New Member Searching For A Really Good Starter Set

How about just starting with your own wallet and look for all the different cash you have? A lot of Americans here say to have started with cents (by year and mintmark), so that may be a classical way to start for a child. There are also quite some nickels to be found. How about State Quarters or America the beautiful? Those are widely available in change and a lot of them are still in excellent condition. There are quite a few albums around which are dedicated to such coins, too. Just check ebay, coin shops or such vendors to see what they have to offer.

Not only would that be a nice way to start a collection, it'll also make getting change a bit more interesting and exciting. And if you decide that coin collecting is not for you, for example because it doesn't turn out to be the gold mine you expect it to be, then you can just spend it all again and nothing is lost. I personally try to get an American type coin set just out of circulation (ok, plus a few Morgans and so on the side), and I got well over 100 different types, not paying attention to mint mark or year. If I'd have done that, I'd probably be over 1000 by now. And I don't even live in the USA...
Also check the 'junk silver' bins at your local coin shop. There might be quite a few treasures there going for about silver spot price, like silver dimes or quarters.

As for the gold mine... unless you are dealing in precious metal (and very good at it) or able to invest in high end coins for trade, there won't be a physical gold mine. The most you'll get out of it is time spent with your son.

Some terrific ideas posted here!

As another idea and learning experience, why not attempt a "one from every country" or OFEC set? Buy a few cheap lots on ebay for $5-10 each and see how far you can get, then start hunting down individual countries. It's not terribly expensive, but it is a genuine challenge and will teach all but the most seasoned of geography nerds a thing or two.

My son got interested in coins by looking through my small box of wheat cents and some silver coins. We started with the 50 state series, then the National Parks ( ATB) series and the Presidential dollar series. Once we were done/caught up to releases there, we started going to the bank and buying penny rolls and nickel rolls to look through.

After about a year, he is 13 coins away from a full set of Jefferson nickels from circulation and he's fully completed the Memorial cents collection. We've completed all but 6 wheat pennies from 1941-58. We've found some proofs in circulation, a few Indian Head cents, and 3 Buffalo nickels during that time, and some random foreign coins. He's had fun every step of the way, which is important to us.