People are collecting things as a habit and as a hobby. One of the oldest hobbies in the world is collecting coins. While some don’t get why you should collect money to make money, the communities of coin collectors are getting larger every day since it is a hobby that includes research, history learning and sometimes it can make a profit for people who have the necessary knowledge.
Casual coin collectors often begin the hobby by saving notable coins found by chance. These coins may be pocket change left from an international trip or an old coin found in circulation. Usually, if the enthusiasm of the novice increases over time, random coins found in circulation are not enough to satisfy their interest. The hobbyist may then trade coins in a coin club or buy coins from dealers or mints. Their collection then takes on a more specific focus. Some enthusiasts become generalists and accumulate a few examples from a broad variety of historical or geographically significant coins. Given enough resources, this can result in a vast collection. King Farouk of Egypt was a generalist with a collection famous for its scope and variety. Most collectors decide to focus their financial resources on a narrower, specialist interest. Some collectors focus on coins of a certain nation or historic period. Some collect coins by themes (or ‘subjects’) that are featured on the artwork displayed on the coin. Others will seek error coins. Still others might focus on exonumia such as medals, tokens or challenge coins. Some collectors are completists and seek an example of every type of coin within a certain category.
Because money, no matter how much you have, is a limiting factor, find out how much you want to budget for your collection and then determine where to spend it. Here are some suggestions on how to collect interesting and challenging coins:
Year: Most people are trying to buy a single piece of coin given in their birth year. If you’re under the age of 50 all you have to do is buy the mint sets and proof sets issued by the government in your birth year, plus any commemorative coins issued that year. You may need to look a little harder if you are older than 50.
Date: Date collection is a fun and affordable way to get every date for a given series. For example, from every year they have been minted since 1900, you could easily collect a half dollar. For a rare mintmark, there is no reason to pay extra — just pick the least expensive coin for the year and add it to your list. Not only will you have one coin each year, but several different types will have been added along the way.
Of course, the origin and the country that a coin came from is also another factor that could help you make an excellent coin collection. As you can see it’s not so difficult to be a coin collector if you like reading and history. Some hidden gems may be there for you and your investment portfolio.