Since I joined, I have seen so much diversity of the collections of members on this site! I am impressed. I am also lost on what to begin with for my collection. My budget is limited since I am a student but I would like to start a nickel collection I think. Any advice on where to start would be appreciated very much. Thank you. PD13
There are many ways that you can collect coins. For instance, if you wanted to collect nickels you could buy one type of nickel, for every nickel minted by the US . That would be called a nickel type set. You could also collect them by date, P-D business strike only (no proofs), or collect a short run of them from say 1989-2009. The ways you can collect them are infinite. Generally people say to figure out what the highest grade you can afford the key dates in then build a set around that grade. For values this is a good site to go to. http://www.numismedia.com/fmv/fmv.shtml
You might want to go through bank rolls. See what you can find. Could not help but to learn about nickels this way and would not have to spend very much if any money.
pocket change its the cheapest way to start, and to help you get a direction. Go to a bank you have an account with, and ask for a box, or several rolls - dpending on what you can afford. If you have an account, they usually dont mind. Then you can search for dates, mint marks, errors and the like. When you happen upon a better grade for a date or mm you already have, you can replace it. As time wears on, if you choose, you can start buying the more hard-to-find, or key, examples. the worst thing you can do is feel like you cannot collect because of finances those will always improve over time. Good luck - and when you find those examples that you are proud of - POST IT We would all love to see it ... even nickels lol
I agree - pocket change. I do several albums of those - fun and challenging. I still need 2 or 3 state quarters.
Nickels are not a bad place to start. You can get a higher grade Jefferson set without breaking the bank and you can get most shield nickes and liberty (V) nickels in circulated grade for reasonable prices. Good luck and happy hunting.
If you roll search, don't forget to check rotation! Found 2 99 nickels with >45degree rotation so far.
Here's what I did... I bought a Dansco and just collected them from pocket change. The Jefferson Nickels are one of the only series you stand a chance of completing completely from pocket change/roll searching. Gives the beginning collector an inexpensive introduction to collecting and grading a series without the pitfalls of collecting more expensive coins. This way you can learn your numismatic lessons cheaply. Hope this helps...Mike
p.s. I would also strongly suggest you purchase a few books -- on grading and the series you choose to collect. Reference materials are never a bad buy, IMO.
I have a nearly complete date/ mintmark set of jeffersons from searching less than 10 boxes of nickels. I also buy coins, but I get much more satisfaction out of finding a nice coin than buying an even nicer one.
