New to coin collecting
bewind19
Posts: 5
Hello all. I am new to this hobby after several years in the sportscard arena. I have now branched out into coins. I won't say crossed over since I still continue to collect sportscards. OK, enough babble and to the real reason for my post. Where to start? I have quite a few Lincoln Cents that I have amassed, along with Jefferson Nickels, a couple Buffalos and a few other pieces. A good friend of mine got me started in this hobby and has given me quite a few things to get me rolling! What should I start with? I have a limited budget for this along with all the other things I deal with, so I am curious as to what you guys (and gals) started with. Is circulated the way to go, or should I concentrate on other grades? Thanks for reading!
Looking for pre-1985 OPC baseball and pre-1980 Topps baseball.
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Comments
A series is likely to jump out at you. good luck and welcome aboard
Liberty: Parent of Science & Industry
Oh, by the way...
1. Collect what turns you on.
2. Get yourself a Redbook.
3. Buy the highest grade that you can afford.
4. Stick with PCGS graded coins!
Welcome to the forum!!
~
"America suffers today from too much pluribus and not enough unum.".....Arthur Schlesinger Jr.
Anyway, good luck with whatever you collect and go onto another way of collecting if you get bored. And....WELCOME!
NSDR - Life Member
SSDC - Life Member
ANA - Pay As I Go Member
Welcome aboard!
"Senorita HepKitty"
"I want a real cool Kitty from Hepcat City, to stay in step with me" - Bill Carter
Go to a small show in your area. Make connections with other collectors or dealers that you trust. Go to a coin club meeting.
Look at coins that interest you. Read Coin World, Numismatic News or Numismatist. Scan over the Red Book. Ask questions of others, especially here on the boards.
If you buy, stay with original, no problem coins...nothing cleaned or damaged.
Best of luck in the hunt!
Garrow
There are plenty of different types of coins, find what you like. I like and am stuck on Mercury dimes. They seem to be series where there are still some bargins in the later dated uncirculated coins. Good luck with which ever series you choose.
President, Racine Numismatic Society 2013-2014; Variety Resource Dimes; See 6/8/12 CDN for my article on Winged Liberty Dimes; Ebay
Ditto!
<< <i>20th century type set in Fine and better, then start upgrading those and looking at the 19th century.
A series is likely to jump out at you. good luck and welcome aboard >>
I would second that. Do a whole lot of reading before you buy anything of any consequence.
If you get serious and you want to do a date/mint set of something nice, Jefferson nickels 1938-2003 are a pretty doable set in nice uncirculated grades, and if you do not insist on well struck coins with full steps there is not much of anything that will cost more than $100, and most of them will be less than a tenth that. Meanwhile, there are enough of them -- ~160 different ones not counting varieties, I think -- and enough of them that are tough to find while not especially expensive, to make it an interesting challenge. Even if you find one good coin every week (and you probably won't!), it will take you three years or more. It is one of the only series around where a guy of average means can build a really beautiful and generally high-grade set of something with any real historical resonance.
That's one of my favorites (obviously) but there are lots of different things you can do. Buy a Red Book. Ogle the pictures. Look at the prices. You'll get some ideas.
The best bet is to try to get some sort of budget and a plan. Don't start something
you can't possibly finish but don't try something that's too easy either. Remember
that you can collect lower grades if you like a certain coin or multiple sets if your bud-
get can sustain it.
Have fun, don't hurry.
Welcome. It's good to see someone show up on the boards that's fresh to the hobby.
Yours is the plight common to the novice collector. A few sets jump out in my mind with reguards to affordability.
The Roosevelt dimes are very affordable. In fact, all except maybe the 49-P and 49-S can probably be obtained in circulated conditions for their silver content. Even in a generic BU condition, the whole set can be had for about $200-$300. The great thing about the circulated versions of this set is that you can safely buy the coins without fear of not being able to grade. Silver now is still going to be silver twenty years from now.
The Jefferson nickel set is also a very affordable set, ESPECIALLY in circulated grades. I'm not sure what a circ set is going for right now, but five or eight years ago, when I was poor and collecting on a budget, they could be bought completed for about twenty bucks. A lot of these coins can be found in circulation, though not as easily as they used to be b/c of the huge mintages of modern coins that have been dumped into circulation. There will be a few early dates that you'll probably have to buy. The 39-D, 42-D, and 35% silver war nickels come to mind. Even in generic BU this is an obtainable set for less than $400.
The state quarters are very popular right now. The problem with this collection is that Unc versions at this point in the game, will have to be bought. If you're collecting through online venues, postage becomes an issue.
Washington quarters, like the Rossy dime set would be a very obtainable set to work on in circulated grades. Most of the dates could be had for the cost of silver. The attractiveness of this set is that it does have a couple of affordable keys in it, the 32-D and 32-S. In mint state grades, which you should probably stay away from if you're buying them raw (uncertified), there are some other toughies emerging like the 34-D, 36-D... but I digress, that's getting away from the budget issue you mentioned.
Franklin halves are also very affordable in circulated grades. In fact, this is one set that could be done in mid uncalculated grades without too much financial pain. There are, however, a lot of people that find the design rather boring. (Sorry Lucy)
My personal favorite, as you can tell from my handle is the Lincoln cent set. This set affords a wide degree of challenges, but in the end is a very rewarding set to build. If you can afford a 1909-S VDB, it's a doable set. Personally, because of the price spread between the grades right now, I'd recommend getting a AU58 to MS63BN example. ALWAYS buy that date in a PCGS, NGC, or ANACS holder as there are probably more fake ones out there than real. PCGS is probably the best way for a novice to buy. You'd probably be looking at $700 for a lower circ example to $1450 for a MS63BN. But if you can get past that one date, the rest are very doable. The 14-D would run you $80-350 in lower circ grades. In addition to those, there are a couple of other coins that would run you a hundred or two. Then there are 8-12 that would run you in the $10-$30 range. The rest are very affordable. So in this set, you have one hum dinger, a tough one, several semi-keys, and a bunch of easy ones. If you can afford the SVDB, I'd love to see you go for this set.
Another set, that I really like for beginners is the Liberty (V) Nickel set. That set has three key dates, the 1885, 1886, and 1912-S. It's a really short set and can be built in a full rim G and better without a lot of difficulty. Yet it still has the intrigue of going back into the 1800's.
There are a lot of other sets I could mention, but this gives you a start. Some series that are commonly collected that do not bode well for a collector on a budget include:
Morgan Dollars
Standing Liberty Quarters
Barber Quarters
-David
You've gotten some good advice from the others who posted previously. I would amplify: buy the Red Book, look through it, and get an idea of what series you would like to pursue, given your budget situation. By the way, every collector has a budget situation, just with different amounts! You want to go after coins you would like to own, that have eye appeal to you, and that you have a chance of completing whatever set you are working on. Good luck!
An authorized PCGS dealer, and a contributor to the Red Book.