How can I start coin collecting?

Question

I thinking of starting but don't know how

Answer 1

Coin collecting is a large field and what you collect depends on what you like and how much money you have to invest into the hobby. Some people like to pick one denomination and try to put a set together, with this idea sometimes there are one or several coins in that set that may be very expensive. A type set of 20th century coins is usually obtainable. On a budget a coin from every country can be fun as well as a learning experience. You will never finish such a set and some from countries that are no longer around may be expensive but usually not. On world coins you could say pick the years of world war II and collect them. I would go to several coin dealers and see what is available. Most U.S. coin dealers don't have much in world coins but there are world coin dealers out there. Maybe ancient coins would be fun and they are not that expensive. Over the years I have found the most friendly and helpful coin dealers do not sell U.S. coins but world and ancients. If i can be of any more assistance I would be glad to help email me for my home email address. Either way good luck.

Answer 2

First, decide on your interest: US coins, foreign coins, etc. Then estimate your budget: for instance collecting pennies from different years/mints is a lot cheaper then silver dollars. Get a catalog of coins that describes all the varieties and value of the coins you choose to collect.
Try to go to local coin shows or numismatic conventions, find people who share your interests. Ebay is good, but there are fakes there too, so you need to know what you are doing and buy from reputable sellers.

Answer 3

Decide what you want to collect coins for. You can either collect coins for what they are worth and to hold onto and maybe sell for a nice amount of money someday. Or you can collect from a favorite location. Or you can collect just because of the art of coins and because you like to look at them - Sounds weird, but that's why I collect coins.

I started collecting coins since I was about 8 or so, my dad started giving me wheat pennies(to date I have probably close to 1000), bicentennial quarters, Susan B Anthony silver dollars and 50-cent pieces. He also gave me 2-dollar bills. These facinated me because they were different from the regular money you see so often every day. And I tried to collect stuff that was worth a lot, but that can turn into something that's expensive and not really any fun.

After awhile, my father brought me home a box of coins he got at a flea market in GA and inside were some foreign coins. They were so strange-looking and different - one was a square coin from Aruba, another was a coin with a hole in the middle from Japan - and I was intrigued! Mainly because US mint can be a little boring with it's design. I then started into collecting foreign coins. I got a 3in thick 3-ring binder, then went to a hobby shop where they have binder inserts that hold like 20 per page and I just kept my eyes peeled for that "unique" coin. It was an obsession for years.

I then started going to ebay and paying hardly anything - maybe $5 or so for coin bags which included 30 or so coins from different countries - some new, some old but it was always a treasure to see the art on some of them. Australian ones were a favorite because they put a unique animal on almost all their coins. I also liked Japanese coins because of the lettering printed on them. I could sit here forever and tell you what facinates me about foreign coins! lol.

You can start by getting coin holders from a hobby store. Then you can go online and search for pictures of different coins and see which ones interest you. Ebay is great - even if you aren't going to buy anything because they have pictures of ANY coin you can think of.

Take a look at this auction on ebay. It's 500 foreign coins for $50. Just look at the coins in the picture:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Best-500-coin-lot-of-World-foreign-collection-on-ebay_W0QQitemZ320197597182QQihZ011QQcategoryZ544QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

That may be high for some people to purchase but if you search for foreign coins, you can find so many good deals like this one:
http://cgi.ebay.com/112-FOREIGN-WORLD-COIN-COLLECTION-LOT-EUROPE_W0QQitemZ140190421820QQihZ004QQcategoryZ544QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

After so many years collecting currencies, I've started to recently collect paper currency from around the world, along with shipwreck and ancient money. It's always something that excites me!

The best thing to do is to find what interests you and have fun doing it!

Answer 4

Get a book about coins....ask coin dealers at like pawn shops.
I started out just collecting 1/2 dollars, silver dollars, and wheat pennies... I'd just keep them if i got 'em for change. After awhile my family and friends started collecting them for me too. That I did just for fun. If you're in it for the big bucks, you've got to read up on it.

Answer 5

Get a book or other info on which coins are the most sought after & valuable. Look on e-bay - there are a lot of coins on there.

Answer 6

i just look around and when i find a shop i get good ones
my collection is big now