The new guy would like a little help and advise...

[Numbers-migration]

Hello! I joined up to ask for a little help and advice. I'm 16 and I've been coin collecting since I was 4. My Grandpa gave me a Bufflo Nickel book with about 20 nickels in it to start me off. I then started to collect pennies, nickels, dimes, etc.. for modern coinage. For pennies I was seriously helped out by 15 or so rolls of pinnes my mom found that she had wrapped in the Mid 1960's. The rest I pulled out of change. Also, I had a lot of help from parts of old coin collections from my Grandfathers and my Dad, like or silver half dollers and dollers When I was 9 and had collected most of the modern coinage thta I could, my mom and I found a little coin shop around where I lived so I could work on older coinage. . Well, after my first visit the nice owners had gotten me a Black Book (to learn all about collecting and prices and whatnot), a United States Type Dansco Album, and a brand new 1996 Silver Eagle to start the book off, all for the cost of the Dansco album. They also give me a 5%-10% discount at the store. Well I've been working on the Dansco Type Set for over 7 years now, with maybe a total budget of 3500$ since I was 4, about 2000$ of of that had gone into this collection. I was wondering how you guys could rate my progress. And give me some advice.

 

With the new State Quarters and the New Sacagawea dollars, I think I might need to get a new book or page. I was wondering if I should wait because of the New Nickel designs for 2004 and 2005... would they add a new space for them?

 

I was thinking of buying one of these 10 coin proof supries packs online, that costs like 10$ where you get atleast one penny nickel, dime, and half dollar, to place in my collection. What do you guys think?

 

 

 

In general, I plan to replace the Good and Very Good ones when I find a much nicer one that is affordable for me. I also want to replace the good and fine Indian Head cents with something much better, like.

 

Half Cents

 

Draped Bust (1804) Fine/Very Fine

Classic Head- 13 Stars (1828) Extra Fine +

Coronet (1851) Very Fine ++

 

Large Cents

 

Draped Bust (1805) Good

Classic Head (1814) Good

Coronet (1838) Fine

Coronet- Braided Hair (1854) Very Fine - Rim Damage

 

Small Cents

 

Flying Eagle (1857) Very Fine

Indian Head- Laurel Wreath (1859) Good

Indian Head- Copper-Nickel- Oak Wreath (1861) Fine

Indian Head- Bronze- Oak Wreath (1891) About Uncirculated - Nick

Lincoln Head- 1909 VBD (1909 VBD) About Uncirculated

Lincoln Head- Bronze- Wheat Heads (1958-D) About Uncirculated

Lincoln Head- Steel (1943-S) Very Good

Lincoln Head- Memorial (1999-D) Uncirculated

Two Cents- Bronze (1866) Extra Fine

Three Cents- Sliver (1851) Good

Three Cents Nickel (1866) Very Fine

 

Half Dimes

 

Capped Bust (1832) Fine +

Liberty Seated (1841) Very Fine - Rim Nick

Liberty Seated- Arrows (1854) Fine

Liberty Seated- Legend (1871) Very Good

 

Nickels

 

Shield- With Rays (1867) Good

-I plan on relacing this one, it was the only one that they had for 2 years, and at the time I wan't too picky.

Shield- No Rays (1867) Uncirculated

-This one is truly magnificent, and for a bargan too, only 80$.

Liberty Head- No Cents (1883) Very Fine

Liberty Head- With Cents (1883) Extra Fine

Buffalo- Variety I (1913) Uncirculated

Buffalo- Variety II (1937-S) Extra Fine

Jefferson (2000-D) Uncirculated

Jefferson- 35% Silver (1944-P) Uncirculated

 

Dimes

 

Capped Bust- Variety II (1835) Fine

Liberty Seated- Stars (1843) Fine

Liberty Seated- Arrows

Liberty Seated- Legend (1887-S) Very Fine

Liberty Head (1911) Very Fine

Mercury (1940) Very Fine/Extra Fine

Roosevelt- Sliver (1946-D) MS 60

Roosevelt- Clad (2003-D) Uncirculated

 

Twenty Cent Piece

 

Liberty Seated (1875-S) Very Good

 

Quarters

 

Capped Bust (1838) Very Fine/Extra Fine

Liberty Seated- No Motto (1858) Very Fine

Liberty Seated- Arrows (1854) Very Fine

Liberty Seated- Motto

Liberty Head (1909) Fine

Liberty Standing- Variety I (1917-S) Good

Liberty Standing- Variety II (1928-S) Very Good

Washington- Sliver (1941) Fine

Washington- Clad (1995-D) About Uncirculated

 

Half Dollars

 

Capped Bust- Lettered Edge (1810) Good

-The front had a very weak strike, but the reverse is magnificent.

