Hi,

I'll make this simple because my daughter asked me this today. Investment or Fun?? Little of Both or just wishful thinking?

She asked because I remembered where we could get Susan B's and those Gold dollars I can't say much less type(Sacagawea?) Anyway we went to my super secret spot and got a few of each.One of the gold dollars looked really good and one of the Susan B's also looked good, though not as good as the gold one. Then she asked about the fun or profit question.I answered with fun is ok but making HUGE amounts of cash while having fun is even better!!! Now on my budget I doubt we will ever make any money but I told her that with a little luck since this is something we are doing together that she can have our collection when I die and maybe it might be worth something then.

So we go to the local coin store and he tells me my Kennedy half that looks "proof,mint and MS90(is that a real grade?)SVDB Never seen air coin is worth $2 or 3 and my gold dollar is worth a dollar and my susan b's are worth a dollar. Talking about busting my bubble!

What was the question??

Where do you start? The guy had some old penny books almost filled for only 2 bucks with the pennies so we got them.Then I got my daughter 2 new books to put the pennies in, she wants to do that. We already started the state quarter thing. I got a roll of last year "peace" nickels that everyone is paying big bucks for on ebay. I already got 4 rolls from ebay of the buffalo nickels for less than the mint is selling them!! I got them for $6.98 a set!!!Can you believe that?

Wow I am typing off at the fingers again. I don't usually do this and it will not happen all the time.
Coinmonster

Just for fun.

For fun. For investment, you probably need a lot more research beforehand...

How did ya'll decide where to start?

To answer your first question, strictly fun. As an investment maybe 10+ years from now when I'm graduated and making good money.

Long story short. My grandpa started me collecting around the age of 8 or so. Just now got back into it at the age of 20. Started off collecting Lincolns and Morgans as a kid, decided to start where I left off and in an area I felt comfortable. I've now expanded into type sets, German coinage *drools*, and dabble here and there in the notes.

Just kind of look around see what there is. I suggest borrowing a Krause catalog and a Redbook. Gives you a good idea of what you may be interested in.

Edit: Oh, MS90 is not a grade.......yet.

There is always a danger of the investment potential of coins to eclipse all other reasons for getting into the hobby, after all, we are collecting "money"! But you must ask yourself why, and be comfortable with your reasons. Like Burks, I got into this hobby because of a relative. With my it was my great uncle Ed who gave me a coffee can of old coins when I was 8. Since then I've collected a lot of things, and now I mainly collect Saint-Gaudens double eagles. As an investment, those have done well for me, but I know that if gold goes down, I could be back to breakeven or worse. But it still wouldn't change my desire for collecting them. I have many coins for many reasons. I still have many of the coins that my great uncle gave me, and I keep them not for value but because they are from him. I still have my Lincoln cent collection from when I was a kid, not because they've increased in value, but because it reminds me of my youth, and just how hard it was to come by a dollar in those days. Even today I fill my whitman folder with state quarters I find in my change, not because I hope to make a profit but because I like the designs and desire to maintain a complete collection. I buy nice bust halves not because they will appreciate (anyone in bust coinage knows there have been decades when these coins have been all but ignored), but because I love their history! My 1807 half might have been through the hands of someone who signed the Declaration of Independence or voted to ratify the Constitution. My 1810 half might have been in the pocket of someone fleeing the capitol as the British burned it down in the War of 1812. Sure, it would be nice if my collections increases in value, but what would be better for me is to have an heir that appreciates my hobby and will continue my efforts when I am gone.

For you, I would forget the profits, and enjoy spending time with your daughter! That might mean buying an album for current coins and going to the bank each week and buying rolls of coins and filling the holes. This is cheap, and you probably won't make any money, but you won't lose any either. And you would be spending a fun time with your daughter, creating memories that will last long after the set is complete or your estate is in probate. As you spend time you will learn more, and as you learn more you will likely collect more advanced and expensive coins. By then your potential for profit might increase, but if you are like the rest of us, that will become less and less important as the years pass.

That's my story and my advice, it's worth what you paid for it.

For fun is the way to go. If you make some money along the way, so much the better and if you lose money along the way, you can at least say you had fun.

BTW: Is your super secret dollar coin spot the post office? If not, you might try it. Put a twenty in the machine and buy a stamp.

