Just A Few Questions?

Collectors do a lot of different things depending upon their goals.

If you're trying to put together a set, you will need one of each from a series.

If you're only searching for coins with a high premium, then you should look at the Red Book to see what the key dates are and which coins are silver.

As for how much time I spend on each coin....well, I take my time because I like to search for errors, I hope to find a die variety, and I am trying to learn to grade them. It's slow going for me, but I enjoy it.

Hope that helps.

Andrew22, what Buddy said is true. If you are trying to find the "key coin" , you need to know the most about the coin. Here at CCF the motto is "Education is the key to collector success."
Learn all you can from CCF and other web sites even buy the books.


Yes. This can be time consuming but if you know what to look for go for it.

Some will take 10 containers and sort them by the last digit "0" coins in one bowl, "1"s in a different bowl till they are sorted. Then sort the "0"s into decades and check on coppercoins for all the varieties for that year. Then check them to see what is in each year, one year at a time. That way you can get used to what the design looked like for that year. Then when you find something, you think are different, set them aside. If they all look normal, then roll them and turn them back in. I would start with cents, as they are probably the larger number in number. When you get used to finding variety coins then you will know what to look for on the other denominations. Handle the coin carefully by the edges. (The first time through for a year, may require a second/third look till you get the system down. Take your time and when you feel comfortable there is nothing interesting, then, let them go.

Save all silver coins and BU/AU coins. Ugly coin roll them. I often don't even look at them. If they are damaged and I find something, I wasted my time. So I toss them back when they don't look like a coin I would buy.