Newby needs help getting started

Yep, I agree. Buy one or two more expensive coins and plug in the cheap stuff as you go. I am trying to buy one or two high quality coins a month and a few cheap mint sets or other cheaper coins I am interested in a month as I can afford it. Just make sure you buy the coin with the best eye appeal that you can afford. Not all coins of the same grade are the same quality.

You have many variables to account for.

Is this the foundation of your personal collection or the family collection? Have you already decided on what you'll collect? What are your kids interested in? Will this collection be funded with silver finds or will you invest your own money (budget is always something to think about short and long term)?

I agree with both sides of the equation here. Bottom line, what interests you and your kids? My suggestion, and it certainly wouldn't be for everyone, would be to buy as many decent Morgan dollars as you can for that much money. You can get Uncirculated Morgans close to melt value for the years that they were plentiful. My guess is that you could buy probably 4-5 really nice Morgans for $200. If the hobby doesn't pan out, they will be the easiest thing to put back into the market since they have silver value alone. Good luck and welcome to the forum.

usually I would say buy the best coin you can afford but since this is something you are doing with kids I really feel differently in this situation. I know my daughter didn't care if she had a 500.00 coin in her collection all she really cared about was all the different types of coins she had. So I am going to suggest getting as many different classic designs as you can with the money and then if they decide they like one series over another you know what to get when you are ready for those bigger purchases

Bryan1315, that is a very good point. Myself, I try to balance things out by buying a few different mint sets or proof sets to keep my son interested, but I focus the bulk of my money on buying the best coins I can. That way, if he loses interest the coins that we're bought for that don't have a lot of money payed out on them, but the bulk of my collection remains higher valued coins that I can more easily get my money back on if needed, or don't have to worry about getting at a higher price later if that interest grows.

Thanks for all the responses. I am being very careful with the direction I go. The background behind this starting is that my father has collected coins for almost 50 years. After helping him organize and sort I realized that they are kind of a hodge podge of things worth nore in melt than anything. He has a few nice ones here and there but it made me start thinking about trying to build something for my children. We are funding this right now through silver we find searching bank rolls. We also search bags of pennies for wheat that the kids like looking for. Anyways, my daughter is smart enough to understand keeping the better ones we find and throwing the others back but knows nothing of value besides her daddy telling her what omething might be worth. Anyways, all your points are valid. We bought the kids proof sets for Christmas and have found approximately 200 wheats and $130 in silver. I want to start buying and was going to look for mint state wheats as a starter to maybe get 8-10. I like the suggestions and advice, thanks.

I think it's important to teach kids the value of saving, investing, not going into debt, early.
What ever you do, stay away from this modern junk as often seen on eBay, HSN, etc.
If you guys want to start with Lincoln Cents, go with mid-grade, problem free coins. The big ones, also known as the key dates, 1909-S VDB, 1914-D, should be bought by a reputable dealer only.
Good luck!