Hi guys. I'm new to the forum, and new to serious coin collecting. I've liked it ever since i was a little kid cause my dad traveled for work and would bring me back foreign coins. But for the longest time, i enjoyed coins but never went out of my way to get them. I'd just look through my change for cool looking, different coins and for a time i had a folding state quarter board but idk where it went. Lost it as a kid. Work is cool though cause if i find a foreign coin, its foreign so we can't take it as a business and i'm free to keep it. I've got a few that way. Anyways, I ordered a few coin albums for nickles, dimes, Lincoln pennies, and two for quarters and it'll be a week or two before they get here. My goal is to start seriously collecting with just filling those in. But i'd like to use things like bonuses from work or holiday/birthday money to buy something nice, like foreign coins. I love foreign coins i just don't know much about them or how to get an album for them like we have available for US mint coins. 1) I'm totally new to buying coins online. Any tips for a newbie? Sites to avoid, trusted sites, red flags to look out for? Cause i know you can counterfeit stuff and i don't want to buy a counterfeit. Is customer feedback for sellers, like stars and reviews, a good judgement? What about if the picture is of it in one of those professionally graded packets? How are you supposed to verify that the professional grading is legit and not faked? 2) How does coin roll collecting work? 3) I've bookmarked a variety of sites with coin values and valuable coin information, but I've yet to get this red book about united states coins i read about. Is it worth it? 4) If i needed advice on if an ad for a coin is legit, would i be able to post that on this site? Or would that go against the rules?
Yes, it is, but don't obsess on the price quotes. They are high for routine material and can even be low for the highest end stuff. The 2019 editions will be out toward the end of March. The text sections are especially useful if you want to get serious. The reason I like books rather than the Internet is a book can answer questions you didn't even know you had. That value can't be overestimated. The Internet and CoinTalk can help get specific questions answered, but that in itself is insufficient. You need to acquire background in things you may not have suspected were important, but they are critical.
I would start with education before you spend any real money on coins. Read gtg (guess the grade) posts and LEARN. Too many people get into the hobby and make bad purchases. Look around, see what gets you excited. Maybe its US coins, maybe paper money, world coins, ancients, medieval, the variety it endless.
