First I'll give a little background about myself. I am 14 years old and I live in the US in Illinois. I have been interested in coins for a couple of years now, but I never really had a collection yet. Actually, I made a Cointalk account back in 2011 I think but I forgot the password so I created a new account . I think coins are a very cool hobby because they are an important part of history and are very easily obtainable and are just plain cool . Back in 2011 or so I started a very small wheat penny collection comprising of a handful of common dates and that is all. Would it be a good idea to try to finish that collection? My budget is super small (actually, all the wheats I have were compiled out of several 3$ wheat rolls) so would pursuing a different coin be more beneficial economically? I think I decided not to collect silver coins because of the price, but I have noticed that silver is only worth about half as much now in 2015 compared to 2011-2012 (IIRC silver was around 30~35$ an ounce?). Lastly, I was wondering if the prices generally of coins have increased since about 2012? Thanks!
Collect whatever interests you. It doesn't have to be a complete set, you can mix it up a little bit. Mercury dimes, war nickels, steel cents are all pretty cheap. There are also tokens, world coins and ancients that can be collected on a budget. There are no rules, do some reading and studying and see what interests you.
Wheat cents make perfect sense with a small budget. You can find them in rolls of cents still; so you could simply roll search to fill collection needs. At the same time as doing that you could save up for the semi's and key dates. Also may want to consider nickels which at $2 a roll are easy to roll search also. Also to add you could consider trading any extras you find here on CT for ones you need.
Welcome to CT! You write very well for your age. Jefferson Nickels are perhaps the easiest series to get started with. Almost the whole series could be collected from pocket change. Lincoln cents are also a good place to start, but there are a few stoppers that will run you near or over $100 (1909-S, 1909-S VDB, 1914D, 1931S). That being said, if this is going to be a several year or lifelong hobby for you, I would just take some time and buy what appeals to you in the beginning. Your collection will (probably) gain focus over time.
Seems that is where many have started. I did because of the price of the coin for what ever condition they might be in. I was able to spend a few dollars to get quality wheats. For you age you have good knowledge for what you want to do. Go for it and have fun.
Set your goal and be realistic. If your budget is small, continue on the pennies and save up for those opportunities that come up, like when someone appreciates your enthusiasm and gives you a great deal on a 1909-S penny, and work on finishing that collection. What I get out of the hobby is a wonderful US History lesson - far better than I received in school. As you learn, you will learn about the coins, where they came from and how they became what they are. Also, being so young, you might want to focus on modern day coin collections that will increase in value over time. A state quarter collection can be affordable where most coins are at face value. When you retire, that collection will be 50some years old and will have gained value in that time. But set a goal that you believe you can achieve and figure out the budget to get there. Then go after it. The nice thing is that if you are careful about spending, you can always sell any partial collection for about what you paid for it. So you can switch and not feel trapped into a collection that lost your passion. Good luck!
The nice thing about wheat pennies is most of them aren't expensive, so you can start out cheap and then once you're happy with those you can start up with the semi-keys and finish out with the keys. I'm currently at the stage of getting the semi-keys, and still plugging along.
Always love to see YN's these days. They are the only ones to think silver is cheap right now lol. If you were local to me I'd put you to work sorting through my wheaties hoard, nothing beats hands on experience. In may not be a bad idea to check with your local coin dealers and see if they need help sorting through some coins. It's a good way to learn and expand your collection
Hi and welcome to Cointalk and to the fun world of coin collecting. I started at about the same age you did, I was 10. Now, 50 years later I still love getting a roll of pennies from the bank and looking through them to see what waits inside. I like the wheats too! If you have an album you will find that the last few dates will be hard to find. That is when you want to start doing some trading. My first ever trade was 5 rolls of wheats for one 1958 Flying Eagle. The Flying Eagle is still my favorite coin, and I still love wheats. I also still get rolls of pennies at the bank, and look through them. I usually find about one wheat for every 3 rolls I go through (on average). I find it amazing that you can still find a penny that is 70, 80, even 100 years old in circulation. ok you asked if you should keep doing wheats. Yes but... it will be harder and harder to find the ones you don't have from looking in rolls that you buy. Even though they say "unsearched", you can be sure that someone somewhere in time did search them. Maybe not the person selling them, but someone did. So at some point you will need probably need to start a different collection or find a way to get the ones you don't have. Most of my collection has come from looking through rolls you can get at the bank; pennies, nickles dimes and so on. I look for coins that are worth more than face value, then I either sell them or trade them to buy or trade for the ones that I can't find. A really great book for knowing what to look for is the "Cherrypickers Guide to Rare Die Varieties of US Coins" the first one, (volume 1) is about pennies and nickles. You can also look for some suggestions on this site. So, lets say you search a BUNCH of rolls, like 100 rolls. most you will roll back up and take back to a bank. in that many rolls, you might find 30 wheat pennies, one you might need for your album, another might be a little better grade and upgrade your album, then you would have 29 left. You could trade for one you don't have or sell and save for that really hard to get one. In those same rolls you will also find some other little good finds, and soon you will be trading for all kinds of ones you like, and all starting with a penny you got for face value. I kind of like the idea of doing the more modern pennies too. You can fill an entire album from rolls you get a face value. Maybe you can buy some rolls at the bank and search through them. You can fill an album pretty quickly. Jefferson nickles are easy too. Another fun thing to do is make a "type set" where you have one coin of each type, so a wheat, memorial, all four 2009's, and a shield. Then a buffalo, Monticello, the 4 "westward journey" and the new Jefferson nickles. It may take a little looking but you can find all of those in circulation. Oh also you asked if coin prices have gone up much since 2011. well, a little, but not much. Coin prices usually go up pretty slowly. The biggest value is when you find one in circulation that is worth more, like a wheat in your pocket change and it turns out to be worth 5, 10, 25 cents or even more. Now that's a nice gain. Well, any way, that is one way to do it. The most important thing is to do what interests you. There are LOTS of choices. Follow your own interest.
