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 Replies: 28 / Views: 4,040 |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2845 Posts |
I have a friend who is interested in starting a collection and she's asked me for my opinion of what to collect. Like many people who enjoy the "pursuit" of accumulating collections, in the past she's collected a certain type of glassware but she's reached her maximum limit of what can reasonably be displayed in her home. So I'd suggested to her that coin collecting might suit her interests because it can be stored in just a couple of binders, as well as the creativity that goes into making one's own personalized labels, inventory lists, etc. She's not looking for a high end collection, just something that satisfies a reason to "search" and visit coin shops here and there during her travels.
My first thought is 5c series because of the interesting diversity - the smallsized early "fishscales", tombac, Victory, and so forth. Prices for 5c are mostly reasonable as well.
What do you think?
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
535 Posts |
I agree with the 5 cent series. Coins going back to the sixties are easily found in change/roll hunting. Most mid range coins before then can be purchased with little investment. Small cents would be my second choice.
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Previously Banned Member
42 Posts |
I would have to agree with the exception that I would recommend starting with the Large and small cents as they are more affordable than the silver
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Pillar of the Community
 Canada
2845 Posts |
Oh yes, I forgot about the change/roll hunting. She has grandchildren, that could be a fun thing for them to do together! I recently starting working on a Loonie album with my 9 year old grandson. Buying and exchanging Loonie rolls at the bank, looking for "the best of the best" in all the years has turned into an extremely enjoyable family activity for us to do together whenever he comes over to visit (and keeps him off his iPod).
I might add that my friend is in her 50s, therefore I think that accumulating a collection that includes meaningful years that she'd associate other happenings to would be more interesting to her as well.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2845 Posts |
Yes, the large cents are very interesting. I don't think a lot of people realize our pennies used to be so gigantic in size! Pennies so large, nickels so tiny, an odd contrast. The only concern I have about suggesting cents is that I think she might tend to naturally gravitate toward new looking "red" cents, which can end up costing a lot.
Of interest, beginning in 1922 5c were made of 1.00 nickel, thus came the name.
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Moderator
 Canada
10456 Posts |
The 50-cent series from 1937 onwards can be a nice rewarding collection as well...
"Discovery follows discovery, each both raising and answering questions, each ending a long search, and each providing the new instruments for a new search." -- J. Robert OppenheimerContent of this post is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses...0/deed.en_USMy eBay store
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Valued Member
United States
226 Posts |
Another thought is to collect coins based on themes, such as a specific animal on the coins or shipping/maritime (obviously in this case the collection will be world/foreign). I have been meaning to do this myself, but you can get pulled into so many different directions, that I haven't yet refocused in this area. Maybe after I finish a few date/mm sets I will change gears.
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Pillar of the Community
 Canada
5585 Posts |
Although I am a huge hoarder/collector of large cents, I would recommend something that she remembers from childhood and 5 cent nickels fit that bill. They are easy to find, cheap, not hard to handle and something she remembers putting in the parking meters and using at the 5 & 10 or candy store.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2845 Posts |
These are all great suggestions for her... I'm making a list! If I were to suggest my personal favourite it most definitely would be 50c.....near/far/filled dates and such. I have no idea why, but they truly are the ultimate of my personal collection. Thinking about that perhaps it is because back in the 60s or 70s receiving a 50c piece in change was, to me, a sort of exciting thing as so few were ever in circulation. A huge advantage is most of the 50c varieties are visible to the naked eye, as opposed to the requirement of good magnification tools. I also believe 50c is way undervalued, especially in relationship to $1.00, both nickel and silver.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2845 Posts |
Themes, now that's a thought. She has a child who lives in U.S. as well, so her opportunities in the art of "seek and ye shall find" whatever she might choose to collect are greater than mine.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
3049 Posts |
I have two ideas to suggest....
1) Perhaps a maritime collection.. I find it fun challenging and I really like the revereses.
2) What about some sort of type set? I have enjoyed putting together my type set of nickles simply because of the variety.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2845 Posts |
I think she might be interested in a theme but not sure about a Maritime theme as she's a lifelong Alberta girl. Aside from birds or wildlife, prairies, grass, grain or wheat (I have some foreign coins with bundles of wheat, as I recall...), mountains (Rocky Mtns)....thinking of possible applicable themes but no idea how common they may be to coins. Other than beavers of course!
AgCoinAu, when you refer to sets, do you mean of a certain rein, for example King Geroge V? On that thought, I suppose another possibility could be for one to start by collecting all denominations of certain years that are meaningful - ie birth years of all family members, graduations, marriages, other significant dates and so forth. The up side to that is one could eventually gift their collection in a meaningful way!
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
3049 Posts |
Type set is trying to get all the effigies in one or more denominations...
Example: For 1 cent
you could get one Victoria, one Eddie 7, one George V, one George VI, one Liz II (or you could get one coin of each of the different busts that has been used)
minimum 5 coins... pick the dates you want to use (so you could either pick the harder to find dates or something common)
I like doing type sets like this because you really can get higher quality coins than a full date set with the same money.
Or you want it to be a bit more you can get one of each denomination with each effigy. In a binder or a book these in my opinion look great! And are great for someone starting out.. as varieties sometimes takes a bit of time and experience and you really have to be a bit more "into" coins.. just my opinion... I wish your friend well and hope she enjoys the endevour which ever way she decides on going about it..
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
693 Posts |
Quote:
Aside from birds or wildlife, prairies, grass, grain or wheat..., mountains... I have an extensive collection of coins on the topic of Oil. Also a collection of Tractor coins. I can send you lists if you're interested.  The Canadian 5c series was my first collection. There's lots of interesting coins there for a beginner collector. Modern 25c are a great series for doing roll searching. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1949 Posts |
Quote:
My first thought is 5c series because of the interesting diversity - the smallsized early "fishscales", tombac, Victory, and so forth. Prices for 5c are mostly reasonable as well. I'm a sucker for the fishscales as well and with the later stuff, there is some nice variety.. Plus, cancel out the 1921, and putting together set in a reasonably attainable goal... Another great option is an a collection where you try to obtain one coin from each country, there are members on here that have surpassed 300! |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2187 Posts |
Quote:
I would recommend starting with the Large and small cents  I started out with collecting small/large cents (low graded coins too. Nothing higher than EF40). I just find them really cool and there's a history behind them. But also, as time progressed, I went into EF45 up to MS63 and it was very exciting to see all that detail and the preserved state of the coins after having only lower end ones. |
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Replies: 28 / Views: 4,040 |
Posted 04/22/2015 10:32 am
