Help for grandson new to coin collecting

My 9-year-old grandson happened to notice a president's name on a quarter. He asked about it. We went to the US Mint website and found the page about the commemorative quarters. Now he wants to see how many he can collect.

As I understand it, there are 50 state quarters, 6 US Territories, about 56 in the America the Beautiful set about the national parks, and 5 each year since 2022 in the American Women set. So that's 50+56+6+15 = 127 so far, but 5 more women coins are lferady planned for 2025. Is that correct?

After a little research, I think I'll get him a binder to keep them in and a magnifying glass (loupe?) to see them up close. Some sites also recommend some gloves for handling them.

I would appreciate any comments on these accessories and any I should add.

Also any recommendations for the binder, the magnifying glass, etc. There are so many options.

Is there a binder that has pages for the 127 coins so far and space for the additional women coins?

Thanks for the help

 

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Best of luck to your grandson. Here is a link to a site that has checklists.

Collector Checklists • Liberty Coin (libertycoinservice.com)

Find the ones you want and print them.

 

I recommend getting him a roll of 40 quarters to start off with. Take him with you to the bank and show him how a transaction is made for the roll.

These will be circulated coins so he will need 2x2 cardboard flips for quarters, a stapler and 20-pocket pages to put the coins in. You can find these online as well as a good 10-12 power loupe.

You can get an inexpensive binder at WalMart. A small pair of needle-nose pliers will help to flatten staples for the flips.

Go through the first roll with him and show him how to put the first couple coins in the flips and how to label them. Then….cut him loose and answer any questions that come up.

Any questions you can’t answer?…well, that’s what we are here for.

Good luck and let us know how you get on….imo…Spark

 

Congrat's Grandpa! You got yourself a young coin collector.
I'd say a Magnifying glass and a Loupe should suffice.
Here's a couple of books that I recommend (get updated editions).

 

[QUOTE="These will be circulated coins so he will need 2x2 cardboard flips for quarters, a stapler and 20-pocket pages to put the coins in.[/QUOTE]

I think he will have a lot more fun trying to full coin albums or folders than 2x2's. Check here: https://whitman.com/coin-albums-folders/

 

The Redbook.... I wore out my Redbook as a youngster and still refer to it daily.

 

Young eyes and modern coins only require a magnifying glass IMHO. A lighted one might be good. Recommend making a list of coins being collected so he can cross them off and see progress. Don't forget to teach him to look for best condition. Method of storage is up to you/him. If you use flips make sure they don't have PVC. Good luck and enjoy!!

 

You may be aware of this, but there are mintmarks to be considered as well. For modern Quarters the mintmarks are:


P - Philadelphia (Philadelphia quarters made before 1980 do not have any mintmarks)

D - Denver

S - San Fransisco (this mint makes only special collector coins that usually have low mintages, any quarters that bear "S" mintmarks are keepers)

W - West Point (in 2019 and 2020 the West Point Mint made quarters for circulation, but the mintages were limited to 2 million coins for each design issued those years. As of this writing they are worth upwards of $8 apiece.)

 

Contact ANA. For a ridiculously low fee, you can join if not already a member, and sponsor the youngster.
ANA has a special interest in the young collector, that is new to the hobby, and will send the youngster a LOT of stuff, and the youngster will also be able to access the website and be involved in on-line participation programs for youngsters.

The Hobbyist helps those that help themselves.....
(C'mon now, that was pretty witty and you guys know it!)

 

I would get him an album that has spaces for the quarters. One of the ways to tell if a person is a potential collector is to see if they have a strong desire to fill all of the holes. If they don't, they might not have the collecting bug.

He should start with the coins you find from circulation. There still should be a lot of State Quarters and everything that comes after them.

The Proof coins with the "S" mint marks are something else. You will have to pay for almost all of those unless you get very lucky. I once got a modern Proof quarter in change, but that is a once in a lifetime experience.

Those coins are also very fragile and easily damaged or can simply "go bad" in the album. I am not a fan of modern Proof singles. I prefer them in the sets.

But that is just me. I've been a collector for 66 years.

 

This was my first Red Book, the 13th Edition. My uncle gave it to me for Christmas in 1959. The Red Book is now up to the 78th Edition.

 

The best way to feed his enthusiasm is to buy a roll or two of Quartets at the bank and to buy him a blue Whitman’s folder. There are several to choose from just for the Quarters. One requires 2 folders as all the mint marks are there. Another is one folder and it just has one space for the design.
The coins will all be circulated so no need to buy flips, staplers, etc. Keep things simple as he’s only 10 years old. One of the fun thing about the folders is finding coins so you can fill in the hole. I still enjoy doing that and I’m seventy.

 

How many Quartets are in a Roll? Do I multiply by 4?
(An opening...its on you)

 

I’m not awake enough to understand. 40 quarters are in a roll so $10.00 but I think you know that. Today is the fourth tough day I’ve had in a row. Pain level is high around my middle.

 

When awake.
Humor failure on my part.
Of course you have my empathy re. the pain.

 

Wow. There are whole lot more quarters that I realized. Thanks

 

This is one of things you will learn about the U.S. Mint. They have a great idea, like the State Quarter series, which was very popular and did a lot for the hobby. Then they double and triple down on it and issue so much "stuff" that collectors get sick and tired of it.

One reason is that it's so easy to get a new design into production these days. In the olden times they had to make a plaster model and work with hardware that took two to three months to get a coin into production. In 1963, the Kennedy half dollar was designed and executed in record time, less than two months.

Today, they conceive of a design on a computer, and then use software to direct lasers to create the tools to make the dies to strike the coins.

 

I know and thank you. This is really throwing me off on everything.

 

My 7-year-old son and I were working on filling in albums with the state, national parks and women quarters. I'd recommend getting the album that has a spot for both mintmarks. I was getting rolls of quarters from the bank and we'd go through them. It got to be that every day he'd ask me if I went to the bank and got quarters. It was really fun until he got to the point where he stopped finding anything he needed and then it kind of petered out, but it was fun while it lasted. We even found a few W mintmark and silver quarters.

Here's the albums we got:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1582380783?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0794828787?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

 

That's a great idea. Thanks