We were all rookies at coin collecting when we began. My question is what was your biggest rookie mistake. I have two that stand out in my mind. First I went years without trying to learn about the hobby. I just tried to fill albums. That led to my second mistake. I returned every war nickel to circulation if I didn't need them in the albums. This could help current and future rookies. Tell us some of your rookie mistakes!!!
Not buying multiple rolls of indian head pennies about 58 years ago for 2 cents each. I was only interested in silver, at the time. This is the very first thing that comes to mind when someone poses your question.
I first saw this post this morning and I've been thinking about this throughout the day. I don't know that I've made "mistakes" in my collecting, but there's certainly things I would do differently if I could do it over again. The main thing would be to set goals right out of the gate. What sets do I want to try to build, what grades do I want to be in, foreign or domestic, modern, classic or ancients, etc. etc. etc. When I started out I was an all-over-the-place-hoarder-accumulator. Now I consider myself an actual "collector".
I feel I am in the same boat as Buffalo. I never started out expensive I learned a lot by roll hunting and reading CT, that led me to even more research so I really don't mind my hoarder style except I have money tied up into probably a half a ton of metal disks. LOL I am thinking of moving to a heavily humid area and I don't want my coins to get ruined in rolls and in cabinets. I have to figure out how to liquidate some coins and they are mostly raw and a variety of some sort. I have made a huge quandary for myself.
I once sold some silver coins to some kids while attending Junior High school, think they were Walkers. I went and bought a concert ticket and some party favors to see Black Sabbath in 1982 or was it 1983? I forget now. Maybe it wasn't a mistake after all. Still have the memories. To this day, only 3 of the 6 of Us friends are no longer with Us. RIP guys.
Buying raw coins sight unseen from coin magazine ads. And not knowing how to grade them either. Result: lots of coins cleaned and whizzed that were really XF/AU but sold as MS. Expensive lesson…