Capped Bust- Reeded Edge

Liberty Seated- No Motto (1847-O) Extra Fine

Liberty Seated- Arrows (1854) Extra Fine

Liberty Seated- Motto

Liberty Head (1910-S) Very Fine

Liberty Walking (1942-S) Very Fine

Franklin (1963) Uncirculated

Kennedy- Sliver (1964-D) Uncirculated

Kennedy- Clad (1981-S) Proof

-I pulled this one out of circulation, despite that, it's beautiful.

 

Commemorative Half Dollars

 

San Diego (1935-S) Uncirculated

Bay Bridge (1836-S) MS 63

California Diamond Jubilee (1925-S) MS 63

Oregon Trail (1926) About Uncirculated

 

Silver Dollars

 

Liberty Seated- No Motto

Liberty Seated- Motto

Trade (1876-S) Very Good/Fine

Morgan (1921) About Uncirculated

Peace (1922) Extra Fine

Eisenhower (1971-D) About Uncirculated

 

Bicentennial

 

Quarter (1976-D) Very Fine

Half Dollar (1976-D) About Uncirculated

Dollar- Variety I- Clad (1976) Uncirculated

 

Modern U.S. Dollars

 

Susan B. Anthony (1979-D) Uncirculated

Constitution Bicentennial (1987-S) Proof

Silver American Eagle (1996) Uncirculated

 

 

I need to get the gold type page. I'm really going to have to save up for those. My grandfather might have had some of these in his safety deposit box. I'll need to check the next time we visit Portland Oregan. That would really be a money saver.

[Numbers-migration]

What will it take you guys to respond? You guys seem put off by this thread, or is it just too much for you to read?

 

Well simply here are my questions:

 

Do I need to get a new album or page for the new State Quarters and Sacagawea Dollars? Or should I wait because of the new comemorative nickels for 2004 and 2005?

 

Is geting a "Suprise Proof" pack of coins to use them in the album instead of my "Uncirculated" an advisable thing? Or is it "over the top"?

 

Which coins should I try to start getting better grades of now that I'm "more picky" than before?

 

My yearly budget is only around 700$, how should I go about getting the gold coins for the gold type page? Start with the lower denominations? Buy lower grades? Just some advise please.

 

And finnaly, how do you think I'm doing so far? Don't spare my feelings, go all out if you want to.

[jtryka]

Welcome to the boards numbers! Sorry I didn't respond sooner but I just got home from work! We are pretty laid back here, and the board doesn't move at lightning speed so don't take it personally if we don't respond immediately. So here are my responses

 

Do I need to get a new album or page for the new State Quarters and Sacagawea Dollars? Or should I wait because of the new comemorative nickels for 2004 and 2005?

 

I am not sure what changes they make for the type coin sets, but for the regular series albums I just hold off or buy blank pages to label them myself. If you aren't in a hurry, why not wait and see what Dansco comes out with?

 

Is geting a "Suprise Proof" pack of coins to use them in the album instead of my "Uncirculated" an advisable thing? Or is it "over the top"?

 

I have never bought one of these, so I can't say for sure, but I know there is no free lunch, so don't expect a whole lot if you buy one. As for proofs being over the top, it really doesn't matter! That's the great thing about this hobby, you can do whatever you want, so if you like proofs better than business strikes, you can include them instead. For my type set, I am being exhaustive (plus my set isn't in an album so I have more flexibility) and my set includes both proofs and uncs.

 

Which coins should I try to start getting better grades of now that I'm "more picky" than before?

 

I would start with the later ones for two reasons: first they are cheaper, and second your local dealer probably has more examples of them so you can look at a broad variety thus learning how to grade and getting the best deal for your budget.

 

My yearly budget is only around 700$, how should I go about getting the gold coins for the gold type page? Start with the lower denominations? Buy lower grades? Just some advise please.

 

I am a gold collector, so hopefully I can help here. First rule, only buy certified gold at first, since there are many cleaned, altered and counterfeit gold coins out there, and buying certified coins (NGC, PCGS, ANACS) at least gives some assurance the coin in genuine. For $700 a year, you can buy a lot, but as you get more, there may be some years you can only buy one coin so be patient! I would start with Liberty (w/motto) $10 as they are by far the best value in terms of grade and gold content for the money. You should be able to get a nice common date for $250 to $300 in MS-62. After that, I would go for a liberty $5, then a Liberty $20, etc. and finally pursue the 20th century types last as they tend to trade at a much greater premium then the Liberty series. I hope this helps to start, but if you have more questions please ask. We have quite a few helpful gold collectors on the board.

