I'm just curious if you guys think that starting out collecting coins with buffalo nickels is a good place to start. Not expensive uncirculated ones, just the ones taht cost like 50 cents.
You can start anywhere but be aware that Buffs are hard to grade and you will be hard pressed to complete a set with the difficult grades for 50 cents each. On the other hand Jeffersons are cheaper (but you will have to buy more of them) than Buffs. Good Collecting.
You'll be able to get a few at that price, but most of them won't have any visible dates. They are certainly nice coins to collect but most Buffs, even in well worn condition are going a few bucks each. If you wish to keep your cost as low as possible look for Roosevelt dimes, Jefferson nickles, and Lincoln cents. And try searching rolls so you get the coins for face value. You may well find a few of the older designs like Liberty dimes and perhaps some Buffs as well.
The guy who owns the store said that he'd give me decent ones, dates visible and the mint and everything for 50 cents each. I'm friends with his grandson so maybe that has something to do with it, but if I can get in decent condition for that much do you think it'd be good to start off like that?
At todays market prices I would jump on the opportunity to collect buffalo nickels with visible dates for only .50 cents. I would jump all over that one!!!
I think starting with buffalo nickels is a great idea. The coin is a classic. As long as you can see the date and mintmark the coin is probably good enough to collect without going crazy over the precise grade. Jefferson nickels and lincoln cents just don't have the same excitement as the buffalo.
Another way to start collecting is to search rolls of coin from the bank(s). For example, take $25.00 and get a roll of dollar coin. Search the roll for any SBA's that are Near dates or Sac.'s that were never released for circulation (See Red Book for coin information). This way you are getting very collectable coins for face value and at face value it doesn't matter if you can't grade because in the end when you can grade you haven't lost anything. If you find nothing in a roll exchange it, but mark your rolls in a way that you can easily identify them in the future so you don't search them twice. You do have to replace anything you keep out of a roll before returning it to the bank. I've had great success and fun doing this. Good luck.
