Friday, January 29, 2010

Why Collect Coins?


Collecting coins is challenging, educating, fun and most of all can be a financial investment that will pay off. Growing your coin collection involves searching for coins and learning their history. This can give you countless hours of enjoyment, and eventually a valuable collection. This amazing collection can also be a wonderful inheritance, both financially and personally because you collected it. It can be handed down for generations to come, a great idea for everyone.

The supply and demand determine the price a dealer would charge, thus the market value of any In addition the quantity available of a coin and the number of interested collectors all play a part in valuing a coin. Once a coin becomes acknowledged as a rarity, its worth normally increases whenever it changes hands. To improve the value of any coin it should be kept in a good state of preservation. If a coin is in perfect condition, just as it was when it left the mint, it might be worth much more than the same coin in average used condition. Defacement or damage will to a great extent reduce the value of a coin. Collectors and dealers use a point system as well as a set of terms to describe the condition of coins: Uncirculated or Mint State (ms 70-60), about Uncirculated (au 55-50), Extremely Fine (ef 45-40), Very Fine (vf 30-20), Fine (f 12), Very Good (vg 8), and Good (g 4).

Every date, mint mark, and design is considered as a different coin. The object is to acquire one of every variety issued but to also upgrade the condition of the coins already found. A collector must trade or buy to fill in a series The amount of coins to be found in circulation though is fairly limited.

Acquiring types of older coins is another kind of collecting. The object for the collector is to obtain a single coin to represent each different face series. Every coin is unusual and has its own record. Most coin collectors start collecting coins from their own country. Over the past 200 years or so the United States has issued many denominations. Some of them are quite remarkable, while different ones are stunningly gorgeous. There are the penny, nickel, dime, quarter and half dollar that we are familiar with. When collecting coins from other countries be aware that there are many thousands of varieties available

Collectors must do their research when deciding on the purchase of expensive coins. Things to know are, the current market value for the item, how easily and for price it can be resold, and its potential appreciation. Most importantly the collector must be knowledgeable enough to know whether a coin is authentic, or must have confidence that the dealer does.

To obtain some idea of current prices realized for various coins there are coin catalogs, dealers, magazines and newspapers, and of course the internet which is usually more up to date. An important feature of the major Numismatic conventions is the coin auctions. There are catalogs of the items to be sold that are issued ahead of time, and lists of the prices at which the items were sold can often be obtained after that. They may have tables where Numismatists can judge the offerings of many dealers. There are local coin clubs where you can meet with other collectors and can assess future trends.

Having a display cabinet with pull-out trays is a fabulous way to share your coin collection. An album system with plastic pages that hold individual cardboard coin mounts is also available. For large numbers of coins use small, standard-size coin envelopes filed in boxes
Source: coinarticles.ws