 

And finnaly, how do you think I'm doing so far? Don't spare my feelings, go all out if you want to.

 

I think you are doing great! Certainly your set is more complete than mine is! There is always room for upgrading but as a first shot, it sounds like you've done a good job so far.

 

Welcome to the boards again!

[TomB]

Howdy and welcome. As Jeff has already written, the NGC boards tend to move at a slower pace than other boards. It's nothing personal, it's just the way it is.

 

As for the album, I have never owned a type set album but I do know that Dansco sells individual pages for these types. You may be able to buy a few blank quarter pages if you intend to collect all the State quarters. If you are only going to get one or two examples of State quarters then you may want to either look at the web site for the manufacturer of your type set and see what they are offering or go to your local dealer and discuss this with him/her because you will be able to show the dealer what it is you currently have.

 

I don't like the idea of a "surprise" proof package. My feeling is that you will get the coins left over from broken proof sets that other folks did not think were good enough to send in for grading or to keep for themselves. They might still be nice looking coins, but if you only end up wanting one coin then you likely paid too much. There is nothing wrong with putting proof coins in your type set, I do the same thing, but you might want to pick out those coins you want as proofs instead of being surprised by them.

 

If you are going to upgrade coins then I would think you might want to upgrade any older type that you have since older type seems to be selling for relatively less than newer material at the moment. Of course, if you have limited access to sources for coins, then you are best off buying the nicest coins that are offered to you, regardless of era.

 

Your budget should allow you to obtain quite a few coins. As has been mentioned, gold type will chew into that $700 pretty quickly. If you are not certain that you are committed to completing the gold portion, you may want to buy one of the lesser-priced, certified gold coins and use the rest of the money on other pieces.

 

I think you are doing great. You are far more advanced than I was at your age. As always, buy what you like with money you can afford to lose. Good luck.

 

 

[Jamericon]

First off. Slow down. Don't think so much about what you are going to buy. The coins are not going anywhere.

 

Take that Black Book and can it. Go out and get yourself a Red Book- 10x better. Find some other publications if you can, Numismatic News or CoinWorld preferably. Ask your coin shop friends. Read them all. Peruse this board for a while and also peruse the other side of the street, the PCGS message boards.

 

Learn. Yeah, maybe some think its overrated but you will thank me later. Then when you have read and learned you will be able to answer all the questions you just asked us to answer for you. Why? Because it is your collection. Not mine and not anyone elses.

[errorist]

What you need to figure out is what coins are desirable in the market, low mintage, and cheap for the buget you currently have. If you can get them in grades better than MS 66 or PF 68 then you should get them.Use the price guides in the book that was given to you, and renew the book every year to see if the coins are appreciating.Learn how to spot a nice coin.

 

KINGKOIN KING OF KOINS

 

 

 

[Numbers-migration]

Thank you. It does seem to be a much slower pace here...

 

About the proof coins, I just don't feel like cracking open a new mint set... it just seems wierd... But I may do that instead...

 

For the Danso album, I'd think it would have only one spot for the State quarters. I'll check Ebay or something to find out. If that turns out the be the case, I will wait for the Califonia quarter in 2005. I already have a Nice album for my State quarters.

 

 

I have a Red Book, the 2004 in fact. They just started me off the the Black Black.

 

 

[edit] I have read alot on the subject of coin collecting, but I have never had any chat with a more experience coin collecter. I tried to join the PCGS board first, but wth is up with the aproveing everyone first? How long do that take?

[TomB]

I think PCGS was a victim of a spam attack at one point a year or two ago and the spam attack was conducted by some new members. Since then, they have had a slight delay in allowing people to post. It should only be one or two business days for the delay. Things move much faster on the PCGS boards.

[RobertB]

I Things move much faster on the PCGS boards.

 

Maybe, but this board is a thousand times better as I'm sure all would agree!!

[Oldtrader3]

I only check in about once a day. Don't be put off if people take awhile to respond.

 

It seems as though you are doing fine on your collection. Certainly, given your age. I kind of like Capital Plastic holders and have built several type sets in them. They are fairly expensive, but they afford good coin protection from friction etc.

 

By the way, welcome to the board.

