Where do I start?

New member here, hello!

I've been researching for a while, and dug up some of my old coinage so have a meagre 'collection' currently. But where do I start? What do I collect? I like pretty and old coins, but really have no idea what to do.

What albums/cabinet do I buy for my collection? Do I try to collect a full set of $1 indian head coins? How do people afford everything? Where do I buy from? What books and catalogues do I need? Can I for example swap my 1861 $1 on here for a different dated one of the same kind, or does it not usually work like that?

How do I properly grade my coins? How do I spot genuines from fakes? I have a gold testing kit, but that's about it. Do I need a safe to keep them in? Or specialist insurance as my collection grows? Is it worth anything more than the bullion prices currently?

Sorry for the mass of questions, I'm just genuinely clueless :)

Well, that's a lot of questions!

I'll try to address them all.

• What to collect...Well that's completely up to you. I would suggest looking through some catalogues to see if there are any areas you like, then start on those, other than that, another way to start off is to collect everything. Buy some big bulk lots, sort through them and find what you like, if you find an area that interests you stick to that
  
• What albums to use: Again I would have a look through some online catalogues or go into your local coin store (if you have one) have a look at the range, pick one that suits your taste and what you're going to be collecting
  
• How do people afford everything: We can't is the simple answer, different people have different budgets, I have a young family so I wasn't spending much on coins, but my wife has started working recently so we have a bit more disposable income
  
• Where do you buy from: Wherever you can, E-bay, dealers websites, local coin shops, etc
  
• What catalogues do you need: Well we have a pretty decent online catalogue here and there is another on the NGC website, but if you're looking to specialise in a specific area then it would probably pay to buy a specialised catalogue for that area of collecting. Other than that, there's the classic Krause and Mishler catalogue
  
• Can you swap your coin for one of different date: Yes, swapping is pretty easy on this site, but if you are a new member looking to swap with an established member with good swapping feedback then you will likely be asked to send your coin first, don't take it personally, they're just trying to protect themselves
  
• Grading coins: This is an art form and takes a while to learn how to do properly. I would go with online photo grading sites at first. These are sites that have pictures of coins in each grade that you can compare your coins to. You can also ask in the coin identification and valuation forum on this site if you want a second, third, fourth etc opinion
  
• Spotting genuine coins from fakes also takes practice, the forums on here are good for that, but a good set of scales and calipers are a good investment. Know what a genuine coin should weigh and measure and then comparing that with your scales and calipers is probably the easiest way to spot a fake, especially with coins made of precious metals.
  
• As for insurance, most standard contents insurance will cover collections up to a certain dollar figure, over that you can get insurance if you want, it's up to you. I think mine will cover a collection worth up to $5,000
  

Enjoy yourself and spend some time on the forums to get to know other collectors is the best way to keep the enthusiasm for collecting and to meet possible trading partners. Enjoy yourself

oggy: Welcome to the forum - you will find many members here are very knowledgeable and most important - very friendly just like neilithic has shown. Ask questions and I am sure there will be a member ready to assist you with some good advice. Good luck on your new adventure into coin collecting. Ed

I want to concretizisize some of neilithics points.

• Hands away from your testing kit!!!
  

You will ruin your coins if you start putting acids or sanding them.
Better only buy from reputated auctionhouses/dealers and stay away from eBay.

• Becareful if you intend to swap here. There are many crooks lurking to cheat novices for their collectibles. They call it barter but in reality it is scam. If you are unsure just post their offers and ask the public in the forums if it's a fair deal.
  

But dont be afraid, the majority are honest swappers here

Thanks for the welcome guys!

Especially thank you for the tip of not to use the metal testing kit!

A few follow up questions. I've been reading on the internet that 'all' albums are kind of bad for the coins in terms of damaging them, and they are best kept in individual slabs or their original packaging. This leads to my first question - I have an 1832 Maundy Set in it's original box; is it best being left there, or transferred to airtight slabs? Is it ok to put 'less valuable' coins in those albums?

When swapping coins, do customs charges come into play. For example, if I wanted to swap my spare1861 US $1 for an 1860 $1 with neil in NZ, would customs pounce and apply import charges at both ends? I would only swap with people with good feedback and obviously send my coins first as I'm the unknown party, but is there any way to further protect myself should a £200 coin get 'lost' in transit etc?

