newbie question

razzle

Been a few years since I've posted (my loss) and I found this board very helpful when I did. Now I would like to pass along my mostly hoard coins to my daughter. She has little experience with coins, and I am no numismatist.
I would like to help her get started in the hobby. Can you recommend a good book for beginning? And can you rcommend a reasonable lens/light for examining coins for errors? Thanks, raz

Mizzou

You would probably get better recommendations for a book if you stated your daughters age and the type of coins you have.

razzle

Thank you. She is middle-aged with her own family. Not a child. Coins are US. From circulation past 60 yrs and many US mint issues since about 1970. It really is a hoard. I have a number of books and references over the years but hoped there might be one that stands out for beginners.

NewEnglandRarities

Can’t go wrong with the Red Book, but for even more detailed, Mega Red Book for an adult may be a decent thought. After that, if she finds interest in a certain series there often are great books to get for almost every coin series imaginable.

IkesT

Have you asked her if she is interested in receiving a hoard of random modern coins from circulation? Many people would not be. Without a strong interest, the best place to deposit the hoard is the bank.

U.S. Mint products like Mint sets and proof sets can be sold on eBay or to a dealer.

razzle

Thank you NewEngland and IkesT.

291fifth

Your gift to your daughter would probably be more appreciated if it did not include the actual coins. A cash gift would be much more appreciated. Unless she has a real interest in the coins they are likely to just sit around taking up space until she takes them into a local dealer and sells them for whatever is offered. If the dealer senses she just wants to get rid of the coins the offer is going to be very low.

If your hoard consists of any silver coins you would be wise to separate those and sell them to the local dealer who is paying the most for US silver coins. Silver is high right now so you should get a decent offer on those. Call around to see what times face they are paying and sell to the highest offer.

Proof sets from the past sixty years are likely to bring low offers. Many dealers are overloaded with them. Most of the sets are common. Call around to see who is actually interested in buying them.

If any of the coins in your hoard are considered to be scarce or rare dates those may bring decent offers. That is what the market wants these days.

PerryHall

Many years ago, I bought a book called "Coin Collecting for Dummies". It was actually a very good book that covered topics including grading, buying, caring for your coins, counterfeits, mintmarks, slabbing companies, etc. It was an easy read and very interesting. It had a lot of illustrations, pictures and charts. I don't know if it's still in print but you may be able to find a used copy on Amazon or eBay.

Morgan13

My opinion is that these days you don't need just books. Plenty of good YouTube videos. The combination of books and videos works well for me.
Bottom line is to have fun no matter what you collect.

razzle

Perry Hall, it's been many years, but I always appreciated your posts. This one is no exception. "Coin Collection for Dummies" sounds like a great resource for beginning for her. Thank you so much.
Morgan, YouTube videos hadn't occured to me. Thank you.
291fifth, I recognize your handle from earlier days, too. I appreciate the market insights.

lermish

@razzle said:
And can you rcommend a reasonable lens/light for examining coins for errors? Thanks, raz

and

Morgan, YouTube videos hadn't occured to me. Thank you.

Does this sound like a bad combination to anyone else? Or am I the only jerk thinking it?

hummingbird_coins

@Morgan13 said:
Plenty of good YouTube videos.

Plenty of bad ones, too.

vplite99

I hope you have better luck with your daughter than I did - absolutely no interest.

razzle

vplite, my daughter and I both got a chuckle out of your post.

lilolme

@razzle I don't see the Resources thread mentioned (it is pinned to the top of the US Forum and link below). There are online books, other threads and websites listed in the OP (first post of the first page). You mentioned errors in the OP and at the top is a couple of variety websites but go down to the Errors category and there are more.

https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/1006619/resources-books-links-to-read-on-numismatic-series-errors-and-varieties/p1

razzle

lilolme, exhaustive list. Thank you for the very useful info. I have followed a different hobby for past 20 years, but had accumulated quite a few of the listed books prior. Time to knock the dust off some stuff and start digging/reading again.