I've been collecting for several years now, and always learn something from informational posts on this forum.
Hello there,,, me i'm from Paris in France and as i do not have the possibility to take my personal airplane to go to my coin dealer in the USA (HAHAHAHAHA), i use Ebay to buy my certified coin and as Speedy said to me, read all the information in the forum about SGS, i would like to thank you a lot for all the information because as a new coin collector, i bought most of my certified morgan slabbed by NTC, PCI and NGS but i'm lucky, the rest ( the most important quantity of my collection) are slabbed by NGC, ANACS and PCGS. but for a very very long time i thought about buying some SGS Kennedy's to see the quality and i done a mistake before knowing you and the forum because on ebay, i bought several Kennedy slabbed by SGS and grade MS-70 or PF-70. when i will receive them, i will see the quality but i become to be scare about them now.... but it's done!!!! nicholas
