The Naked Collector - A Minor Rant

I have all the tools mentioned.. my scale goes to .1g
I actually bought a 50 pack of white cotton gloves off the internet.
I use them when handling silver coins because I don't want to take the chance of finger oil being permanently attached to the coin.
I have a Red Book and a blue book and bought the CoinWorld guide to grading "Making the Grade" for 9.00 incl. shipping it was a great deal.

I still know so little about coins in the grand scheme of things. All my foreign coins (which have all been gimmies), I look up online to find the K number. I couldn't afford the world coin books, they are so expensive.

For coin collecting is a replacement hobby from stamps, and to be honest, there is more long term value in coins then there is in stamps.
So I enjoy cataloging my coins, I have software from EZCoin that I use to keep track of everything. It relaxes me. I am not into the coin albums so much as they are so expensive, and I learned that lesson as a stamp collector. You can spend thousands on "supplies and albums" very easily. For example I looked into buying the extended Kennedy album. It has two pages and cost 25.00. So I just decided to get a 3 ring binder, some flips and some coin pocket pages (the stiff ones). I can keep all my new Kennedys in that. Same with all my year sets... Pennies have their own section, then nickels dimes and quarters... after 1980, each years worth of coins are just kept together. Except for the silver proofs which I keep in the OGP along with all proof sets from 1959 on down. My friends tell me my 1953 proof set is worth much more in the OGP then breaking it out.

So, you buy what you need to buy when you need to buy it. I wish I had a better photo setup, I like showing you guys coins I get and asking opinions. But I can't or won't buy a 1000.00 camera.

As for Safes, I think that if your collection is worth more then a couple of hundred bucks, you should have a safe to keep them in. Even if just for fire protection, it would be awful if all that hard work were lost in a fire. Plus, you can get a really good Sentry fire/waterproof safe from Walmart for less then 120.00, talking about the half height safes.. like 2cf size. They are very heavy and some you can bolt to the floor to keep a couple of guys from carrying it out. (one person can't lift it, too heavy and bulky).

Yep! This is supposed to be a hobby, but if someone lets the hobby stress them out, then I guess that's their way of engaging in it.

Not necessarily supply related, but I think everyone should clean a couple coins in their first month so they can see why it's a horrible idea and never be tempted again. I know I learned a lot from my recent failed coin cleaning attempt. Luckily I don't own anything very valuable so I viewed it more as an experiment. I spend $10 in supplies and 4 hours turning a $15 dirty large cent into a $5 ugly off-colored one. Even my kids said, "what did you do to that coin!?!" Made me laugh at my own stupidity. My acid bath 2010 quarter experiment looks like a strange aluminum copy of a quarter now, too. Pretty funny I thought I was smarter than 90 sites on the internet saying DON'T CLEAN COINS YOU MORON!!.

For a beginner I would scale it back to a magnifier and a basic reference. Some storage supplies would be nice as well. You can go a long way with just those.

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to come off as some sort of uber rich elitist, that's certainy not my style (or reality). Take out the digital camera (the least essential item on that list) and you're talking about an investment of less (probably well less) than a c-note, so I don't think I'm suggesting anything beyond most people's means, coin collecting being a hobby that presumes some disposable income in any case.

Somebody made the point that there are plenty of ways to collect, and I get that. If the hobby for you is roll searching, or filling a Dansco album, buying only certified coins, well, then I concede maybe you don't need any of these things. But here's where I'm coming from. How many times here do we see that the first purchase a person is contemplating involves spending hundreds of dollars on a "rare" Morgan offered online? That's an approach to collecting that's essentially assbackwards (pardon my language, probably offending someone again) and fraught with peril. So I'll stand by my list, albeit with the following qualification: if what you're doing is going to involve any of the elements of authenticating, evaluating, or grading, this is the stuff you ought to have. If you want to beat me up over my conviction in this regard, so be it. I'm a big boy and can take it.

