What Coins Should I Buy for My Collection?
Posted by junkgurl in Junk Silver Coin FAQ, tags: coins, collection, shouldQuestion by Pietro: What coins should I buy for my collection?
I'm 25 years old, and recently I decided that I needed a hobby. So I came up with the idea to start a coin collection. I've been buying U.S. Silver Dollar Eagles (some slabbed some not), old Morgan Dollars, and 90% pre 1964 silver coins (junk silver).
I've been going to all of the local coin shops trying to find a dealer that I can trust. Well, today I went to a coin shop that I had never been to before. He gave free appraisals, so I decided to stop in to see what he thought of my collection so far. I explained to him that I was relatively new at this. Upon looking at my coins, he said that I had been overcharged because basically all of my coins were only worth melt value. It was very discouraging.
My question is; what coins should I buy in order to have a collection that I can be proud of? a collection that will hold it's value? A collection that one day will be profitable?
Should I only buy slabbed coins? which ones? What silver coins should I buy? what gold coins should I buy? He said that I didn't have any "special" coins? what did that mean?
Here is what I have managed to buy in one month:
slabbed 1986 Silver Eagle MS69
2008 Silver Eagle
1oz silver bullion bar
1 oz silver philharmonic 2008
1902-o Morgan Silver Dollar VG
1902 Morgan Silver Dollar VF
1901 Morgan Silver Dollar F
3oz of pre 1964 90% junk silver
1913 Type1 Buffaloe Nickle
1905 5 piece cent
Can somebody please help guide me in the right direction! Tell me what I should be looking for, and what I should be buying?
Thank You
Are there any books that you would recommend?
Best answer:
Answer by BD in NM
There is an old adage in the hobby that says; "Buy the book before you buy the coin." In other words educate yourself a little bit and you will enjoy the hobby better. Get a copy of the Red Book as a basic reference book, join a local coin club and maybe even join the ANA.
Your local coin dealers should know how to contact a local coin club and the ANA website is money.org.
As far as what to collect, that is more of a personal decision. You could try to put together a type set which would let you collect a sample of many different coin types. This would give you a feel for what is out there and what is not. Once you have narrowed down your interest you could focus on that coin series or type.
I actually have several different coin collections that I work on at different times. I focus on Lincoln cents but have a type set I am working on and also collect Confederate currency. There is also the coin that is just cool and interesting that I will buy every once in a while.
Don't let the dealer discourage you. It sounds a little like he was trying to get you to keep coming back to his shop with a negative comment about the purchases you made at the other dealers. Most dealers are pretty straight up and will deal fairly with you. Just remember they can only offer you wholesale prices when you sell to them. They are in the business to put bread on their table and can't do that if they are buying at retail.
In the end a little education will help you spot someone who is being straight up and someone who is not.
Most important have fun.
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
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Originally posted 2010-07-14 16:49:23. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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The dealer you talked too was right. Morgan dollars in the grades you have really don’t have collector value. You need to slow down and look around and see what you like or that will hold your interest, for you don’t have a collection but an accumulation. These days a set of cents is out, due to the cost of the 1909-S VDB. I have 2 nice sets of Mercury dimes but they were put together years ago before the 1916-D became so expensive. I do not know how much you have to spend but for investment there are the key and semi key coins of all the series. For fun and knowledge there are world coins and ancient coins. Ancients and world coins if the right ones are also an investment. I devide the coin hobby up to investors they could care less about the coins just the profit, coin collectors who have some goal but mainly fill the holes in albums and last but not least numismatists, they collect coins but know the history about them as well as do research on them either for more info or on varities. Try putting together a nice 20th century type set of U.S. coins in the highest grade you can aford. There is only so much space here and numismatics is a vast subject. Hope this helps.