Oh yes!!!!!!!!! The Post office and she was happy with what we 'found". I just thought maybe they might have been worth something??The guy at the coin shop said my were worth face value.

Well, you can't expect every coin you get in change to be worth more than face value, if they were no one would ever spend any money! Occasionally you might find something worth more, but that is the exception, not the rule. To me, you already made a profit, after all, your daughter had fun going to the Post Office!

Welcome to the Hobby of Kings. Investment or fun? Even the most experienced collectors will tell you FUN! The only investment coins are the highest grade key date coins. And if you have that kind of money, you most likely figured out how to get it without coins. So, again, FUN!

You miss the fun of the hunt/search by buying an almost completed coin folder. Where to start? How about (Anton, drum roll, please)... Jefferson nickels. It's not too late, even though there are now four circulating commemoratives available with one more coming (I take exception to the hype about #5 but that's the subject of another thread). Jeffs were first struck in 1938 and can still be found in circulation today. Recent nickel roll searchers on RCC have found 1939-Ds and 1950-Ds, the two key dates of the series. With patience, about the only coins you may have to buy will be the war nickels (1942-1945), only because they're silver and almost all of them have been pulled from circulation.

As for the roll of Peace nickels you bought for $6.98, well, sadly, another bubble busted. They were available from many banks for (ready for this?) $2 a roll. I have LOTS of them.

Here's a suggestion I like to offer for any parent with a young numismatist:
get a raw (meaning not certified) Silver Eagle from their birth year that they can touch and show off to their friends. A Proof set from their birth year is also a good start. Pick a current series (like Jefferson nickels), pick up a Whitman or Harris folder, get mixed rolls from your bank, and search through them with your daughter. Cost estimate:

Silver Eagle - $10-$15.
Proof Set - $20-$30 (average, some higher).
Coin Folder - $5
Roll of Nickels - $2
Shared time searching rolls with your daughter - PRICELESS!

Jerry

I got the BUFFALO nickels just like they came straight from the mint not from the bank for $6.98. If you buy them from the mint they cost $8.95


https://catalog.usmint.gov/webapp/wcs/store...tegory_rn=10142

I don't think you can get rolls like that from the bank. Then again maybe you can, I am a NOOB


Funny you mentioned nickels, we found a 1944 in my pocket today, pretty cool.

Now theres a coin worth more than a nickel. The 1944 nickel is made of silver and even in poor condition has a value over 5 cents. Not a fortune but in a grade of "Fine" will get you 50 or 60 cents.
Look on the back above the building (Monticello) do you have a P(Philadelphia) D (Denver) or an S (San Francisco)?

(Having fun yet?)

My father gave me some coins he collected as a kid, and I am partial to some of them. I just started doing to research (and I still am) to broaden my horizions. I went through the Red Book, read about the coins, and picked out a few favorites. I also like coins with stories behind them, like the 1903-O Morgan dollar. I always try to find stories about coins, and then the particular coin gains interest to me. Other than that, just which ones are visually pleasing to me, like toned Morgans are BEAUTIFUL.

-Robert

I made a mistake the nickel was a 1948 and I can't find a mint mark on it anywhere.

I started about 25 years ago when I got a lincoln penny folder as a Christmas present. Collecting from circulation is definately the way to go for your daughter, and you can supplement additional "extras" for her (birth year stuff or 100 years before birth year is a great idea). I recommend you let her decide what coin she thinks is the coolest and take it from there. My son is 5 and I recently did this with him.
I also highly recommend foreign currency for kids. Current issues are available at face value or for trade quite easilly (maybe a pen-pal) and kids love learning about these mysterious, exotic places.

Hello Coinmonster.
I must say...LOVE THE AVATAR!!!

That's sort of the way I feel sometimes.

The mint mark on Jefferson Nickels dated 1964 and earlier is on the reverse to the right of the Monticello.


No mint mark means the coin is from the Philadelphia mint.

The exception is the Silver nickels made during the war. On these coins the mint mark is above the Monticello.

Dockwalliper.................. thank you the pictures on where to look. It has no mint mark. We are waiting on our "unsearched" rolls of wheats to come. I havn't decided what I really want but I do like the older stuff with some history.

Anytime.
The only Dumb question is the one you don't ask.