I am completely new to coin collecting and dont know anything. Can anyone give me a list of coins I should be looking for in my pocket change and if I go to the bank and buy rolls of Quarters, Nickels, Dimes, Pennies, or is there a sight I can go to that tells me what to look for? thanks
:welcome: To the forum... And more important, welcome to coin collecting read, study, and study & read people. Find out what the losers are doing and don't do it is what my gramps always said. This place holds a wealth of free knowledge. Keep your head up and learn what you love and then execute what you love.
If you want a list, I would recommend purchasing some reading material. Namely, "Strike it Rich with Pocket Change", and the "Cherrypicker's Guide to Die Varieties". There are also other sites on the internet that have information on what to look for. Good luck and keep up the hunt!
Welcome to CT :welcome:. If you want some information to get you started just do a search right here on CT. A ton of knowledge along with different views on the subjects. If you are just starting out with coin collecting I would start with what coins you are interested in and what catches your eye then read up.on those. Good Luck
get books first. then a good place to start would be doing a "type" coin set. and then figure out what coin(s) series you want to collect/hunt for. I recommend buying cheap at first and then once you figured out more about grading certain coins then save up for better grades. better grades will always make you happier and will usually sell better if you should ever decide to sell them. the key to collecting coin is buying what YOU like. read, read, read. learn learn learn, do not be afraid to ask lots of questions. enjoy the hunt.:thumb:
As the others have said, it is best to learn as much as you can from reading and studying, not only about the various denominations that have been produced, but the errors and varieties and how they occur as well. There are many varieties and errors that you can find in pocket change, but it does not mean that all are valuable. Condition will be a big factor in determining value. Chris
Ok just got a nook ebook version of the red book I will try to go thorough that in the mean time i am going to try and finish my 50 states (both P and D) collection out of pocket change and try and get every 65-98 washington quarter out of pocket change.
What he said! Start there. For my first acquisitions if I was old enough to use a PC for posting, but had no prior experience I would start with a few pre-1964 proof sets still in the original wrapper. Get two or three of those (coin dealers if you live in a big town that has some, Ebay (from US sellers with Ebay stores, if you don't). Then sit back and read the red book and decide which coin type and era interest you. You will have to decide if you are doing this because you like coins and the history they represent, or are you doing it as an investment. Different directions require differing amounts of your money. PCGS and similar graded coins, although possibly a good long term investment (ask me in another 50 years) tend to be costlier than the same coin not sealed into a plastic slab. Alternatively, some of us (put me in that category) like the actual feel of handling old coins and now and then sticking my fingers into a bucket of silver coins. You lose that with the slabbed in plastic coins, but they are for investment, not fun. Do you want to do gold coins? As the red book shows there are lots of different ones. Same with silver coins. You will also need to decide if you want to bother with the newer base metal coins. Do you have interest in commerative coins that never circulated? Some do. To me they are medallions, not real coins, but it is a taste thing. Our Mint makes new commeratives every few weeks or so it seems. Usually in ridiculously large numbers. Enough I prattle.
I usually suggest you buy the $3 folders for each denomination and fill them with the nicest example you can find. My standard is that if a coin isn't "clearly superior" to the coin in my set to not substitute. You might find your tastes change over time to preferring either the least wear or the nicest strike and if you only add coins that are clearly superior you will never get rid of your favorites. These sets are a lot of fun to assemble but equally importantly you'll learn a lot in the process and you'll always have a handy reference collection so you can compare new finds to see if it's a variety. As you assemble the collection you'll learn about varieties. Do skip ahead and use the Cherry Pickers Guide and similar sources to improve your chances of finding rare coins in lower grades but your chances of finding such coins early in your search aren't extremely high anyway. There are unreported varieties out there. For instance there's an '84-D/D quarter that is still unlisted and many others. Keep your eyes open and use a low power (`8X) lens to aid in variety detection. I don't bother with varieties that can't be seen with 5X but you need a little higher power for those you've never seen before. There's nothing wrong with the more subtle varieties but they don't interest me to collect.
