started collecting coins about a year ago. my best finds are a 1897 indian head penny, and a 1936 mercury dime. just was wondering if i had anything of value. i was also wondering if there was a good price guide i could buy for US coins. thank you!
You can't go wrong with the Red Book price guide. It's available at bookstores like Barnes & noble or amazon. It's a great reference guide for beginning collectors and advanced alike. Next I would recommend the Cherrypicker's Guide, great if you enjoy going through bank rolls or bank bags. Welcome to Cointalk.
Welcome and remember the red book is only good for approximating values. A better method is to check what things are selling for at auction. Look on places like Heritage auctions, teletrade, and Ebay for what others are paying. Numismedia also has an online fair market price guide which also has ball park values. In order to assign a value to a coin you will first need to learn how to grade. A great place to start is a book entitled The official ANA grading standards for united states coins by Kenneth Bresset.
For someone just starting out, I think that auction results for mostly high-end, high-priced coins can be a little overwhelming. When I was just starting out (1966), I had a "Let's Collect Coins" booklet, but no Redbook yet. The coin collector/dealer who lived down the street from me wrote some prices in my book from recent auctions (such as an 1838-O half dollar that sold at the C. J. Sale for $14,000, and an 1894-S Barber dime that sold at the 1965 Century Sale for $12,250), and some dates of common Indian Head cents (1881-1909, excluding the S mints) that he would sell for the listed price of 16 cents each. Guess which group of coins I was more attracted to at the time.
Yeah...right now I just have the redbook and I hope to soon bye the Cherrypickers guide hen I get 40 rolls of pennys from my grandpa as wages for doing chores..Oh..and I was going to say that My grandpa went to his bank today adgot me a Uylessess S. Grant Dollar...It was a D mintmark so yay...
Like others have said, the Red Book is great, but auction records are better for prices. And Taylor, no offense but please turn on spell check. :yes:
If someone is just starting out with an 1897 penny and a 1936 dime, I think they have a way to go before auction records, especially from high-end firms, will have any meaning. The Redbook is a good place to start, but I think that jumping from there to auction records is a little much for a beginner, especially since there are so many variables associated with auctions and a new collector should really start with low-end coins that rarely if ever appear in auctions.
