Advice to new, new, newcomers

[Danye West]

 

A friend from school was recently talking to me about investing/collecting in coins, and seemed interested in not only learning a bit, but even driving out to the Long Beach show with me.

 

I directed him towards a short guide on grading, told him about coin certification, coin defects, toning, rarity, and how coins change hands. And of course, to learn before you buy.

 

Is there anything a new collector should know, not just about how to collect, but the hobby itself?

 

[RWB]

Encourage them to discover the diversity of US coins, and to ask questions -- all before buying "something." With a little patience, they will find a natural interest in a particular design or period of coinage. Then they can begin looking in ernest (or anyone else) for coins to buy.

 

Also, remind your friend it is a hobby and history; if they eventually sell and make a small profit that is good. But the focus is on personal and communal enjoyment, not investing for money.

[MJ]

Have them read the Just Having Fun thread. That should do it.

 

mark

 

 

[tommy44]

See Mark Feld's resurrected thread here.....

 

http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=9368822&gonew=1#UNREAD

[clarkbar04]

Have them read the Just Having Fun thread. That should do it.

 

mark

 

 

I did, and honestly I had more fun at my last dentist visit.

[Mr.Mcknowitall]

Have them read the Just Having Fun thread. That should do it.

 

mark

 

 

I did, and honestly I had more fun at my last dentist visit.

 

[Danye West]

That thing may eventually be as big as the MOC thread.

[Raisethis2]

Have him understand a bit of history about the year his current coin was minted. Understand life, who was important, populations, coin use/hoarding, etc. That's good stuff.

 

Take him to a show and have him point out to you which coins are cleaned. Use a code. #1 is original, #2 is dipped, #3 is cleaned in some other way. That would be most helpful.

 

 

 

 

[Davids5104]

Something that I didn't know but quickly realized....

 

1. it costs a lot for safe storage of coins.

2. When is it worth grading?

3. Identifying motivation for buying coins. If it is beauty alone, explain ms64 compared to ms 67 is probably difficult to see in some circumstances, so save money.

4. Compare 2 coins with same grade and point out strike differences

5. I learned lots about coins in general by collecting NGC top 100 modern and reading why is this coin on this list. For example 1983 P quarter. These are concepts I didn't know, I didn't know.