This might sound like an odd suggestion, but I believe one to the best ways to get new collectors and retain those on a budget would be to create a poor persons collection guide (roadmap?). The criteria for this guide could be: Best grade possible for under $100 for each type of coin (while not able to include all coins and variations, I believe a list like this would spark intrigue). I believe the ground framework of the research could be, looking at total production of all years of each coin type, rather than searching by the actual year, or denomination, this guide would favor the actual design type. If you are like me, you shop on a budget, maybe its a comfort issue, maybe its an income issue. But you want to be able to collect history to some degree. Maybe I am ranting crazy talk, or maybe there already exists a dedicated "guide". Let me know your thoughts!
The more you learn, the further your dollar goes. Some people buy one very nice coin, keep it for a while, sell it and buy another. Find a means that works for you. Sometimes you have to let your budget dictate your desires.
One approach may be to learn how to recognise those varieties which collectors seek within a series, in other words, learn how to cherry-pick. If you are good at it, and are willing to do the legwork of looking then you could build up an interesting (possibly also valuable) collection while spending relatively little money. I have picked up very scarce varieties in the IHC, half-dime and Large cents series this way.
Exactly my response. I am a fifty year collector. Forty of those were as a poor man and the Redbook was my Bible.
+1. We apparently have similar collecting interest. Cherry-picked many Large cents, including during early days of eBay.
I’d recommend looking at budget coins at a coin shop, especially in the “junk” bins. Find a type that speaks to you and captures your interest without investing a whole bunch, and sell what you aren’t interested in. Because you live in the US does not mean you have to collect US coins (which tend to be overpriced for what they are). Buy a variety of interesting coins and see what sticks. You may find you like old British coppers or inexpensive medieval silvers, for example. There are tons of choices in the sub-$100 price range; don’t feel limited to US coins. The what was a book?
GET A COPY OF THE CHERRY PICKER GUIDE. Search coin rolls until you can afford to buy from coin shops. Flip better varieties to fund your coin purchases. Bootstrap yourself. good luck.
There are a lot of books for beginning coin collectors. Just do a search on Amazon and you'll find plenty of choices. I read Whitman's Guide to Collecting Coins last year and found it has very good information for beginning collectors, but I thought it was written at a level that might be difficult for the typical 8 to 10 year old beginning collector to understand.
