Coin Collecting Introduction - What’s the Best Way to Get Started?
Coin Collecting Introduction - What’s the Best Way to Get Started?
Buy the book before you buy the coin is frequently offered and sage advice.
If you make the effort to study the hobby and the market you will be rewarded. Someone who does not make that effort is more likely to waste money on overgraded, problem or counterfeit coins. Before spending a lot of money on coins, you should invest in your knowledge of the hobby. For your own protection you should have at least one reference book covering your area(s) of interest. Reading a few issues of periodicals is another good idea.
A great place to start collecting coins is from circulation. The risk is negligible (you can always spend the coins), examining your coins carefully and see what your reference book says about them, will teach you a lot.
Join a club!
Local coin clubs are usually great for learning more about the hobby, getting material for your collection, and you just might make some good friends, too.
Often new collectors aren’t sure where to begin, and they may have many questions. Do I start with one type of coin, or should I collect a variety? Should I stick to easy-to-find coins, or should I try to collect rarer ones? How much money do I want to spend? Coin collecting doesn’t have to be an expensive hobby. In fact, it is probably one of the easiest objects to collect. You also don’t have to be very knowledgeable to start a coin collection.
If you are considering beginning a coin collection, you have probably asked yourself one or more of these questions. The answers really depend on your own personal preferences, and you may not discover what those preferences are until you begin. The most important step you can take when beginning, however, is to invest in a good coin collecting book. Once you’ve bought the book, take some time to read at least excerpts from it concerning different coins. You may discover that certain coins interest you more than others.
Sort your coin collection!
The next step you might take is to buy a few coin folders. You can buy coin folders that have dates under each slot, or you can buy folders that are blank. The coin folders that have dates will help you determine what coins you need to complete your collection. Often these folders will cover a specific number of years and will be designed for specific coins.
Keep in mind, however, it is not easy to completely fill up a folder. If the folder covers older coins, many of those coins are considered quite valuable. You will have to be willing to invest a significant amount of money to complete a folder for older coins. If you are not trying to complete a set, but you do want to keep up with the dates that you find, you might enjoy using a blank coin folder. This way you don’t have to leave any of the slots empty.
Internet provides many opportunities!
The Internet provides many opportunities for coin collectors to enlarge their collections, once they have decided what type of coin or coins they want to collect. Of course, you may be able to get some of your coins simply by checking your spare change. If you are going to build your collection, however, you will need to expand your search. There are online auction sites that give collectors just like you an opportunity to buy and sell. Most neophyte coin collectors begin collecting coins that are already in circulation, and usually these coins that are in circulation are more likely to get damaged, and only would be worth whenever you hold onto them for a long period of time. Once you go up the coin-collecting ladder, you move on by collecting coins from other sources, such as antique coin shops, coin shows, internet auctions, flea markets, and from other collectors as well. The art of coin collecting can also be seen as an investment, as the prices of the coins you store and preserve may rise should they become rare, or drop when these coins are in surplus supply.
You will need to consult your coin collecting book to understand the different values and grades of coins. Once you have become more familiar with the specific terms, you will probably want to start off buying inexpensive coins. As you become more experienced in judging the value of coins yourself, you can start to purchase more expensive coins.
Save money, buy sets!
As you continue to buy coins, you may find that you get more for your money if you buy sets of coins. This doesn’t mean the sets will be complete. You would likely spend an exorbitant amount of money for a complete set. Instead, the sets you buy will probably be close to complete, but they won’t have the most expensive and rarer coins. As you buy sets, you can keep the coins you need, and then you can put duplicates back up for auction. This is an excellent way to build your collections.
Coin collectors have different themes and goals in mind, with some trying to obtain generally rare coins, whilst others seek samples of coins that were issued from every country or ‘world coins.’ Some collectors also opt to collect coins that were only issued from one country, most likely their own. There are other coin collectors who also store coins that were issued during historically-important periods, such as the Roman, Greek, and Byzantine or the Middle Ages as well as of the Indian, Celtic and Persian empires, and the 18th or 19th centuries. The purpose of collecting coins from different periods may vary, depending on whether the collector wants these coins to serve as a mirror or reflection of the events that happened during the era in which they were produced, or for some other purpose as well.
How much you money and time you spend on your coin collections is completely up to you. The beauty of collecting coins, however, is that you are also investing your money. Coin collecting is a great hobby for any age, and the art of coin collecting will never die.
