New To Coin Collecting

My advice to you is search the boards. This forum will give you more information than you'll ever need. We have a lot of smart people here who know there stuff. Anything you want to know about coins can be found in this forum, and if its not readily available, post a question an it'll be answered.

I'm going to leave all the other questions you had up to other members of this forum. I could probably answer them myself but I believe it would be presumptuous of me to do so, since I am myself also relatively new to collecting.

I do however have some advice on coin investment. Yes, coins can be an investment tool since all coins retain a face and numismatic value which naturally appreciates. Especially if you buy into coins with precious metals in them since the trends are, over a period of time, for the price of the metals to go up. But the main reason, in my opinion, you should get into coin collecting is for the fun. Unless you plan on spending loads of money collecting key date coins and bullion coins then you not going to see a huge return on your investment. The money would probably be better off invested in stocks and bonds. For example, I bought an 1879 silver dollar in average circulated condition from a dealer for 18 dollars. So the coin was worth 1 dollar in 1879 and on 17 dollars more 130 years later. A long time to wait for a 17 dollar profit. The types of coins that will rapidly appreciate in your lifetime are key date and bullion coins that commonly commonly sell for thousands.

Welcome to the forum.

Also welcome to the forum. Also look up words you need help with in the coin community glossary. Its on the left in 2nd box 3rd hyperlink.

-64s

Like stated above, check the site and buy some books and other resources. I have been collecting a little bit my entire life but nothing really seriously until about 2 years ago. I looked at places online and it seemed that a lot of sites contradicted themselves and did not really help out when it came down to knowing the basics (until I found this one).

I am at work right now so the books that I want to refer you to are not in front of me, but I would suggest 1. a Red Book, 2. a book that shows pictures of each coin and the different grades and 3. look into the different magazines out there. These 3 sources alone will give you a huge advantage by knowing what you have already before you start collecting. Like most others on this board, I do it for fun so my collection is not worth a lot of money but been more fun finding things and learning about other coins.

Investment: from some people I know that do this you really need a lot of cash up front and able to turn around and sell about as fast. At my local store there are a handful of people that buy silver and gold in large amounts and then turn around and sell it when it hits peak highs. The problem with this is that you have to be glued to the market because they can vary $2-30 in a matter of minutes. Also, you need to be able to sell them back at some type of a profit and not at a loss. If you have been collecting for awhile and had a stock pile of gold and silver then you could have made a killing this year.

The other thing to look at is what is hot at the moment and what will be in the future, and again this turns into a guessing game and having to sit on it for awhile. The best thing to do is look for really good prices either online, stores or yard sales. Every once in awhile you can find something for almost nothing and be able to sell it the same day for a profit. For example, my coin store has a half off table that always has something on it of interest. Most of the time you could buy these and turn around on ebay for a quick small profit. But sometimes combining these items will help drive up the price as well. A lot of items that people collect are coins from around the turn of the century and early 1900's silver. So Morgan dollars, Mercury dimes, Indian head pennies, etc are always something to look at.

But as I said earlier, learn before you buy or you will end up hurting yourself more than helping. Don't worry, you will get burned a couple of times and this is good because you will learn from your mistakes. So I would also suggest to start investing in cheaper coins and moving up as your knowledge grows.

I am finally home and looking at the books I was talking about earlier:
1. "The Official American Numismatic Association Grading Standards for United States coins" is what I use to look for the grade of a coin. There are pictures of virtually every US coin made and descriptions to understand why it is that grade.

2. "Official Blackbook Price Guide to United States Paper Money" if you decide to buy any types of paper money.

3. Magazines: I usually buy COINValues when I can find it and when I can not I buy COINage. Both magazines have their own different price guides, articles about currency and ads to deals, dealers and resources so it just comes down to which one you prefer. If you start going to local coin stores it would be a good idea to know what they use for their pricing, my store uses COINValues so that is the one I stick with.

Welcome to CC and the hobby! Warning...it's very addicting.