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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;GoldCoinLover, post: 611823, member: 4336&quot;]Well I collect gold coins, mainly US. But from anywhere really. Welcome! I guess you could say I accumulate them.</p><p><br /></p><p>The best thing, and I wish I did this more, was learn how to grade coins. Because a grade of a coin is a matter of opinion, generally the grades from one person to another can vary. It is not a quantitive thing like weather the coin is real or not.</p><p><br /></p><p>Go to coin shows, look at as many slabbed coins as possible. Get a friend, who is willing to teach you how to grade and spend the time to do so. There are some good books by the ANA on how to grade . Photograde and the ANA standards book is good, also PCGS guide to grading and counterfeit detection. Grades vary because there are many different variables in grading such as eye appeal, strike, luster and wear.</p><p><br /></p><p>A great way to learn about coins is to go to Heritage auction archives and look at coins. Take some classes at the ANA summer seminia. I took a Grading, Conservation and counterfeit detection class when they were in phoenix here. I mainly took it just for the counterfeit detection, which is what I study.</p><p><br /></p><p>Here are some great books to get you started. You may also want to get some error books on coins, the cherrypickers guide is great for finding die varieties (which means back in the old days when dies were engraved by hand each one was slightly different, because they were engraved by hand, thus creating a slightly different variety in each series of coin)</p><p><br /></p><p>Ken potter is great as well (research it on the net), and CONCEA (sp?)</p><p><br /></p><p>Here are some good books to get you started:</p><p>Here&#039;s some extra books you can read:</p><p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Cherrypickers-.../dp/0794820530" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.amazon.com/Cherrypickers-.../dp/0794820530" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon.com/Cherrypickers-.../dp/0794820530</a></p><p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Numismatic-For.../dp/0974237124" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.amazon.com/Numismatic-For.../dp/0974237124" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon.com/Numismatic-For.../dp/0974237124</a></p><p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/United-States-.../dp/0914490214" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.amazon.com/United-States-.../dp/0914490214" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon.com/United-States-.../dp/0914490214</a></p><p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Official-Guide.../dp/0375720502" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.amazon.com/Official-Guide.../dp/0375720502" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon.com/Official-Guide.../dp/0375720502</a></p><p><br /></p><p>And finally here&#039;s a great article on counterfeit detection:</p><p><a href="http://www.pcgs.com/articles/article1796.chtml" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.pcgs.com/articles/article1796.chtml" rel="nofollow">http://www.pcgs.com/articles/article1796.chtml</a></p><p><br /></p><p><a href="http://hermes.csd.net/~coneca/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://hermes.csd.net/~coneca/" rel="nofollow">http://hermes.csd.net/~coneca/</a> (Error variety wealth of information)</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="http://koinpro.tripod.com/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://koinpro.tripod.com/" rel="nofollow">http://koinpro.tripod.com/</a></p><p>Ken Potter&#039;s site, a goldmine for error collectors.</p><p><br /></p><p>It may also help to understand intimately how coins are struck at the different mints, throughout history. This may help understanding the process of errors easier. For example, understanding how striking coins helps with learning counterfeit detection. A good example of this is a depression, which are filled in luster crators on a coin, because they were struck, unlike a contact mark on a coin which is shiny and does not blend in with the fields. The metal flow from the counterfeit transfier die with the planchet caused the metal to flow over the coin, creating luster in the depression.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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