I have a small collection of coins some common date Morgans, Peace Dollars, Rosie's, Merc's, Walking Liberty Halves and even a Capped Bust Quarter. I was thinking of picking a couple of coins say Lincoln cents and Jefferson Nickles (this is just a guess). I was just going to collect all the common dates I can in the best quality I could find or afford. I would use these as a starting point to learn about grading, value, toning, damage, errors etc. Is this a good point to start? I am thinking that by coin roll hunting I might be able to fill out an entire set and buy the ones I don't have (I am doing the learning on the cheap). Since I am new I figured stick to common dates and I won't run up on as many counterfeits and scammers. I'm sure they are out there for common dates but most likely less of them. When I am serious about a key date I would post it here for comments. Am I nuts or on the right track? Thanks for your comments. Ice
Sounds goo to me but buy the book Sounds good to me but buy the book. Get Red Book, grading book or others to help you learn. My $3000 worth of books have helped more than all the advise ever given!
sounds good to me. thats kinda like how i'm starting. with some rolls from the bank and a whitman folder. then i go and buy the CoOl coins. -mike
You should read the mesacoin interview in my signature. In that article, Arizona Jack provides some great advice on how to educate yourself on pennies and cleaned coins.
Frankly I'd start with the Jefferson nickels, and as a second choice, Roosevelt dimes. Lincoln cents are hot at the moment. Jump on the neglected stuff while people are looking the other way.
Check with your Local Library or if you are near a community or 4 year college, ask the librarian about getting a library card. Especially the Comm. Colleges participate in the "interlibrary loan program" which can find book requests and deliver locally. Sometimes there is a small fee for the media mail postage, sometimes not. If the book is more valuable, they sometimes ask for a deposit to cover them until returned. Using this local program, you can borrow books to read, and you can then decide if you need a copy yourself. A grading guide such as ANA is very important to have yourself. But if you are interested in Buffalo nickels, check amazon or another source to get the ISBN numbers, and go to the library. I usually print out the whole amazon blurb, highlight the ISBN number and give the pages to my librarian. If it has been out of print for decades and Amazon "used" price is $300, you probably won't get it. Don't let money get in the way of knowledge! Welcome to the forum!! Jim
Your doing what 99.99% of the collectors on Earth probably did. I know that is how I started. For now, unless you have the money, don't rush off and purchase a pile of books. Use that money on coins, Albums, 2x2's, etc. The main thing is the Red Book for beginners. It is full of all the basic information you need for now. Also, don't worry about the grades of coins when you first start collecting. That is one of the ways people get discouraged and stop collecting thinking they have to have all MS coins and just can't afford them. When I started I first attempted to just fill Albums. After some time I started second Albums of the same things and moved all the best into Album #1. I've been doing this for a long time now and have over 100 Whitman Albums with all the #1 Albums in the best or highest grades. If you start out with just coins, eventually you WILL acquire better and better ones. And you will not get discouraged attempting to fill an Album. Also, just looking for a coin you need is a lot more fun than buying one all the time.
I have to agree with this. I started with the pennies 1909-2007 and I just keep finding better and better grades of circulated. It's fun and it's cheap. I on the other hand kinda dabble in all kinds of coins. If I aquire it by roll searching, it was a bonus but if I see something I like, I will save for it. Trying to fill an album can make you feel stressed. I speak for myself when I say that because I am thinking I will never find all this stuff and I want a new coin everyday etc. Then there always seems to be that one or several coins for that set that are going to cost me my life savings to get and will most likely never own. So the best advise I have gotten is to save for what you really want. Collect what makes you happy and its a marathon, not a sprint. Personally I just went through my extra coins (all circulated etc.) and put them in 2x2 cardboard cards and labeled them. I will grade them as I learn more, but then bought the 2x2 plastic inserts for a folder. Seems like they hold 16 coins ( to lazy to get up and look) but I am quite happy with that. I can flip through them now. They aren't in a tube or in a box etc. It was not only fun doing it, now I can fill it with even more of a certain type and move on to something else if I don't feel the need to get every single coin of a series etc. The more I learn, the more money I have to spend later in my life, I will continue to get better coins. For now though, it's quite relaxing, fun and practical. Hope I didn't babble too long. Hope it helps.
