New Collector Looking For Some Help.

some collect coins for one country, some collect coins before certain years, some collect only slabbed/graded coins.

I have mostly US coins, with world coins for my Birth Year Set, coin from countries that I have visited, and some other world coins.

Here is a link of my albums:
http://www.coincommunity.org/galler...hp?cat=10468

SteamyRevolt, to the CCF

w/ amida17. Buy the Red Book and see what coins in US history really appeal to you. Also, E-Bay is a great place to see coins. I originally started type collecting one of each US coin, but then my interest went in the direction of Civil War & Store Merchant tokens due to their history and has stayed there. Everybody has their likes & dislikes... only you can decide ultimately what you want to collect. Who knows, maybe you'd like ancient Romans or world coins like MANY of the CCF members? Good luck w/ whatever you decide to do.

Ok, i'll look into that book. Thank you very much everyone!

Sometimes I think of the hours I've spent coin roll hunting, or traveling or waiting at auctions and I would almost want to say GET OUT NOW WHILE YOU CAN!

Seriously though this hobby is very enjoyable and it can get very addictive or overwhelming.

I don't think anyone on here will be able to tell you what to collect. To each their own. One reason I love talking with other collectors... to find out what they find facinating and to share in that.

I started with nickles and had a LOT of fun with those, I've dipped into silver dollars, but my true love is 50 cent pieces and maritime coins.

You have to find out what speaks to you... There's a whole lot to learn in numismiatics so start with just one thing.. and then let it go from there..

Good luck and hope to see more posts from you with updates!

I started out when I was about nine years old and only cared about Lincoln wheat cents. I had a decent date set going but then realized there were other coins I could collect too. From Wheaties, I expanded to Eisenhower dollars, Kennedy halves, then said "hey, I should also get some Lincoln memorial cents, and maybe get one of each mint mark and date for all the Lincolns". THEN I realized there were other small cents out there, and commemorative halves too! And nickels are easy to get from bank rolls and a set can be completed with moderate work. Then I said "Hey, I can upgrade these too and have a collection worth of envy!" And man, it won't stop. But it all began with finding something I saw that I loved. When you find that, you'll be on the way too. And like many people, both on here and elsewhere, I am sure you'll broaden your definition of "what to collect." Once you have that in mind, search for coin stores in your area. Look at what people on here have for trade and sale, and check online sites like (as much as I cringe) ebay. There are other online coin dealers you can shop from, and I am sure people on here can give you reviews on many of them. Hope this helped.

What it boils down to is these points:

What coins in that pile do you find the most appealing to look at? Keep those.

Are there any interesting dates that you want a coin from?

Are you interested in buying coins? If so, establish a budget of how much you are willing to spend per coin. Then go look at the pictures of coins, both US and world. If you catch yourself thinking "Ooh, I want one of them!" cross the grade of the coin with price on an online price guide. For example, you can look at pictures of US coins with their grades on pcgs.com/photograde to get a general sense of a coin in question, then get a rough guestimate of if your budget will allow for it with numismedia.com

Most everyone here is suggesting US coins but there are also coins from all over the world, you could specialize on one country your all of them. Some people try to get one coin from every existing country, then they may try for countries that no longer exist. I collect world coins by type. Once again you can concentrate on one country or region, or try for them all. I collect the whole world by type back to 1860. I don't do gold or commemoratives, just circulation coin. You can build a collection of thousands of different coins for not a lot of money. I'm to the point now where it is more expensive, but I have over 20,000 different types and I still have a long wantlist. Plus with over 200 countries in the world you can figure around 100 new types are added each year. It's a never ending challenge. There's a challenge for a beginner, circulation type coins of the 21st century. Figure 200 countries with four denominations each that starts 2001 with 800 types. Add an average of 100 new types a year and there are 2,100 types you can shoot for.

When I first started it was due to coins that were given to me from family as well. Because it contained several different types of coins (cents, dimes, quarters, etc., even world coins) I wanted to work on everything at once and became quickly overwhelmed. What I did was divide my collection into cents, nickels, dimes, etc. Then I focused just on cents. It helped me learn a lot as I went along. Learning everything I could about cents as far as what to look for. That got me into Coin Roll Hunting which can do great things for your collection on an extremly low budget... Nothing beats adding coins to your collection at face value. Cents are also a good place to start as they are only a penny :) If you are like me, when I started I was saving EVERYTHING! Even things that I shouldnt have been saving. With cents, its a cheap learning experience. Then as I learned, I released a lot of my hoard back into the wild when I became more "picky" as far as what I was after and what I wanted to save. Now, I am moving slowly into other areas, starting some type sets such as WWII, and other things now that I am more comfortable. This plan of action worked out well for me so I thought I would share. Good Luck and Welcome!