Herman Klein is a coin collecting expert. For more great information on collecting coins be sure to visit http://www.coincollectingstartshere.com.
Coin Collecting For Dummies
- ISBN13: 9780470222751
- Condition: New
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Can’t make heads or tails out of coin collecting? You need Coin Collecting For Dummies, 2nd Edition, the treasure trove on information on numismatics. This hands-on guide escorts you through the world’s oldest hobby, helping you decide which type of coins you want to collect, keep your collection in mint condition, buy and sell coins on the Internet, find interesting coin shows to attend, and assemble and diversify a great collection. The purpose of this fun, easy-to-access guide is t
Rating: (out of 28 reviews)
List Price: $ 21.99
Price: $ 9.55
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Review by martin kaplan for Coin Collecting For Dummies
Rating:
“Coin Collecting For Dummies” is a book both for the beginning and advanced collector (and coin investor)…it belongs in every coin collector’s library! The adage “buy the book before you buy the coin(s)” applies to this excellent volume. The book is well written, easy to understand and covers everything the collector/investor should consider before, and while, collecting/investing. It is never to late to learn from the information in “Coin Collectring For Dummies”! Humor is sprinkled throughout the book which keeps information that is sometimes academic from being too dry. The beginning collector can easily feel that he is “on the wrong side of the table” (dealer versus collector) and the information in “Coin Collecting For Dummies” definitely “levels the playing field”. The cost of this book is far less than the price of many coins…not reading this book will definitely “cost” the collector/investor with money ill spent! A must read!
Review by Mike Blaszczak for Coin Collecting For Dummies
Rating:
I’d bought a few mint sets, and ocasionally thought about saving particularly good-looking coins. Someone gave me some more coins for Christmas, and I’ve exploded into coin collecting.There’s a ton of stuff to learn. This book covers alot of it in a very approchable way, and isn’t quite as condescending as most of the “For Dummies” books. The humour is a little too frequent for the level of the content, but the book is a great start for the new collector.There’s a few sections the book could have done without, like the chapter on record-setting auctions. It would’ve been great to balance it with a section on the most underrated coins, or the best bargains.If you’re interested in getting started, this book is for you. For anyone with experience, it’s probably not appropriate.
Review by for Coin Collecting For Dummies
Rating:
…be smarter and purchase something which at least contains helpful information. Unfortunately, I did waste my money on this book and found it totally unorganized and of very little practical help. I’ve been curious about many of these so-called “for Dummies” type of books. If this is an example of one, you could do much better by either contacting the American Numismatic Association (ANA) at their website at
or a wonderful and little known website entitled: “Coin Facts” which is found at . The Coin Facts website is the best reference source I have found for coins—-I’ve been collecting for over 25 years. Even better, the websites are free to browse and print from. In addition, every state in the US has a state coin association and they always love to help folks—especially young persons. I’ve found great enjoyment not only in coin collecting but MEETING the many interesting folks who engage in this endeavor. You don’t need to purchase any book which denigrates the reader even in its title-especialy when it gives such poor and disorganized material.
Review by D. Vantasil for Coin Collecting For Dummies
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For any of you who are interested in coin collecting, or if you happen to inherit somehow a collection of coins, this is the book for you! It is filled with information on how to take care of your coins, what to look for when purchasing, selling, trading or anything else regarding coins. The book is full of knowledge that is easy to comprehend. Buy it for youself or for your kids!
Review by Midwest Book Review for Coin Collecting For Dummies
Rating:
Coin Collectors For Dummies is a paperback guide for beginning to intermediate coin collectors. With humour and style, author Guth explains numismatics, buying coins, choosing coins for your collections, U. S. coins, selling coins, and the part of tens containing the following: (1) the ten most valuable U. S. coins, (2) Guth’s favorite ten U. S. coin designs, and (3) Guth’s ten favorite web sites for the coin-collecting websurfer du jour.Sprinkled with cartoons, black and white illustrations, homely tales and guides, Coin Collecting For Dummies is the quintessential user-friendly coin collector’s guide. An added perk: many bits of fascinating coin history are introduced, often in silvery-grey highlighted boxes. Coin Collecting For Dummies is a fascinating, entertaining, and educational collector’s guide.Nancy Lorraine, Reviewer