Any more reading material on coin identification/detecting counterfeits? What if the counterfeit is actually gold but still a fake? I've read up a bit on axis alignment and different faces/designs for years; is that the way forwards? Also, how do you 'detect' metal compositions if you can't use the metal testing kit?

Thanks!

edit: Updated my profile now, so everybody should be able to see what I have/want. Hope it's fine!

Quote: "oggy"​When swapping coins, do customs charges come into play. For example, if I wanted to swap my spare1861 US $1 for an 1860 $1 with neil in NZ, would customs pounce and apply import charges at both ends? I would only swap with people with good feedback and obviously send my coins first as I'm the unknown party, but is there any way to further protect myself should a £200 coin get 'lost' in transit etc?

​It depends on the laws of the country. I know from New Zealand you can send things without any duty as long as you declare what's in it. I just sent a commemorative set with a coin and banknote worth $350 to Canada. I just paid for the postage and put on the declaration sticker that it was a Commemorative collector's set, It got through fine with no customs charges.

Quote: "oggy"​Any more reading material on coin identification/detecting counterfeits? What if the counterfeit is actually gold but still a fake? I've read up a bit on axis alignment and different faces/designs for years; is that the way forwards? Also, how do you 'detect' metal compositions if you can't use the metal testing kit?
​

​Most gold coins are not worth too much more than bullion value, so if you've got a gold fake then you're not missing out on much. Only if you're spending thousands on a single coin would you need to worry.

But if you're buying gold you'd be better to buy from reputable dealers. You'll pay more for the coins than you would pay on E-bay but you get the peace of mind that it's likely to be genuine.

Silver is easier to test, there's the ice cube test, the ping test, the toilet paper test, the magnetic coin slide, or the density test. The density test can also be used to test gold. I'll try to find some links to them

Ice cube test: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaYh3SlRK0w
Ping test: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r396vrEfLw4
The toilet paper test: Put a single ply of toilet paper (unused ) over the coin, a silver coin looks white through the tissue, a cu-ni coin looks black
Magnetic slide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvmfTApZZsM
Density test: https://en.numista.com/numisdoc/measure-a-coin-s-density-27.html

Nicely done Neil.

It's one of Numista's great attractions that new collectors can ask for help and actually get it. On far too many coin forums such a request would be ignored or at best answered in an (often unknowingly) condescending manner.

If we don't attract new collectors our hobby will die off or end up as simply a bunch of silver stackers and our collections will be worthless. Consider it enlightened self interest but it speaks volumes to me about the relative worth of those who take the time to help new collectors and those who see them simply as sheep to be fleeced.

My first recommendation is to buy the book(s) first, once you decide what you want to collect. Specialists books often have invaluable information that will save you from making costly errors.

I would also highly recommend using the Numista forum. In my experience this the best forum of its kind, and the knowledge and wisdom that can be found here never ceases to amaze me.

I hope your collecting brings you as much pleasure as mine has brought me.

Oops, for some reason my post above didn't contain any content!

Thanks for that information Neil; I doubt I'll be buying too much gold however as I'm a student! (not everybody can be like you sitting on their mountain of gold bars ) Also, thanks for your incredibly detailed and helpful answers to everything!

I've managed to pick up the following in the last 24 hours:

Digital Calipers
Scales
Some coin pouches
And a 1929 10 lira from Vatican City!
(And I've put some ice cubes into the freezer)

Spent £30 in total, so pretty pleased with myself. I've also got a handheld ERF scanner I'm keeping an eye on, but it'll probably sell for more than I'm willing to pay.

Narrowly managed to resist the temptation of buying a Carthage minted Solidus, though if the seller gets more desperate and lowers the price, I may pick it up next week!

I am really enjoying the hobby, though I can see myself spending far too much cash on it. Maybe I should start a 'newbies blog' on here, though I'm not sure it'd be of interest to anybody.

I have a few 'spare/unwanted' coins btw, any ideas on who to give them away to? Nothing particularly stunning, just some old 1/3rd farthings etc.

Hi Oggy, welcome! Instead of giving the extra coins away (a sentiment I do admire though), why don't you list them as swap coins and trade them with someone for coins you want.

Thanks for the welcome spookie!

And because there's very few coins available and I doubt anybody would want to trade them for the kind I want. (big old pretty coins!)They aren't in the best of condition either, and somebody will likely get more joy from them than me.

