Where To Start With Indian Cents?

to the FORUM.
Now your asking a really tuff question. So much depends on how much you can spend, how much you want to spend, coin stores and/or coin shows in your area, grades you would be looking for and possibly other things.
As to some of your questions, who can you trust? Your wife, maybe. Some of your relatives but maybe not. A crook in jail for murder since he has nothing to loose by lying to you.
Who can you trust for real? Not even me and I am sort of honest.
When it comes to buying coins, always consider the coin dealer may have recently been a used car salesperson. No longer can say salesman you know.
Now for my suggestions. Look around for a coin show and go there frequently if you find some. Post here on this forum for a while so you can try to make deals with members here. Much, much safer than a coin store, ebay or some unknown on line dealers.
If you can find them purchase any of them for now. You can always upgrade later if your still interested in that coin. If you purchase an Album for those you may find that most start with the Flying Eagle cent too. There are many of this type of coin in the later years that are really reasonable to purchase. Buy the Red Book and look up some.
Good luck and keep us all informed.

and

That being said, the first thing I would do would be get a RedBook and decide how much you want to spend... or how much your allowed to spend... But have fun with what your doing!

I can tell you without a doubt that you've done the right thing by coming here first to ask. A lot of these people really know their stuff!

I was thinking about the same thing, so I jumped on ebay to check out starter sets. They range from $25 to $100 and I'm guessing that's a good place to start. From there, you can learn about the coins you've bought. There may be incorrect or illegitimate coins, but I'm guessing for the most part that might be alright.

Now you said "not ebay" specifically, so maybe that won't work for you, but that's what I was thinking of doing. You might also check a local coin show to see if any dealers might do a deal for you. Meet some folks, see who strikes you the right way, and do a bit of mingling.

Also, for SURE, check the for sale section here - these people are much better than a lot of those on ebay. Check member's stores, and you might even check some of their ebay auctions.

Other suggestions are to start with books - and that is a good place to start, but for me at least, I definitely want to have a few varieties to look at, to identify with in my hands as I look at a book.

Best of luck! Oh, and as you probably know, the people here are quite demanding of pictures - so try to get good at taking pictures of your coins so when you have questions, they are more able to help you. =)

And welcome!

An excellent choice to start with! The 1890-1908 range (minus 1908S) is fairly easy to put together in VG-VF range for $1-3 apiece. The toughest date in this range is 1894 and most mixed small lots probably will not have it. I'd probably start with a mixed roll on ebay or related and make sure the description talks about condition and if not sure, ask seller a question. Or if you want to spend as little as possible, you can pick up low grade and culls for lower than $1 each.

My advice would be a little different. I would suggest first buy the book(s). Then examine a large number of Indian cents and try to assemble the grade set as mentioned by Exoguy so you have a good feeling for what each grade represents. Then I suggest deciding on the grade you want and saving your money and going for the rarest dates first. In the long run the higher grade the set, the more eye appeal it will have and the reality of coin collecting is the rare coins get more expensive as time goes by and the common dates hold their own with a little bit of increase. I think you will be happier years down the road with having acquired an 1877, 1909s, and the late 60's/early 70' coins than you will be with all the common coins and none of the rare dates. Remember, you can always go back and fill in the common dates, you will always need to hunt for a nice example of the rare dates. Just my humble opinion.

Very good advice indeed and VERY much appreciated.During the past or first year of my collecting I have purchased several books including the Red Book and have also subscribed to coin values.I read and read again, seems I can't read enough. I really enjoy the facts and the history of some of the coins.I have noticed that Rick Snow has a 4 volume collection on the Indians and plan to have them soon
I have picked up a few coins along the way, some of a better grade than others.Including a 1877, and 2 1908s. I have about 12 to 15 different Indians as of now.
I am fortunate to have an eight year old son that I will collect with and one day this will be his, maybe to share with his children. Such a great time.
I have not "black balled" ebay, I think I will just take the advice given and educate myself on my choices and ask questions along the way.
Thank you all and I look forward to sharing my experiences with you and applying what information I gather along the way.

Listen to Just Carl. That is excellent advice.

IHC's are my favourite US coin as well. Collecting from this side of the world is challenging, but with help from this forum and it's members, it is much easier. There are some very knowledgeable people on this series here.

One thing I would point out is that there are a lot of problem coin Indian cents out there. Cooper coins do not hold up well over time, so watch out for very heavily toned black coins, coins with green gunk on them , and coins with rough surfaces created by pitting.