Making a Hobby of Collecting World/Ancient Coins

Coin collecting is a brilliant way to get involved with a pastime that many people enjoy. It doesn’t necessarily have to be expensive, depending on what you want to collect, but it will always be a rewarding exercise. There are several ways to get involved and several stages that may be of interest to you.

Getting Started
One of the key elements of coin collecting is research. You want to know what you’re getting, after all. Once you’ve decided what type of coins you want to collect, you can get started. The wonderful thing about coin collecting is that it isn’t limited to your own culture. People have been using coins of one type or another for centuries. Ancient coins can make for very interesting collectibles. Perhaps you’d like to focus on one region of the world, or on a specific time period. Either way, coins from around the world will provide insight into fascinating histories and cultures that you’ve never had the chance to experience before.

Moving Forward
Once you’ve selected an area or a time period, you can start researching and collecting. By speaking with coin dealers and doing research online you can find out what coins are rare, which are available, and what you might be interested in seeking out. There are many different themes you may pursue for your collection and part of the fun is to explore the worlds that your coins have come from. Whether you are buying from dealers, auctions, or other sources, part of the fun is knowing what you have and what it is worth. Consider speaking with other collectors or looking at museums for inspiration and information.

Set Up
Once you’ve started your collection, consider keeping a notebook or spread-sheet detailing what sort of coins you have and their histories. Don’t keep your prize collection in a shoe box beneath the bed, but find a way to display and easily look through what you have. Showing off is half the fun. If you are collecting rare or valuable coins, make sure that you take the proper precautions to keep them safe. Keep them out of sight if you are having strangers in the house or consider opening up a safety deposit box in which you can keep your treasures. It would be such a shame to lose the collection you’ve invested time and money into making.

Coin collecting is a great way to get into history. Each coin you collect has its own personal history and by collecting it you have a piece of the world in your very own hands. Collecting is good for all ages and may prove to be an exceptional bonding experience. The process of researching, saving and purchasing or trading for a collection is a worthwhile experience and will result in what may become an amazing heirloom or a valuable monetary asset.

Certified Coins - Grading Services

Anyone who is interested in starting a coin collection will soon realize that they will need to collect certified coins. The reason for this is that the condition grade or rarity of a coin is validated, and the chances of purchasing a counterfeit coin are removed. Sometimes referred to as slab coins, a certified coin typically comes in an air tight plastic container, with a label attached that states which coin it is and the grade of its condition. Several reputable services offer a certifying service, with the main ones are listed below.

PCGSG: The Professional Coin Grading Service have one of the best reputations out there. They will not grade a coin that has been damaged or may even be slightly considered to be a problem coin. This means that coins graded by this service command a premium price. Each coin comes back sealed in a hard plastic case, and the coin can not be removed from this without completely destroying the case. As well as offering security when buying coins that are pre-certified, it also means that a higher price can be asked when it comes to selling them.

ANACS: The American Numismatic Association Certification Service is another service that is held in high esteem. Their most notable asset is that they do not have any ties with other commercial interests such as jewelers or dealers. This makes them perhaps the most independent of all the major coin grading services in the United States.

NGC: The Numismatic Guaranty Corporation was founded in 1987. The sole purpose of this organization is to grade coins, and an interesting fact is that their full time graders are not allowed to trade in coins themselves. Many collectors find this to be very reassuring. The graded coins are returned in a sealed plastic case, complete with relevant information and a bar code which is registered to the coin on their database.

ICG: The fourth of the major coin grading services offer to grade, authenticate and then seal the coins in a plastic case. They will grade coins not just from the United States, but also from around the world, and they have a high degree of professional respect.

Whilst to the novice it would seem that four different organizations offering the same service is a bit of an oddity, it does provide for a more fluid market place, where it is still quite possible to buy a coin graded by for example ICG, and then have it re-graded by PCGS. Some coin owners do indeed choose to have extremely rare coins graded by more than one source.

As a general rule, coin collectors should really only buy certified coins in order to ensure that they have the genuine article. The reality is though, that much of the fun of collecting comes from spotting a bargain at a sale or at an auction, and then getting it graded afterwards. Like anything, the road to becoming an authority on coins is a long one, where quite often mistakes lead to progress.

Pre-1965 Silver Coins

1965 marks an important point in coinage history: it’s the time when silver coins that were made primarily with silver ceased to be minted; they were either replaced by coins made primarily from nickel or the amount of silver was reduced for a few more years and then the coins were made from different and more common minerals. The main reason for this is simple: the amount of silver in the coins became more valuable than the coins themselves, thus making them too expensive to mint as they were.

For investors and collectors, pre-1965 coins are special because no matter what coin they are, they will be silver coins (at least 90% silver). After 1965, the content of silver in the coin will depend on the coin itself and where it came from (some countries abandoned silver before others). But why would investors and collectors even care about coins that aren’t all that old and really aren’t worth all that much?

Known as ‘junk silver coins’, these pre-1965 silver coins are sold by the bag and they can sell at below spot price, (if you buy plenty of it and even if you don’t, the premiums are incredibly low), meaning that you can collect them for less money and sell them for more money if you find that you have a rare coin in the mix or you just find a coin someone else wants. Furthermore, your bag of junk silver is cheap to purchase (between $100 and $1000) and then you can sort through the silver and use it as a vehicle for investment and sell them when the prices go up again.

Junk silver refers to any coin which is government issued and contains any amount of silver. It has little or no numismatic or collectible value beyond the value of the metal found in the coins. They’re not literally junk of course and if you collect enough of them, you can build up quite a nest egg for yourself.

If you’re going to purchase junk silver coins by the lot, it’s important to know where to get your stash.

Wholesalecoinandmore offers the Best 90% Silver Pre 1965 US Coin Lot 8oz
Each Lot from Wholesalecoinandmore.com Includes:

 •One Pre-1904 Morgan Silver Dollar over 100 Years old!(collectable grade) Guaranteed in each one
•A Full Half Pound (8 ounces) of Unsearched 90% Silver Coins
•Each Lot will have $9.00 Face Value of old 90% US Silver Coins

Coins that May Be in your Unsearched Silver Lot from Wholesalecoinandmore:

Morgans, Peace Dollars, Trade Dollars, Walking Dollars, Franklins halves, Walking halves, Barbers, Walking Liberty, Standing Liberty Quarters, Pre-1964 Kennedy Halves, Washington and Barber Quarters,  Roosevelt, Barber and Mercury Dimes  Many of these are in AU and BU condition and many key dates some with mint marks in these silver lots.

What is not in our lots:

Filler, Cents, Nickels and Junk

In Conclusion:

Pre-1965 silver coins may have the moniker of being ‘junk silver’, but there’s nothing actually junky about them. Instead, you can get a wide range of silver coins that are worth their weight in gold for prices that are often far less than what you would pay for things like the Silver Eagles. If you’re just getting into silver investing or you want to round out a collection, take a look at these bags of silver coins. Who knows what treasures you may find?