Does anyone have any ideas of what coin to get, there are so many and maybe you have recommendations or pics of your favorite coin. Please help.
You need to determine what it is that you like about coins. I think most people have some sort of theme - they like coins with animals, stars, women, coins from certain time periods, big coins, small coins, odd shaped coins, coins from certain countries, coins made of silver, bronze, gold. What is it that you like about coins? What price range? We need to know that to make good suggestions.
Wow...so many coins. When I was a kid (in the early Stone Age), it was popular to collect series from circulation. The things you can find from circulation now are mostly the State/National Park/Whatever Else quarters, the series of nickels they have come out with, the recent series of Lincoln history cents, and possibly the Presidential dollars. You can get albums for all of these and you can get rolls from the bank to search. You can always do a series for any coin. Along with this, I wanted to get one of every denomination of coin the USA had made (from e-bay, shops or stores or a coin club if you have one in your area...look online). There is also the fascinating world of foreign coins (I still get a kick out of finding coins from countries I don't have yet) and possibly (dark, scratchy voice) you can come over to the dark side of ancient coins. Whatever, the field is VERY large, just don't forget to get books...if you don't have a Red Book, get one.
Well I would like to get coins from the 1800's or early 1900's and I like medium size, prize range about 50$, and I would like to get a foreign coin because I have enough u.s. Right now.
I should also add, you posted this in the world section of the site so I assume you're interested in world coins. If you can find a coin shop in your area, go in there and ask if they have a bin of world coins where everything is 10 cents or a quarter. Most do. You can look through that and probably see thousands of coins. Go through it and see what catches your eye. That's how I got started.
From the early 1900s I really like the coin from Italy, they seem to rock it artistically...kind of classical style.
I myself collect mostly world coins as topical/themed collections. "coins with insects" my personal favorite, "coins with certain stars", "coins with hands", "coins with small coins on the coin as the design itself", odd shaped, some error coins, and a large MISC. world coin section. my recommendation to you is... buy a Krause World Coin Catalog from years/dated 1700-1800 and look threw it page by page to see what interesting coins get your personal attention. I am assuming you are into world coins here. go to a coin show and look at thousands of coins.
Kevin: You are flying the Irish tricolor so I assume your heritage is similar to mine. I started collecting Irish coins after reading a great book "For Want of Good Money" by Edward Colgan. It is out of print but you can purchase it through ABE Books. I would strongly suggest that invest in numismatic literature to understand the history of coins (Roman, Greek, Canadian, Italian, German states). I collect coins that speak to my heritage and where I have lived: Irish, Canadian, Newfoundland and Japanese. I have also developed an interest in Victorian Indian coins. The Victorian one rupee is especially fascinating given all its permutations. I came across this interest by reading Blogs here. Good luck. Slainte, John
Forgot to mention: Join your local coin club and when and where possible attend coin shows - observe, ask questions (however dumb you may think they are), research and read.
Don't let it overwhelm you either. It's a hobby that can be whatever you want it to be. Some people like to geek out over how coins are made and all the fine details. Other people couldn't care less about that stuff. Some look at coins under magnification and obsess over minute details, and others don't. Don't feel like there's a checklist for what you need to know or do to be a collector. Just do what interests you.
Be patience, I thought I wanted to collect old coins and have finally figured out it's ERRORS that really catch my eye....
I'd get several pounds of world coins and go through them. See for yourself what coins you fancy. I stick mainly with 20th century coins because they are abundant, affordable, and fascinating.
Kevin, Deciding what to collect can indeed be a challenge. It can be overwhelming because there are just so many things to collect. For me it is worldwide 1800-1900, and 1872 in particular, it is 100 years before I was born. I also like large cents and pennies, half pennies and even farthings. My daughter collects Asian from 1900-1950 although I bought a farthing for her yesterday. We both like coins with lots of design elements. Good luck and have fun. Del
