How To Start a Coin Collection

Start by identifying what you want to collect: silver dollars, $100 gold coins, bi-metallic coins, coins featuring animals? Any category that interests you will do.

Collecting coins from circulation is a great place to start. The risk is negligible (you can always spend the coins), and you can learn a lot examining your coins carefully and seeing what reference books say about them.

Buy the book before you buy the coin is the best advice!

Research. Contact your local coin dealer or numismatic club, and ask them to recommend good resources from which you can learn about the hobby. This will help you know what to look for when buying a coin, and to learn how best to determine the value of a coin. You may start with a visit to American Numismatic Association to find out more about the dealers and associations who promote the hobby. If you are working on a low budget you may want to check out your local library to find out what books on numismatics are available to you.

Budget. Decide how much you wish to spend on your new hobby - it's easy to get carried away!

Coins can be rewarding for the collector who makes the effort to study the hobby and the market. Someone who does not make that effort is more likely to waste money on over graded, problem or counterfeit coins. Before spending a lot of money on coins, invest in your knowledge of the hobby.

Protect Yourself. You should have at least one reference book covering your area(s) of interest. Reading a few issues of periodicals is another good idea. A good place to start collecting is reading the Consumer Alert: Investing In Rare Coins pamphlet; located on our site.

What Would You Like To Know About?

• How To Start A Coin Collection
• Care & Handling
• Cleaning
• Grading U.S. Coinage
• How To Price Coins?
• Storage
• Tools Of The Trade
• How To Select Magnifiers
• American Numismatic Association
• Investing In Coins
• Dictionary of Numismatic Terms

Go back to About Coin Collecting home page.