New Here, Not Sure What I Am Doing, But Looking For Advice.

you can get lots of great coins for face value! for example, for every box of dimes you get from the bank (50 rolls I think), you should get 1 or maybe 2 silver dimes (pre 1975). For every box of nickels (50 rolls) you get, you should get 1 silver War Nickel (1942-5). for every box of pennies you get, you should get 3 wheat pennies (pre 1959). All for face value! a lot of time, but it's a lot of fun.

rob, that would be pre 1965 for the silver. And I wish there was a War Nickel in every box. LOL But you certainly can find plenty of older neat stuff, especially if its not silver.

I have been lucky enough to find at least 1 war per box. (14 boxes 22 War Nickels) as well as a roll of buffalo! Halves can yield 1 or 2 silver per box as well. $8800 and I found 19 silver 2 proofs and some other interesting coated halves

Here's the best thing to do, for right now, that I can tell ya, since you're "just gettin' yer' feet wet".

Get rolls of Nickels or Lincoln Cents.

These obviously aren't the "big dollars" or the "Golden dollars", but trust me......you'll have A LOT OF FUN and excitement.

Then search through these....you'll often find Silver War Nickels (has the large mintmark above Monticello on the reverse)
There are some "key dates" to look for as well that you can look into.
You can find Buffalo nickels or "V" nickels even !
With the Cents.... you can find GOBS of Wheat Cents !
All different kinds of old dates !
It's SO MUCH FUN !
And, if you search enough of them, eventually you'll find an Indian Head cent too !

For "just getting started"......and not wanting to pay above face value...... THIS IS YOUR BEST BET !


After a good while of keeping what you find....eventually you'll want to get an album with your growing stock of coins (the books with the holes in there for coins to go in)(every bookstore has them).
Once you start filling in the coins into the holes by year and mintmark, you'll really begin to see what the hobby can be for you.

The biggest part of my advice by saying all of this is:

It costs you absolutely NOTHING ! (other than the couple of coins you might find)
It's a Poor Man's way of coin collecting !
It's for everybody actually.....but if funds are tight....this can still be easily done with no extra cost !

Because once you're done looking through all of your rolls of coins, you just take them back to the bank and cash them in or deposit them.

It's a good start to numismatics, just keep on searching and looking for big ones. Sooner or later, you will know what you will be specializing in.
Meantime this community will help you a lot to enjoy your hobby... and
to the family

Hi and welcome Jason! I am new to collecting also, but I have a warning for you.

Caution: Collecting coins can lead to joining and spending too much time on CCF forum, sweet talking bank tellers, constantly wanting to roll search for that one "WOOHOO" coin, and many other dangerous, obsessive behaviors.