Hi, I've been lurking here for a few days and combing the archives. What a great forum with such a knowledgeable readership. Thanks. As a kid 40+ years ago I used to collect a few coins using the coin holders, etc. I have no idea what ever happened to them! With our kids we collected the state quarters, etc. and we hold on to all pre-65 silver coins. And I know to look for 65-70 40% halfs. I have a copy of the Red Book coming from Amazon. I'm going to pick up $200 of rolled halfs on Wed and go through them with my kids. My father passed down multiple socks with coins in them from all over. And, I have a few of my own I want to start going through. Here's a couple questions: 1. What is a decent quality loop (loupe?) to buy for examining coins? 2. I realize this is going to be a very broad question but - What's the best way to learn which coins are valuable? For example - as we go through the halfs, other than 1970 and older, what other coins should we be watching for? The same question is true for all the misc coins we potentially will come across in the socks. One more question: 3. Once you find a certain coin that is valuable - how do you store it? How do you annotate each coin? Thanks in advance for any comments. Flatlander
First I would recommend a bit of research, the best way to start is with the book A Guide Book of United States Coins by R.S. Yeoman. For under $20 you can own the complete history of US coins. The prices in this book are not gospel. In fact in many cases they are way off. But the information about each issue, and mintages, grading hints, major errors/varieties all will help you in searching rolls. All this info is in there but ya gotta read the whole book. :smile On the loupe, I would recommend a in person, hands on test. You want to have a good field of view of a coin, I'm going to say about a 10x should do you fine. For coin storage go with the cardboard flips. Just fold over and staple. This will give your coins some protection until you decide on albums or other methods. Have fun.
Hi Flatlander-- Welcome to CoinTalk. I'm pretty new here myself, so hopefully others will chime in. I'll take a stab at answering #2-- Your Redbook will have a few valuable varieties/errors listed in each series, so that is a (very) basic start. It also shows you the mintage numbers for each year, and sometimes there is a year/mintmark that has a very low production and correspondingly high value (the ol' supply and demand rule.) To go into more detail, get a copy of the Cherrypicker's Guide. Vol 1 is for cents and nickels, Vol 2 for dimes and up. I only have Vol 1. But the Redbook only lists one for the Kennedy Halves that you asked about. It shows a 1974 D which is a DDO (doubled die obverse) for the TRUST of IN GOD WE TRUST. It does not have any other valuable ones listed, meaning, there are no stand-out rarities in the series; in fact, it only lists MS63 and PF 65 coins for values. For your socks of coins, if you find a 1937 Buffalo nickel with only 3 legs, that is pretty much worthless so you can just send it to me.:whistle: (just kidding.) It's great that you are getting your kids involved! Have fun! Scott
1. for a quick glance at coins, I would recommend a 4x loupe. You get a good view of the whole coin in good detail. For a more detailed look at any errors or Mint mark varieties a 10x would do good. 2. I'm not a expert in cherry picking, but from what I hear on this forum, Cherry Pickers Guide is a good one to pick up. 3. 2x2 cardboard flips work well, they protect the coin well and give you room to write what you need ex:date, mint mark, grade, and variety. Hopefully this helps. Josh
For loupes it really depends on what you like. The real high powered ones can be tough to use because they make the coin appear very dark, and you have to scan the coin a little harder to search every feature. The lower powered ones do little more than make the coin look bigger in my opinion, and don't help me any more than the naked eye. I would recommend trying out a few and see what works best for your eyes, the size coins you are searching, and your preferences. More expensive is not always better, a lens is more or less a lens as long as it does its job! As far as what's valuable, that depends. What is worth saving is usually up to your personal collecting standards, so you need to decide those. If you are just doing this as a hobby, I'd recommend collecting every variety you can find! Common coins can be just as fun to collect as rare ones and can be completed in a fraction of the time. If you are just looking for coins that are going to be worth a lot in relation to their face value, the silver is definitely the way to go for halves. If you are starting to search a new denomination, check your red book for high-priced coins and keep them in mind while searching. These are the well-collected dates and errors, but there are a few oddities and errors that you will not see in the red book. Doubled dates and mintmarks exist for TONS of varieties, but most of them are not well known enough to accumulate a big price tag. Some websites catalog varieties like this, such as http://www.coppercoins.com/ for your coppers. I recommend holding on to anything that catches your eye until you are sure you know what it is. This is how you learn what to look for and what errors are good for the keeping. I even pulled a nice off-center struck 1987 lincoln penny out of a roll a month or two ago, and I'm not much of a roll-searcher, so you never know what odd things you may find in your change. As for storing coins, it really depends on how long you are planning on keeping them. I tend to like coin albums just beause of how nifty and neat they look, and if a friend or relative wants to see your Kennedy collection, you can just whip it off the book shelf and they can instantly see what you have, what you are missing, and how nice your coins look. Every coin has a special labeled and protected slot to put it in. This is something you can't do with just about any other storage system. Of course, albums are hated by a lot on this forum because of their inability to protect coins well. Cardboard mylar flips, as suggested, are the cheapest and most effective way around this. They can be displayed individually, in a box (like projector slides), or in a binder of vinyl pages. Of course, I think they look a bit tacky but thats just an opinion. Of course there are plenty of other ways to store your coins... in paper rolls or sealed display cases and everything in between. I recommend deciding by looking at your budget and the value of the coins you are keeping. The pricier the coin, the more it should be protected. I keep my circulated sets in albums, and all of my extras, nice uncirculateds, proofs, and professionally graded coins in mylar flips or sealed plastic cases. And thats my two lincolns on starting collecting
Thanks for the help... Thanks to each of you for the pointers. We know we have a lot to learn I have the Redbook coming and just ordered the Cherrypickers Guide. I'll be sharing a few coins in the near future. Flatlander
Your on the right track to start with the Red Book. Lots of info for now. And as already noted you could place coins in those 2x2 flips. As for magnification items, I suggest you just purchase a normal, cheap, every day magnifying glass from Walmart, Kmart, etc. Way to many people run out and spend to much money and are really not sure that this is the hobby for them. Then too they look at the already investment money wise and start to think this is going to be to much and loose interest. With several cheap magnifying glasses your always safe to use them for many other purposes if you do loose interest in coins. You should also check out Google for the locations of coin shows and coin stores. If there is a coin show in your area, attempt to go to those. Same with a local coin store. Not necessarily to purchase anything, but to really see what is what and how much some coins are worth and the availability of them. Also, coin shows, as a rule are the best and cheapest place to purchase coin books, those 2x2 flips, etc. Also, for storage you may want to consider purchasing an Album for storage. If your interested on one type of coin, it is fun to attempt to fill one of those.
