Whatever you collect, however expensive your taste, try collecting some cheap raw coins.
MrEureka
Posts: 24,385 ✭✭✭✭✭
By no means am I suggesting that you stop collecting slabs, trophy coins, finest knowns, etc.
But while your slabs are locked away safely in a SDB and you're twiddling your thumbs waiting for the next must-have coin to come to market, have yourself some good cheap fun. Start collecting cheap raw coins, keep them raw, and keep them at home.
Buy whatever turns you on, whenever you see it. Or specialize in something obscure. Whatever. Just keep buying coins. Lots and lots of cheap coins. Not that you should buy crap. You can buy lots of great coins for less than $100. Some for even less than $10. You can be a discerning buyer and an inspired collector at any price level.
Andy Lustig
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
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Comments
Excellent advice and a great learning tool !!!
R.I.P. Bear
I do, mostly silver always worth melt.
I know most of your audience for this thread will think nothing of spending a few hundred or a few thousand dollars for a collection of something and I support the idea that all collectors should have something inexpensive around the home to treasure and look at from time to time.
But collectors are also well advised to stay grounded in collecting by assembling even cheaper coins like circulating coinage. You can collect all the circulating coinage and buy the folders for them for less than $100. Or you can specialize in nickels or quarters or whatever. It not only provides the thrill of the hunt but it is a project that will make you look forward to getting change and seeing what you can find. One can learn a lot about how coins circulate just by paying attention to the coins that do. Much of this knowledge is transferrable to collecting old US coins even in MS-65.
A nice VF set of clad quarters, XF dimes, F nickels, and AU cents are still doable from pocket change. It will take a while to find key dates in nice condition but they're all out there.
And you just might be surprised at what can be found...
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.
I always do. Mostly Jefferson nickels. There are some real inexpensive
treasures out there. No 1804 dollars or anything like that but it's fun.
Nickels are a lot of fun.
It is quite a challenge to find some dates, many of which are not that old.
Try finding a nice XF/AU 1971.
Try finding a beat up 1971.
Very tough.
Not to mention 2009 P/D.
I am not even going back enough to mention "super circ. rarities" including 1955, 1958, 1951-S, 1950.
Those 4 dates are nearly impossible to find circulating.
Great post!
$5-$100 coins are not only my "bread and butter" but the backbone of the "average coin person's" collection, IMO.
Not sure what everybody else is buying but all I do buy now is cheap affordable coins. Thats all I can afford now in my spending budget allowance, Or Else I was told!
I couldn't agree more. If I may add this; It's important to stay connected to our roots. What got us all started. We're all kids at heart. Now we're just kids with money.
I started a BU and Proof Jefferson nickel set in a Dansco album maybe 20–25 years ago when nobody much cared about them or FS examples. It wasn't hard to keep it up to date with the many Mint Sets and Proof Sets I bought each year as part of estate buys. Today it's a gorgeous set, even though I will probably never get any of them graded! It has a few holes after 2000 but not too many.
Kind regards,
George
There are lots of reasons why collecting lots of different things from the ground up is important. Mostly, it’s about having fun. But it’s also important for the wider perspective it brings, and the financial benefits that can follow. For example, lessons learned collecting medieval coppers under $100 can actually inform a decision on whether or not to buy a five figure Lincoln Memorial Cent. I kid you not.
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
I saved every Unc and nice AU '71 nickel I found from 1971 to about 1979. I did a lot of roll searching in those days and found ten rolls (400) of them. Then I decided I needed the $20 more than the ten rolls so I pulled out seven or eight nice Gems and took the rest to the bank. I never saved the '82 and '83 nickels because most looked like junk.
The next time you see a nice XF or AU '71 nickel it might be one I saved from wear and tear for the first several years of its life.
Some of the tough dimes are ones you wouldn't expect. I can hardly imagine why but a lot of dates in the mid to late-'70's are really tough in XF or even VF.
Attrition on nickels and dimes is staggering. Nickels because they aren't worth much, and dimes because they're so small they're easy to drop and hard to retrieve.
1971 Philly nickel is THE KEY as far as a circulating set from 1960 on IMO.
I have been saving 1982/1983 coins from all mints nearly since the time of issue.
Most I have sold however.
They go very quickly, even beat up ones.
I frequently find things for less than $10 that I like. A lot of it is exonumia, but some regular coins also.
I have put together several sets of foreign coins with designs I like, nearly all of which are under $25 and most from the early 20th century. My set of Sac dollars hasn't busted the bank either. There's endless choices for this type of material, especially among the foreign coinage. My latest venture is the Italian 1 lire series from 1908 thru 1917 in XF or better. They are beautiful coins.
Do medals count? I do...or at least until I caught up the set of Porsche factory coins issues one each year since 1962 through this year
Well said!
What a silly idea.
Collecting for the 7070 album encourages this. To the others that post about the older clad nickels and dimes, those are cheap thrills for sure. But will we ever see AU 1971 nickels or '69-P quarters shoot up over time? I'm thinking not.
10-4,
My Instagram picturesErik
My registry sets
I believe it's by a NY medal co.....interesting silver with pewter look finish....
@Paradisefound …..I like your homemade ruler!
I love my 7070 and the slow pace I've taken it to near completion.
The other day at a B&M I picked up 15 silver Washington Quarters at $3 each.
