Beginning My Collection

If by "profitable" you mean "my coins will be worth a fortune in a few years time", then I'm afraid the answer is, "almost certainly not", unless you happen to find genuinely uncirculated coins. Unc coins are pricey because, well, they're not easy to find. The good news is, the coins will always have face value, so you never really "lose" anything. I'd recommend just having fun collecting coins, and let anything that actually does soar in value in years to come be an added bonus.

As far as sources for coins go, you have several options. None of them, however, are highly likely to provide lots of uncirculated coins.

- Friends and acquaintances - this is especially suitable for the "make friends easily" type of personality. If people know you're one of those "coin collectors", they'll often keep aside for you anything odd or interesting that they find. I know one fellow who seems to have his entire family, all the residents of his retirement village and most of the businesses in his suburb searching for coins for him. Letting people know you're a collector does have it's downside of course, in potentially making you and your home a more attractive target for thieves.

- the Till - working at a cash register gives you lots of opportunity to handle lots of coins. If your business or workplace has a cash register, ask to check it out during slow trading periods.

- Banks - probably the easiest choice. Some people "buy" bagfuls of coins for face value, and go through them. Anything they don;t want to keep is re-deposited. Be aware that some financial institutions are now charging a cash handling fee for depositing large amounts of coinage, so check with your bank first before trying it.

- Churches, charities, etc - fundraising activities often acquire lots of coins. If there's a charity or similar group you're involved with, ask if you can help them sort the money. You can then buy anything interesting to you for face value. These are often a great source for "weird coins" - foreign coins, obsolete (predecimal) coins, tokens, medals, anything coin-like that people think might be valuable but aren't sure would be accepted as "real money".

- Casinos - another venue where you can "borrow" hundreds of coins, sort through them, and then give back anything you don't want to keep. Casino coins are sometimes more damaged than regular circulation coinage because they've gone through the slots so many times.

- Coin dealers - you have to pay extra for coins from there, of course, but sometimes it's the only way to find those elusive dates and types in top condition.

I may be able to help you. I have decided to sell my decimal coin collection and I have most coins from 1966 in UNC condition. I am going to start with my 1c, 2c, 5c and 10cent coins. May also include 20c and 50 cent coin soon.

Email me if still interested

Hey I'm in the same boat mpn2009. I've started collecting 5,10,20 and 50 cent coins + commemorative. I was reading through the topics and I don't really understand what aUNC means. If you find a coin in a good condition with hardly any scratches etc is it still classified as uncirculated?

Ooooh that makes sense, thanks svlav! :)