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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Check_M_All, post: 169948, member: 6661&quot;]Welcome aboard, Ryan. </p><p><br /></p><p>First off, congratulations on the finds. It is not unheard of, but pretty rare to find 2 silver quarters in a few weeks time.... I have yet to find one in my pocket change or even in looking through rolls of quarters from the bank. If you are curious, your two quarters contain around $2.40 worth of silver each (this is refered to as their intrinsic value or melt value). So even if they are beaten up a bit and carry no real premium as collector pieces, they still have a value well above their $.25 face value. Plus they come from a time when money meant something. </p><p><br /></p><p>There is great history in those coins... one of them even has been making its way around since WWII. Who knows who could have held and spent that coin before it found its way to you. These are some of the ideas that spur some of us as collectors. Coin collecting, stamp collecting, model railroads, planes... just about any hobby CAN be geeky. They can also be fun and enjoyable ways to spend time.</p><p><br /></p><p>I&#039;m going to make some suggestions seemingly against the sentiments of the others here, but I realize that not everyone wants to put money into books and spend hours, days or more researching to see if they want to pursue a hobby. So, go to the bank ask for some rolls of coins. Get some pennies (the purists only refer to them as cents) look for old wheat backs, look for older ones, 60&#039;s and 70&#039;s, that still have bright color to them (refered to as Red). Get some nickels. Search for 50&#039;s and older... you may find one that has a large letter (mint mark) over the dome of Monticello on the back. These are made of 35% silver and were produced for a few years during WWII because nickel was needed for the war effort. Half dollars can frequent yield older silver coins since they don&#039;t see as broad of a circulation, they haven&#039;t been picked through quite so much... anything 1964 and earlier is made of 90% silver. The rest of the 60&#039;s were 40% silver. This only goes for half dollars. They continued to put silver in them after 1964 to tribute JFK. By 1971 the half dollar was changed to the same composition as the quarter and dime. Also, if you find anything that just doesn&#039;t look right, something that looks like an error was made when the coins were produced, there could be something worthwhile there. This is the simplest and most cost effective way to see if you have a desire for collecting.</p><p><br /></p><p>You can also find a dealer and purchase common low-value coins. For under $20 you can get a nice selection of old silver coins that you&#039;re not likely to see in circulation... Mercury dimes can be had for about $1 a piece, silver quarters for about $2.50, Franklin and Walking Liberty half dollars for about $5.00. The Walking Liberty half dollar is a beautiful coin, and gives a sense of art and history that you just don&#039;t see anymore. Dealers often have bargain bins that you can look through and get different coins for cheap. It&#039;s not going to hurt you to pick up a few different coins that don&#039;t have presidents on them for a few bucks, and it may give you a direction in what interests you most. You may find that Indian Head Cents or Buffalo Nickels are your thing. Then you have an idea of what you most want to spend your time researching.</p><p><br /></p><p>This is how I started. Having a small collection of unusual coins that I found in bank rolls or purchased from a dealer at melt value gave me an interest to learn more. </p><p><br /></p><p>Read through some of the threads on the forum here. You can learn almost as much here as you can in some of the books that I have read. However, before you ever consider buying gold or high dollar rare coins, do exactly what was mentioned above, get the books. Study, study, study. There are plenty of people out there who will happily take your money and give you fake or overvalued coins in return. Everyone will make some mistakes along the way. Even seasoned collectors sometimes get scammed, but knowledge is the key to minimizing the risk.</p><p><br /></p><p>Again, welcome to the &quot;Hobby of Kings&quot; I hope you find it interesting and enjoyable.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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