Many coin shops have little plastic cases that can put your coins in. Valuable coins are often graded and encapsulated by a professional grading service. The top 2 are NGC, http://www.ngccoin.com/ , and PCGS , http://www.pcgs.com/ . I prefer NGC myself. As for where you can store valuable coins, most collectors have a safe in their home and a safe-deposit box at the bank. I recommend most books published by whitman. I suggest you start with morgan silver dollars or American Silver Eagles. They are nice big coins that have beautiful designs and can be relatively inexpensive in mint state. For morgans I recommend always buying them graded by NGC or PCGS. Some morgans are really expensive, but some you can buy graded in a mint state grade for $40.
How to write up coins is a very important part of collecting. Its what seperates a true collection from an assemblage or hoard. What you include depends on how much you expect the reader to already know. If you expect them to recognize a Kennedy half, then you can get away with just the date and mintmark. My coins require a little bit more. Here's a write up for one of my Roman provincial coins. Tiberius (?) Laodikea, Phrygia AE – early 1st century AD ΛAOΔIKEΩN Bust of Men, wearing Phrygian cap, r. KOP ΔIOΣKOYPIΔHΣ Eagle standing left RPC I 2907, BMC 67
start slow and makee it fun for the kids, and don't expect too much from the roll searching as far as finding silver,you might get lucky and find some the first time out,but chances ae out of two hundred dollars in halves you MIGHT find one silver coin. But you might find more too,then theres also dimes,quarters,and some nickels that have silver content. And in my opinion less folks buy and search the smaller coins.
It's good that you have a copy of the Red book coming. Everybody from beginners to experts will consult that book from time to time for various information. It will do a good job of showing you everything that is out there and mintages, and give you rough ideas on pricing. But, there is much more to learn than what is printed in that book alone. For example, after you do some studying, you will learn of the Pittman Act which ordered by law, to have millions of Morgan dollars melted down and nobody knows exactly what all got melted down. So the original mintage figures listed are way off from what actually still exists. Stuff like that. For a loupe, I wouldn't go much more than a 5x. The higher number isn't necessarily better in this case. The professional grading services grade everything by eye and occasionally will use a 5x loupe. So to me, what's the use of having much more? It isn't necessary and something only seen under an eletronic microscope, will not affect grade one way or the other. But may assist in authenticating something. The Red book should help you pick out what's valuable. You will recognize the stand outs right away. Eye appeal trumps everything though and can affect prices wildly. As for storage, socks would obviously not be the best way to go if you want to take care of things properly. I got back into collecting in 2008 and since then have invested several hundred dollars into various storage supplies. It isn't hard to do. It basically comes down to a $10 box here, $25 album or two there, $8 worth of plastic 2x2's there...etc, etc.. There are excellent storage methods available for the entire spectrum of coins that exist. More common stuff can be stored together in appropriate sized plastic tubes. Higher quality coins you will probably want good plastic 2x2s like Intercept shield or air-tite capsules for. There are high quality albums and nice storage boxes for graded/slabbed stuff. It's just a matter of getting online and ordering what you need. The better the coin, the better the storage you should pursue for it. I've got a completely worn out 1838-O dime in it's own airtite capsule just because they are somewhat rare and I felt like keeping it separate. Just as an example. I (and many others) keep spread sheets on the computer in order to keep track of the collection. I really have no need to label everything. Graded coins in slabs are already labeled by the grading company. I don't use cardboard 2x2s for anything. To me they are temporary holders to get coins to and from somewhere. Actually, I hate them. The cardboard can be bad for coins and you always run the risk of scraping a coin on a staple or scraping a nice coin with a tool you're using to get a staple out! The spread sheet idea is something you want to start early if you're really planning on getting into it. Can become quite a task down the road. Just plan it out and be smart about it based on what you're doing. To me, the higher dollar stuff warrants better documentation than say a $2.00 value coin unless it's for a set I'm keeping track of. I have many coins that don't make it onto the spreadsheet. You may want to add columns for date of purchase and price paid too. It's easy to update if you keep up with it. Just some ideas for you. Hope this helps.
On a side note, two books I would highly recommend to you would be: "The ANA 6th Edition" which is entirely about grading U.S. coins. Not necessarily something you're going to read for a month straight but is a very helpful learning tool with pictures. It will help give you a strict grading background for individual series'. Also, from a coin collectors standpoint, "The History of the United States Mint and it's Coinage" was one of the best, most interesting books I've ever read. Two thumbs up, and 5 stars. Very cool book. It answered a lot of questions for me, even after I had already done a lot of studying. I borrowed it from a friend, read it, returned it and liked it so much I bought my own copy anyway.