With respect to other responses here:

A halogen lamp is recommended because it allows you to see hairline scratches that betray a coin's having been cleaned or improperly packaged. Someone else suggested direct sunlight, which also works for that purpose.

I agree with the comment that gloves, which I feel compelled to use occasionally, mostly only result in my dropping the coin. I've taken to instead religiously washing my hands before handing unencapsulated coins, to get the secretions off your fingertips that will eventually mar a coin, even the edges.

Online resources were brought up, but I'm not certain they, while convenient, always totally replicate what some of the better books can teach you. Of course, one of the best online resources is this forum, and there's knowledge and advice shared gratis here that's not in any book.

Storage arrangements have been mentioned in passing. You probbly should have a scheme for keeping whatever you collect protected and organized. Some folks just leave everything in the 2x2's they came in and put them in a shoebox, and I guess that's okay as far as it goes, but there really are better options.

The term you were looking for is bassackwards. IN the south, that is a civil term to use for everyday language.

Is a good idea an all, but I doubt those people wanting to spend $300 on their first coin on ebay really have any idea what they are doing to begin with and a list like this would NOT help them. Ods are they already bought a coin on ebay that they NEED to check because they think it a fraud and by then it is too late.

I am not one for buying coins, just getting them at face value except for my ASE and Ike's that ebay was my only resource to get them. Most important thing I would say you need to start coin collecting in that kind of price range is the coin itself. You need to be able to look at the coin and touch the coin (gloved hands only) or its container. Never trust a picture on ebay. This isn't to say online retailers for any venue or site are all bad, but jsut a picture cannot represent the coin better than seeing it can.

Resources, there is the "Find my coin" at numismaster (for those who can get it to work) that gives most general info about coins, as well the US mint site, and everyone has internet on their phone now, or at least a camera they can send the image to someone at home to check into the coin with.

PCGS and other slabbed places have a coin lookup so that a barcode number or something can be verified with the coin it wa assigned to right? so that reduces some risk. otherwise someone selling higher dollar coins should have the tools to PROVE the coin is what it is and reference material or even COA.

best thing to have if you are starting out, is someone that knows plenty about coins to help you. a new hobby of any kind can be confusing from baseball cards, to coins, to matchbox car collection; and you are always welcome to get what you like and want, but someone else may be able to tell you if the "deal" you are getting is a deal or not when you are unsure.

2x2 I only recently started using cause those darn proofs were turning up so often in my half collar CRH boxes. but I could imagine someone just droppping some 2x2's into a shoebox and going back later to see what kind of buried treasure they had. Sounds fun actually, might bring as much excitement finding it in the box when digging through as it was to initially find the coin.

now I just need to figure out where to buy a shoebox and try this idea with?

I've seen some amazingly detailed descriptions and pictures of lesser-known coin series here that you might not find in a book.
~jack

While I agree that there are essential items needed to collect coins I do not necessarily agree that everything on your list is needed.

I myself have some things like my stereoscope that most average collectors don't need or is not in their budget.. personally I like looking at the surfaces close up as well as utilizing it for variety and error searching without straining my eyes..Was it a necessity?.. absolutely not! but it made collecting easier for me which is why we all have certain accessories to match our needs. I also have a few loupes with my favorite being my B&L triplet, also I have a scale and numerous reference books. The last few items being calipers, gloves and finger condoms .. While I may be missing a few things I have everything I need.
Which brings me to why I wrote this.. Every collector/dealer is going to have their own needs/wants for their collecting needs so I really don't think their is a checklist of must have's before you start collecting.. I had quite a few coins before I ever even bought a book( back in my younger days) but now as I have grown older and gotten more into the hobby I have adapted more of an understanding for the hobby and my collecting needs/wants has been expanded as well. To each their own and remember why we collect in the first place...Some for money, some for the enjoyment and some for the history but whatever your reason just make sure you are enjoying yourself