I would start with Jeff nickels. Its HARD to find wheats in circulation, even commonest dates, and there are quite a few high priced rarities. You can actually complete a set of Jeffs for face value, from circulation. This is a better introduction to collecting than spending all your time and money on Lincolns at shows, dealers, etc.
A complete set of Wheats will be expensive. Most of us started collecting current series that could be mostly completed from circulation/new rolls from a bank - great inexpensive way to learn about collecting. Rarity and condition are important factors - look for the best condition (grade). The Parks Quarters is a challenging series to complete because the mintages in the first few years were very low - my son and I started looking for these two years ago and have only found about half of them. Welcome to the hobby, a hobby that can payoff. Oh yeah, start by buying a Red Book, read the introduction and browse through the rest.
Welcome, and this is the best reason to be involved in the hobby. You think it's cool and you enjoy it. Keep that in mind. A small budget need not interfere with your reasons for being involved that you stated above. Cool and enjoyable are the big things you're looking for. Economic prudence not so much (other than not getting ripped off). If you can't afford individual coins to finish your wheat set and there are other coins you'd like to purchase because you can afford them, you think they're cool, and you'd enjoy collecting them, by all means do so. Develop an eye for a good value at any price point. Prefer a solid VG 1879 Indian cent over a corroded, cleaned one with XF detail. Pass up the "bargain" coin that has a slight problem that you think you'll be able to live with, since the problem will only seem worse with time. In doing so, you're developing the discipline you'll use to buy nice coins when budget becomes less of an issue. Collect information as well as coins. Become knowledgeable about that which you can't afford, since there's more to the historical aspect of collecting than simply owning the artifacts. Go to shows and ask politely to see coins you can't afford. Volunteer at a show, offer to help someone assemble an exhibit. See if you can get a full YN scholarship to attend a class at the ANA Summer Seminar next year. Some view this as a buying opportunity, but remember to stay in your budget and don't compromise on quality. Perhaps get a dime album and start filling it with circ. Roosevelts and Mercuries. Some have, some haven't. I wouldn't preoccupy yourself with this so much, as your objective with the hobby should be enjoying something cool. You don't want to become paralyzed by market fluctuations, so don't look at it as an investment.
If you do decide you want a silver collection - Jefferson Nickels are a great place to start - since it's a relatively common coin even in good condition, and the war nickels are technically 40% silver. I completed my entire collection in a year, and even with a splurge on an MS grade 1950-D nickel (at 10 bucks!) I was able to complete a nice AU/BU set for well under $100 including a nice book.
Wheat Cents are where I started, and look at what happened with me. Lol. Yes, they're a great place to start. Why don't you save your money for now and get into roll-searching? Get someone to get you some rolls from the bank. Just return the ones you don't want and use that money to buy some more. You can't lose at your age doing that, as it just uses up time. And you'll be surprised what you find in those rolls if you keep at it long enough.
I suggest you start with something currently circulating, that way you can go to the bank and get your coins for face value while your opinions and tastes mature. Buy an album and try to complete it. Lincoln's '59 - date, State quarters, National Parks quarters, dimes, nickels. Heck, if you can afford it, try to do an album of each. I've never done this and recently I started looking for circulating coins for a fellow CoinTalker and it's been a lot of fun.
