Welcome to the neighborhood! If I'm decrypting your question correctly, are you asking if it is best to use old coins (circulcated?) for a collection? If so, is your second query asking which denominations and/or types would be best? Help me out, here! Chris
Coins do not have to be old to collect. The coins minted today are collected by many people. The old coins the we collect today were new coins when a collector put them away in their collection. Collect what makes you happy.
Picking coins out of circulation is a great and cheap way to get started. If it were easy to start out with a complete set of flawless coins right from the outset, then it would be a pretty sterile and pointless hobby, aye? I wish I could find the link to an article published through either about.com or associated content along the lines of "How to start a coin collection in 15 minutes". I know collectors who have never bought a coin for much more than face value, they get them from friends, family and from pocket change. In my far from humble opinion they are more valid hobbyists than people spending thousands on coins purely as an investment. A coin collector should want to look at his coins, feel them in his hand (or her, sorry ladies). There should be a feeling of real satisfaction in filling a gap in your collection. Some rich guy buying up bullion coins which go into a bank vault, never seeing the light of day until it's time to cash in does nothing for the hobby except inflate prices. I would venture to suggest that most of those people couldn't tell you anything about their "collection" other than how much they hope to make from it. Welcome ComEd! Everyone has to start somewhere.
Some collectible coins can be rather new and valuable. Recently a cent from 1992 was sold on eBay for $12,500. Any coin can be a collectible. But the coin that is most in demand by collectors is generally the most valuable. So, old or new, there are people who collect both.
I believe ComEd was asking how to get to the Coin Forum. It is common knowledge that Paper Money collectors are a very bright bunch, so he stopped here to ask directions. Welcome to Coin Talk ComEd.
Hi, ComEd. Welcome to CT. I looked at your profile, and see that you are from Rockford Illinois. If your avatar is actually a picture of you, you appear to be over 18 years old. Are you a product of the Illinois public school system? Based on your post, I'd say that teachers are WAY overpaid in Illinois. Please take the time to reenter your post in ENGLISH!
What was the name of the movie where they get into a time machine, and jump ahead a couple hundred years into the future? They come to find out they were in the mist of a famine, because they were watering the crops with Gatorade? That movie might not be a comedy guys!!! We are in deep!!! Lord save us!!! I say lets go off topic on this one! Anyone brave enough to explain to him why the Federal Reserve System is an IOU Scam? Sort of like the Dumb & Dumber movie with the briefcase full of IOU's towards the end. "They're as good as Money" Printing to much money is like Oxygen! You get to much you get to high, and not enough and your going to die. (Extra Credit for the group that wrote that one) It might help explain why a healthy diet is getting pretty hard to afford right now. F'in paid $4 bucks for some Russian Rye today? I also heard Iron is a good source for healthy brain function, but only moderation!