Advice On Purcasing Old Coins Or Coin Rolls

This set was 75% from my local coin shop's "junk" Bison Nickel tray. I paid .75 cents each. I don't think they are junk.



Don't discount the low cost trays!

Simply put, do your homework and learn all you can about coins and numismatics in general. An old collector once told me that knowledge and patience is the key to this hobby! You will find that most of the collectors on these boards have been doing this for years and some even decades! As a point of reference one of the greatest collections ever assembled took some 20 to 30 years to build! In short, knowledge of coins is your best guide! Happy collecting !!

But you had several questions, so let me try and answer them:



A good price is tricky, the common dates on Indian Heads are usually $1 to around $5 for an F grade. I didn't buy the "junk" bin Indians as I was looking for a Full Liberty for most coins. The ones in the "junk" section had clear dates but no full liberty and with Indian Heads the series from the 1860 to 1880's generally aren't found in the junk bin as they are costly. See above for Buffalo nickels, you can pick up a lot of common dates for low cost, may take you a while to go through all the coins, but with patience you can do a set. Some people want only AU/MS, you won't be able to get these at the low cost bins. ONLY YOU can decide what you want to collect.




Each of the above are the standard prices where I shop. Please note that the items in 2 by 2's are much more than these prices and there are some coins that you won't be able to find unless in a 2 by 2. I would not buy rolls or coins by the weight unless you know what you looking for. The VAST majority of Lincoln Cents are from the 50's and vast majority of Bison nickels are from the 30's. That's why I sometimes start in the junk bin. As to Silver 13X to 14X (face value) seems to be the standard cost. My local shop generally stocks up to VG in Junk silver, but if you search, you can find AU Kennedy's and Abe's




I can only tell my experiences, based on the shops I frequented and I checked out all 8 in the area, of the 8, 4 I won't go back to, as either they had junk or were so overpriced that it wasn't worth the cost, the other 4, 2 are excellent, 1 is really good and 1 is excellent but just doesn't have a lot of stock. Again I shopped around, you don't know whats out there until you look. But as you see by my above pictures with patience you can find items that you like.

Actually I have both, but neither are foolish to acquire. There are sets that one can splurge if they want to and others that are fun to acquire from the junk drawers. I like doing both and neither is a bad way to collect :)

As stated, buying from the bargain bins is NOT a bad deal. You are certainly not throwing money away in any way shape or form. However, buying those "unsearched rolls" IS throwing your money away unless you get insanely lucky. And even then, its likely only a break even scenario. So stay far away from that junk on ebay.

If you do decide to buy from ebay, unless it is a modern coin still in mint packaging, buy ONLY slabbed coins. ANACS, ICG, PCGS, NGC. These coins you know are genuine and most likely the grade on the holder. At least until you gain more experience. Then perhaps you can venture into getting mid level coins raw. Regardless of any of that, ALWAYS check the sellers rating and feedback. Anything less than a 95%, I wouldnt buy raw coins. Less than 90% and I may not buy at all. The more ratings, the better.

1 vote for buying on ebay

I would recommend going through the dealer's bins and picking out the better grade Indian Heads and Buffalo nickels. Most of the coins will likely be picked through, but with the Indian Head cents, look for slightly better date coins and/or coins that have a partial to full liberty on the hairband. For Buffalo nickels, try to pick out coins with full rims, a partial horn on the reverse, and a full date. And like others have said, don't be afraid to make a purchase. Remember, it's all about learning.