There's just a 1902 1/3rd farthing https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces19480.html
And a 1901 silver 50 centime from Belgium.

http://i.imgur.com/es6b6u3.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/mb9VERR.jpg

I'm envious of the Vatican 10 lire. I've got quite a few of the early Vatican coins, but the biggest one of the earlies I have is a 5 lire from 1930 which I got in a bulk lot one time. I really love the classical designs of the Vatican coins. This one is one of my alltime favourites

Yeah, don't be in a hurry to give coins away, the 1/3 farthing is in decent condition and although the 50c has seen better days it still has some value due to it's silver content. I'd swap the 1/3 farthing in a heartbeat, they are not easy to find. Quite apart from coins, you ought to be able to swap them for books, albums, supplies etc.

Of course you will get plenty of offers if you are giving them away, I could probably even guess who the first half dozen names will be. Don't be shocked when you find the coins you gave away for free listed for resale on eBay or whatever the Indian equivalent is. Even if you can't swap them for something you need at least keep a hold of them until you know who the bums are and who is likely to give them a good home.

Neil, Yep the Vatican coins do have a really nice design, and seem a fairly small collection to complete. Initially I wasn't going to go for them, but decided it'd be a nice easy/cheap collection to manage/complete for a newbie! Not got my paws on the 10l yet, but will take photos when I do! Do people looking to complete sets usually go for 1 of every coin, or one of every coin from every year? Do the late issue 'gold proof' aka artificially inflated coins matter when trying to complete collections?

pnightingale, I'm just kinda hoping/assuming most of the people looking for freebies to ebay won't be on this thread. Feel free to have the 1/3rd Farthing then! Not sure what the postage costs to Florida will be, but shouldn't be prohibitive. Right now though, my main 'needs' are those plastic coin capsules, a safe or cabinet, a magnifying glass/digital microscope, and that Solidus I have my eye on! The former would likely not be worth shipping from the US, and I doubt you'd be too happy to swap a solidus for a 1/3rd Farthing Might hit you up in due course for something once I get a handle on exactly what I want to collect.

Yes pnightingale is very right. keep them and start a swap list. I know I only have one of them, from pnightingale. And I have 634 coin from the UK. Take your time, and let everyone get to know you. And if you decide to start swapping. Do it one at a time till you get the hang of it. And don't forget you can say no or stop the swap. If you are not sure post any questions you have . So one will help.
Free coins. I have given a lot away here, mostly newer ones. Phil is right on what he said. There are some who want anything for free. Very much so for ones they can sale.
Now the most important thing. You should collect penny's for they are the only coin that makes any cents. Sorry everyone. Iam a penny's nut. That is were the heart of my collection is. But you will find everything here.
Collected what you like. Just start collecting and something will find you. There are people who collect only animals and there are people who only collect coin from 1600's. Just remember have fun and learn.
yours daryl

Quote: "oggy" Feel free to have the 1/3rd Farthing then!

Right now though, my main 'needs' are those plastic coin capsules

​I think I see a solution :)

A few notes about it. Most of the scratches are on the protective plastic not the coin, notably the one from 19 to regina and near the nose on the obverse.

I paid £20 on an ebay auction, not the £10 he was obviously selling it for in his shop, so maybe I overpaid. However it looks in decent condition, and 1929 had a very low mintage, so I'm hoping it's ok.

ps. My 1877 trade dollars were counterfeits Passed the magnetism and ice cube tests but failed miserably on weight. Ah well, ebay will refund me if the seller doesn't fix it :)

₤10 = 10 Lire
L from Latin for pound - libra ... same origin as the British pound

Quote: "Idolenz"​₤10 = 10 Lire
​L from Latin for pound - libra ... same origin as the British pound

​Thanks. I'm officially an idiot :)

Beautiful. If you ever find another one......

Quote: "neilithic"​Beautiful. If you ever find another one......
​
​

​Ask me on 25th March Bidding on http://www.dnw.co.uk/auctions/catalogue/lot.php?auction_id=352&lot_id=1885&search=1 but I have a maximum price in mind that may not win it considering that auction house tend to estimate on the low side.

I was looking to post a suggestion.
HOW can i go about it... ?
Did not see the POST tab anywhere.

If someone can please guide / educate me...

Quote: "SanjeevSuri"​I was looking to post a suggestion.
​HOW can i go about it... ?
​Did not see the POST tab anywhere.
​
​If someone can please guide / educate me...

​If you're looking to post a suggestion about the website or the catalogue, go to the main forum page, go to the catalogue- or website suggestions forum, and then click on new discussion!
Loruca