[sanmary]

Welcome aboard Numbers. It is nice to see a young adult like yourself actively involved in this hobby that we all love. There is no right or wrong way to approach your collection.....it is yours'. It is important that YOU like it. I've got a feeling that you will be in this hobby for a long time and your interests will change as your knowledge grows and you are exposed to more areas. The best advice for now that I can give is spend 1/3 if your first years budget on GOOD books. Knowledge will save you 100 fold in the long run.

[spy88]

Numbers, welcome to the boards!

 

First off, I agree with OT3 in that you seem to be well into collecting, and a pretty good list of coins there! If I may say tho, you have a little bit of alot. You may wish to keep with this collecting method, or you could narrow it down to having a lot of very few. By this, I mean you may want to organize your interests based on the strength of your interests. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying there is a problem with collecting coins from different types, but you may wish to ask yourself what exactly you want to collect and then work on that. With a limited budget, this may prove to be better for you in the long run.

 

Almost everyone on the boards has a wide ranging interest in coins they collect, but they usually have a specialty where they know more about a particular series then most other collectors and have worked very hard at educating themselves by reading and learning about that series before and during their collecting.

 

 

As Sanmary says, it will save you mucho money in the long run!

[Leothelion]

I tried to join the PCGS board first, but wth is up with the aproveing everyone first? How long do that take?

 

Once you get over there you'll notice that quite a few there talk like they have PCGS pencils in their front shirt pockets, ignore it, it's only the artificial flavored KOOL AID drink they would like you to believe. Big egoes, market gougeing, low-ball grading, POP TOP coins, first place trophys and you'll be banned for life if you say anything bad, bagging on PCGS, that's what they have to offer.

Many great people who used to work for PCGS have left and joined NGC. It's all true my friend, keep your eyes and ears open!

Don't get me wrong, there are still some great people there but they are becoming a vanishing breed as many have left and continue to do so. Uphold your liberties when you visit and don't back down! Do a search for threads that contain words like bag, bagged, banned, PCGS guarantee, pop top, turn around times, HRH, homerunhall. And report back here in a month or so.

 

I apologize for the harsh welcome but I hate to see anyone going in blind without some idea on what to expect. This past year, to put it kindly, it hasn't been anything less then wacko city over there so be careful.

But then again, like many other newcomers, they'll post 2-3 times and never return.

I can say this with utmost sincerity, there are many great outstanding collectors and dealers alike here including the administrators of and NGC! Welcome aboard, have fun and yes, be patient!

 

Leo

[Leothelion]

I almost forgot! Here are a few coins from my Dansco type set album. They're not high grade but it's something I gradually put together over the years. I have no ambition to upgrade. Check out the carbon spots on the Jefferson nickel. I would think that Dansco would come out with a volume two type set album. Some kind of an extension to the first album.

 

Leo

[ccr-migration]

I agree with what everyone has said about the NGC boards. It`s a pretty good hang out for collectors and don`t be offended if it doesn`t go at the pace from the other forum. There`s alot of good guys here.

[RobertB]

Take Leo's advice. He's dead on here.

 

Rob

[davefperry]

Hi Numbers. It seems like you have a great start. You've been given good advice. Buying the books before the coins was very good advice. Do that and look at as many coins as possible in shops and shows in your area. Try to find a local coin club. Education is everything including this board especially and others.

And welcome aboard.

[dakra]

I tried to join the PCGS board first, but wth is up with the aproveing everyone first? How long do that take?

 

Once you get over there you'll notice that quite a few there talk like they have PCGS pencils in their front shirt pockets, ignore it, it's only the artificial flavored KOOL AID drink they would like you to believe. Big egoes, market gougeing, low-ball grading, POP TOP coins, first place trophys and you'll be banned for life if you say anything bad, bagging on PCGS, that's what they have to offer.

Many great people who used to work for PCGS have left and joined NGC. It's all true my friend, keep your eyes and ears open!

Don't get me wrong, there are still some great people there but they are becoming a vanishing breed as many have left and continue to do so. Uphold your liberties when you visit and don't back down! Do a search for threads that contain words like bag, bagged, banned, PCGS guarantee, pop top, turn around times, HRH, homerunhall. And report back here in a month or so.

 

Kind of brings a tear to these collectors eyes

 

Dave

[TomB]

Hey Leo, did you realize you have a Draped Bust dollar in your Seated Liberty dollar slot in your Dansco?

[Leothelion]

Hey Leo, did you realize you have a Draped Bust dollar in your Seated Liberty dollar slot in your Dansco?

 

Hey! Thanks for the heads up! I had to scrape that hole out to make that thing fit. Why did I do it? I'm still pondering that one.

 

Leo