Where Does One Begin?

I would recommend 5 cent coins. If the penny was still in circulation, that would be my first recommendation. With the nickle you can still do some coin roll hunting, the shape and material have noticeably changed over the years, it has the different marks, busts and varieties that are found in circulation. Overall, it is a great gateway coin because you can still find them at FV from the bank in large quantities. In addition it is a big enough size to see the details and if you feel like splurging a little, you can then dip into the silver fish scales.

If you are set on a low cost, easy to complete set, the nickle $1 has many of these same attributes and they are occasionally found at the bank.

The 50 cent coin is still my favorite denomination, but they are hard to come by at FV and you are really stuck with ebay/coin shop hunting and delicate handling. It makes it harder to get the little ones interested in it.

My first suggestion was for post-1920 nickels, but "theme" collections piqued my memory. A pretty good friend of mine made this site, but I havn't seen him in a number of years. In any case, the research took many years:
http://www.coinzoo.net/

Oh wow thank you, absolutely fantastic suggestions! I was very fortunate to have had a father who was an avid collector, therefore I merely continued where he left off.

AgCoinAU: Oh now I understand. That's an excellent suggestion that would also serve as small steps toward possibly achieving a larger collection if one so desired.

Scissle: Oil and Tractors? Haha.......okayyyy, sure, sure, and next you're going to tell me those "oil" coins are found "down under" and very LOW, right?

Jdmern: I hear you on fishscales, and the tombacs intrigue me as well. I can't help but wonder what the reaction, when they were first put into circulation. One coin from each county, that's also a fantastic idea with regard to my grandson as well. We can keep working on Loonies only for so long, and I notice lots of foreign coin that sell quite cheaply on ebay. (But I could hide a few in Loonie rolls that we're about to open to pique his interest. Bad me!)

Paulsz: Since "reactivating" my collection, I've taken a far greater interest in history as well. I'm ashamed to admit I didn't have a clue what were the names of the 3 male kings, nor their relationship to Liz. I think there's opportunity to increase interest in coin collecting if only someone could think of a good way to weave it into interesting historic events as well.

purelywasted: You echo my thoughts precisely!

Priorpence: Oh no, do you have to go and mention eagles? Earlier on the discussion of themes the thought occurred to me that if I were to choose a theme it would have to be Eagles. But soon thereafter I would be buying US gold coins, perhaps sell the house, sell the car, sell the dog, but I'd sure have lots of eagle coins!

Okiecoiner: I just took a brief look at that site, wow, it's absolutely awesome! What a great way to share the joy of theme collecting with others, got to keep that one bookmarked.

OldCoinGuy: You agree too, indeed nickels are a good way to begin. From there on is a good opportunity for one to decide how serious they might choose to invest in the hobby. Your mention of cash reminds me of an old joke.....25 or more years ago when bank machines became a big deal we'd say "kids used to think money grew on trees, now they think it comes out of a wall". Not true any more, it's now inside of a plastic bank card!

Thanks everyone, I very much appreciate all the possibilities. I could never have thought of all of them without your fantastic suggestions!

Interesting. I must be the only person to suggest starting with quarters as the best way to first get interested in coin collecting. They are a great size to handle, not too small like dimes. They have many commemoratives, varieties and history lessons behind each of the images. They are readily available in rolls at face value from the bank and you often find MS coins going back to 69 in the rolls. Even a silver one if you're lucky.
If, as a beginner, you can't get interested in quarters, you should move on to a different hobby. You don't want to collect (hoard) just for the sake of collecting.

I'm with masterofsecrets. Lots of upside with quarters for beginners. There's the wide variety of designs, historical significance of the subjects, colours, availability. Early and frequent reward of filling holes in her collection could set the hook.

I do the same as SilverDon, don't think I have a 20lb bag yet lol, but am well over 1,000 coins.

Oh thank you, more suggestions! This is causing me to reflect.

SilverDon: Silver dollars are an absolute epidome of any coin collection and will always be, in my opinion. Even though the cost of each one may be higher, it's a distinct advantage that the maximum number is limited to the years and varieties that were issued between 1935 and 1987. The flip side of how I see it, after that first one -- it's becomes like a horrid addiction, there's NO stopping. Seriously! I bet it's near 100% percentage of people who start out collecting another certain denomination, then happen to eye a well-priced SD in a coin store or on ebay. Once it's fallen into their hands, there's no going back! I'm more or less speaking from my personal experience but SDs certainly took me from a hobby into significant investment territory - but I have absolutely no regrets whatsoever! So putting this into better perspective and knowing the personality of my friend is much like mine......what's the words I'm looking for.....(I'm not a farmer, tractors bring it to mind) I don't want to be the one responsible for leading a horse to water! But with little doubt that she'd get there on her own.,"Oh so you bought your first silver dollar eh, that's awesome. I bet it's pretty nice, I can't wait to see it."....<chuckling>

masterofsecrets: I agree quarters are another option, a good midway point between low and high denominations. Speaking of secrets, I'm going to tell you one. Although the 25c features a caribou, to me it looks exactly like a moose which is fairly common in the area where I live. I've put significant effort into upgrading my 25c collection for the years between 1937 and 1966 - this is going to sound like the dumbest of reasons of all time - BUT lower grade caribou (moose) quarters appear to me to be sick, mangy, on death's doorstep almost, it bothered me - so now those that grace pages in my coin albums are far healtheir. Don't you dare laugh!

As far as pennies, yes I also have a personal reason why they're not high on my list of the feature of a collection..... For me and probably for many of us who are now midpoint or greater in our lives (ie old), I think that beginning in about the 70s pennies were something that began to almost become a plague. They overflowed our wallets and as a result, we tossed them aside - into drawers, on top of shelves, desk drawers, dressers, into jars and children's piggy banks - anywhere and everywhere pennies could be found - because the spending value had already become quite low. Therefore it's virtually impossible for me to perceive something that was considered to be of little value for so long, into that would suddenly be something that would keenly capture my time and interest, if I was beginning a collection at this point in my life. I wonder though, perhaps the penny craze that obviously exists is carried by the younger generation who were on the receiving end of all those pennies? Why we collect whatever we collect is often shaped by pleasant, early memories (can't help but mention the general theme of Stephen King - "Needful Things" comes to mind).

garys64wildcat: I'm looking at Dansco Albums, appears to be thick hard pages with sealed windows on both sides? I had some Cdn 50c stored in one but after lasting about 50 years it came time to be renewed, however I wasn't able to find anything similar whatsoever at a reasoanble cost. I continue to believe there's HUGE opportunity by way of more interesting, even more informative albums where they could become the actual guide to a collection - similar to the chicken and the egg philosophy.....which came first?

I think the half dollar is an excellent choice. Though they are no longer issued for circulation, they do have some crazy low mintages. It's really a sharp looking series.