How To Begin A Coin Collection
How To Begin A Coin Collection
To become a numismatist takes time, effort and dedication. It’s not for everyone. Do you really think you’re up for the challenge? If you’re still reading, then you are. I was just kidding, it’s not that bad. But it can be hard getting started, especially if you don’t know what it’s all about. So if you follow these tips you will be well on your way to having a coin collection par excellence, or, at least having a lot of fun with a great hobby!
1. Decide where you want to begin. To start collecting pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, silver dollars etc. is not only overwhelming, it’s expensive! Try to choose one kind of coin to begin with. Pennies for example, have had many different faces over the years and that variety makes them exciting to search for. Because they are also the basest form of currency, they’re the cheapest. Ideally, you want to have a penny from each year for the past hundred years. Watching coins evolve tells you a story about how the country that minted them has changed, and that’s where coin collecting gets really interesting. After you begin to build a penny collection, you can begin buying coin folders to organize them. Then you can diversify, and move to nickels or silver dollars.
2. There are different grades of coins. Once you feel like you have an idea of the span of a coin’s history, you can start looking for different qualities and conditions of the coin. Proof grade coins have never been touched and came straight from the mint into plastic. Mint grade coins might have at least banged into each other on the way from the mint to the coin store, but were never circulated. As you can imagine, the pricing of these coins is in accord with their condition.
3. Look at the mint marks. There are four mints in the United States, although there were once more, some of the older ones no longer exist. The mints are represented by small letters usually near the neck of the person on the head of the coin. Look for D, (Denver) P (Philadelphia) S (San Francisco) and W (West Point).
4. Look for rare coins. In 1942 all of the copper was being used for cannons in the second World War. As a result, the government used steel for its pennies. These pennies in good condition are beautiful and not rare enough for you to dip into your savings account to be able to purchase.
5. Visit your local coin store or shop online to see what kind of coin products exist. Once your coin collection is large enough, you’re going to want a form of coin storage, whether it’s a coin album, coin folders, or coin holders of another sort, you need to keep your coins safe.
Well, now that you know a few facts about coin collecting, you should be able to go to your piggy banks and start sorting out what’s what. Good luck, and have fun!
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