10 sure-fire techniques

  10 sure-fire techniques to get a massive collection without spending time, money and effort?

Step 1 - Ask (like this young 16 yr old did!)
https://en.numista.com/forum/topic12198.html

Step 2 - Buy bulk, keep the good coins then sell the rest for profit.
             See the reply by neilithic on 24-Oct
https://en.numista.com/forum/topic12089.html

Step 3 - Find coins mis-labelled at coin fairs or from dealers or eBay.
             Like at the start of the Topic, buy for $2 sell for at leat $40
https://en.numista.com/forum/topic5634.html

Step 4 - Rob a Post Office!

If violent theft is not your thing you could buy small denominations of change such as one and two Pennies and collect a date run. My local Post Office changes notes into coins for Free.

Step 5 - Metal detecting.
             All it costs are batteries, and maybe petrol depending how far you travel
https://en.numista.com/forum/topic8922.html

Step 6 - Tell your friends and family. They bring the coins to you when they find 'something interesting'.
             That is how I got my King James Bible coin from a girl at work ...
https://en.numista.com/forum/topic9368.html

Step 7 - Newspapers. Put a small advertisement in your local paper saying something like 'coins wanted'
             As suggested by bam777 on 9-Jan in this Topic ...
https://en.numista.com/forum/topic6039.html

Step 8 - Use eBay

Step 9 - Go to boot fairs, markets, and garage sales. Look for coins at these places. People sell cheap.

Step 10 - "Junk" Boxes

Dealers generally miss the rare base metal coins in their "junk" boxes. They are good tools for beginner numismatists. This is a good example:

I got a 1976 Proof Swiss 5 Francs (worth $20) for 10 cents in a "junk" box.

None.. Your requirements don't fit in with any way of doing this..lol

and be patient

Simply put, you can't.

Like anything else in life the results are determined by how much time, money and effort you put into it.

Of course the three components do not have to be equally applied. For example a rich man can acquire a wonderful collection by using buyers agents and being prepared to outbid anyone. He doesn't really need to apply much in terms of time and effort. An unemployed / retired collector could spend a lot of time hunting down the real bargains so he wouldn't have to spend a lot.

However if you think you can create a world class collection without time, effort or money then you are destined for great disappointment.

If it were that easy I doubt most of us would enjoy it so much.

I've gotten some great coins on a shoestring budget recently, but not just by bargains to build my collection.. I added some good coins to my swap list and through building good relationships with people on here and making some good friends, they'll help you along the way either by swaps or by pointing bargains you may have missed.. I am not working at the moment (as phil mentioned about the unemployed) and you just need to look at the times I've been up and posting on here. For instance now it's 05:10 granted I can't sleep but it also gives a chance to grab a bargain, which recently I've been doing since being allocated my Xmas money. I set some to one side - £10 bought some budget coins to sell on and I'm now using this to fund my collection.. I've been getting some great British Malaya coins and Singapore merchants tokens inc Island of Sultana to go with my Sumatra, I have the Malacca keping, now have the other type Malacca keping - a rooster right with the sunflower on the back; it's a Meluca one I think for just a few quid