Mostly 30's and early 40's with mint marks.
I really enjoy looking them over on a rainy day and putting them in a Whitman Classic album.
Fun, fun, fun.
"If I say something in the woods and my wife isn't there to hear it.....am I still wrong?"
My Washington Quarter Registry set...in progress
I am currently working on completing this exact album and I have done it all just like this....granted I do not have much budget for doing it in uncirculated, but it is a labor of love to make it an attractive, well-matched set.
I am trying to learn all I can here on the board and through my collecting of lower priced coins so that I will not have to make mistakes when I spend more.
I have been collecting raw, cheap items for years, 19th century presidential campaign tokens.
The trouble is with an expanded market, they aren't so cheap any more.
A good point is made, and helps to justify just why in the tarnation I have sets of stuff like Ikes, Kennedys, Sacajeweas, State Quarters, and Presidents. My unfinished low budget set is America the beautiful quarters...They look nice and I don't have a lot of $ tied up in them.
@MrEureka ...You have captured the very essence of coin collecting in your post. We all started this way at some point. And the spirit and excitement of adding another coin to a series or finding a unique, attractive coin was - and is - special. It absolutely is nice to have a rarity or high grade colonial coin... however, sometimes budget or availability constrains a collector. One can still enjoy the hobby. Even searching pocket change can be interesting. A hobby should be enjoyable, not punishing. With the availability of this forum and other resources on the internet, we can all enjoy seeing the 'elite' coins in full living color. Then go back to the excitement of the hunt and the pleasure of finding coins for an album. Cheers, RickO
Great idea
Successful transactions with : MICHAELDIXON, Manorcourtman, Bochiman, bolivarshagnasty, AUandAG, onlyroosies, chumley, Weiss, jdimmick, BAJJERFAN, gene1978, TJM965, Smittys, GRANDAM, JTHawaii, mainejoe, softparade, derryb, Ricko
Bad transactions with : nobody to date
Although some of the subject matter isn't necessarily fun, I am having fun collecting some really cheap, raw nuclear-themed coins. Lots of hunting and discovering new things, and figuring out how things fit into a sort of "narrative" for the collection.
The Royal Mint's new RAF 100th anniversary coin featuring the Spitfire is also one new offering that's caught my eye. I built so many scale models of that plane as a kid that I had to get the coin as soon as I saw it.
Radiant Collection: Numismatics and Exonumia of the Atomic Age.
https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/showcase/3232
I have a box of raw coins for just this very reason. It's fun indeed!
My YouTube Channel
Wow, I just looked through all my nickel books and popped a few rolls and dug out an old box and didn't find any. The more you know.
I love hunting for raw inexpensive coins. There is nothing as satisfying to me then to find a really nice raw high grade Washington Quarter or Mercury Dime for $5.00 - $10.00. I have a ton that I have bought over the years.
Circ Morgans in a Dansco fit the bill for me.
I agree. Branching out into something different is fun and adds interest. My last venture was this page of bimetal coins and tokens.
There's another neat thing about a lot of the "cheap" items; a lot of them are quite scarce. How many Kankakee, Illinois tax tokens do you think survive? Imagine if there were suddenly hundreds or even thousands of collectors! Prices of many things would go through the roof because their populations are often measured in the dozens or even fewer.
Very solid advice and something I continue to do to this day.
Probably at least 75% of the coins in my collection were less than $50. Maybe even 50% less than $20.
I also recently started collecting encased cents, those can be quite fun, too.
My YouTube Channel
I do 5 box's every year at face + all my other junk or stuff.
Hoard the keys.
Good idea. There's something that "feels good" about basic, inexpensive coins like what got you started in coins. I still get a good feeling when I look at my well worn 1922 peace dollar (one of my first coins.)
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Interesting. I checked my old nickel folder - I probably pulled this out of circulation around 1970 as a kid. We lived in the SF Bay Area then.
Thanks for the information. It's always nice to find another way of appreciating the coins in your collection.
Pacific Northwest Numismatic Association
Waaay back in 1998 I heard about the new States quarters that were going to be issued.
Logically, I figured that folks would get tired of waiting for the new pieces and would move back to the earlier Washington quarters.
So, I grabbed a Dansco album and proceeded to fill up the silver Washingtons in unc, except for the 1932 D, S and 1936 D.
Those were in nice AU's.
Then I finished the clads, including the proofs, silver & clad.
When I finally finished, I had a really nice set, that I haven't looked at in years.
But, it has appreciated nicely.
BHNC #203
I'll admit I have something in common with Owen.
I enjoy some of my least expensive coins for the story they tell.
"Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working" Pablo Picasso
I agree. I have some varieties, toners, some auction wins that don’t rise to the need to be slabbed. I also collect Chicago related exonumia. Very nice things.
@SullivanNumismatics
Found in a roll of cents from the bank. 
Jon I looked at your website and Ebay store for the first time, both are very well laid out.
This is my 'collection of one' error coin
Successful transactions with : MICHAELDIXON, Manorcourtman, Bochiman, bolivarshagnasty, AUandAG, onlyroosies, chumley, Weiss, jdimmick, BAJJERFAN, gene1978, TJM965, Smittys, GRANDAM, JTHawaii, mainejoe, softparade, derryb, Ricko
Bad transactions with : nobody to date