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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Lebensstil
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011
The perfect resource for coin collectors of all ages! Can't make heads or tails out of coin collecting? You need Coin Collecting For Dummies, 2nd Edition, the treasure trove on information on numismatics. This hands-on guide escorts you through the world's oldest hobby, helping you decide which type of coins you want to collect, keep your collection in mint condition, buy and sell coins on the Internet, find interesting coin shows to attend, and assemble and diversify a great collection. The purpose of this fun, easy-to-access guide is to turn you into a world-class coin collector in as little time as possible. You'll learn what coins can teach you about history and geography, develop organizational and observational skills, and learn to use analytical tools, all without event thinking about it. And you'll learn the basics about ancient coins, U.S. coins, world coins, and the wild-and-wooly stuff that really gets your numismatic juices flowing. Discover how to: * Start your collection correctly * Evaluate coins using age, condition, rarity, and more * Buy interesting coins without breaking the bank * Locate rare and expensive coins * Get savvy about avoiding fakes * Get the whole family involved in your collection * Develop a buying strategy * Clean and handle coins safely * Keep your collection secure at home and on the road * Investigate tokens, medals, and miscellaneous coins * Create complete collections of copper, nickel, silver, or gold U.S. coins When it comes to numismatics, Coin Collecting For Dummies, 2nd Edition is right on the money!
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Coin Collecting For Dummies
by Neil S. Berman and Ron Guth
Coin Collecting For Dummies®, 2nd Edition
Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc. 111 River St. Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774www.wiley.com
Copyright © 2008 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published simultaneously in Canada
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ISBN: 978-0-470-22275-1
Manufactured in the United States of America
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About the Authors
Neil S. Berman: Neil S. Berman has been an expert numismatist and professional rare coin dealer since 1968. Coming back to the United States from Israel at the end of 1967, he apprenticed to the world-renowned Dutch numismatist and coin auctioneer Hans M. F. Schulman. He incorporated as Neil S. Berman, Inc., in 1968. In 1974, Neil became an associate of Metropolitan Rare Coin Company of New York. For the next several years, he represented Arthur and Donald Kagin of Des Moines, Iowa, then the largest coin dealer in the Midwest, as a purchasing agent. Later he represented Superior Galleries under the Goldbergs, also as a purchasing agent. In 1979, Neil, with his brother Jed, founded First Federal Coin Company, the first East Coast coin company to sell rare coins into IRA, Keogh, and pension plans. From 1983 until 1990, he was the purchasing agent for Asset Services, Inc., the largest coin company serving the financial community. Neil donated his large collection of German and Swiss silver minor coins to the American Numismatic Society (ANS) in 1989. In 1997, he received the American Numismatic Association (ANA) Service Award from ANA President David Ganz. In 2005 and 2006, he was associated again with Superior Galleries of Beverly Hills, this time under the ownership of numismatist Silvano DiGenova.
Neil catalogued the U.S. gold in the 1977 Kagin’s ANA Coin Auction Sale, the first New York coin auction sale in 1981 of Spink and Sons, England’s oldest and largest coin dealer, and a coin auction sale by Superior Rare Coin Galleries of Beverly Hills in 2006.
Neil has been published in Barron’s,Trusts & Estates,The National Law Journal,The Financial Planner,Pensions World, and Executive Jeweler. In 1987, he wrote, with Hans Schulman, The Investor’s Guide to United States Coins, which sold 40,000 copies and received a Numismatic Literary Guild award for Best Investment Book. In 2007, he wrote the second edition of the book with Silvano DiGenova. Neil has just completed a book on rare coin auctions.
Neil has done coin appraisals for the U.S. Postal Service, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, the New York State Internal Revenue Service, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Securities and Exchange Commission, American Express Company, Bank Leumi Trust Company, Chase Manhattan Bank, European American Bank, Morgan Guaranty Trust Company, Franklin Mint, and Seaman’s Bank for Savings, among others.
Neil has appeared and testified as an expert witness before the U.S. House of Representatives House Banking Committee and the Subcommittee on Consumer Affairs and Coins on H.R. 6058 and H.R. 6158. He has also testified in open court as an expert witness for the U.S. Postal Service.
He has, in the past, been a contributor to the Guide Book of United States Coins, by R. S. Yeoman, and John W. Dannreuther’s masterpiece Early U.S. Gold Coin Varieties.
Neil is married to Susan Kerner Berman, a successful Realtor in northern Westchester County. They have two children, a dog, and a cat. He serves as a member of the Antenna Advisory Board of the Town of Lewisboro, New York. You can visit Neil at his Web site at www.neilsberman.com or e-mail him at [email protected].
Ron Guth: Ron Guth is a jack-of-all-trades and master of one — numismatics. Ron is a certified public accountant (CPA), a licensed auctioneer, and a writer, but the bulk of his time is spent on his true love — coin collecting and dealing. Ron’s battle with coin fever began when he was 12 years old, and he’s never gotten over it. After a decade of collecting, Ron went professional in 1976, when he began working for a local coin shop in Tampa, Florida. In 1978, he partnered with David Goldsmith and purchased the Bay Area Coin Exchange in Tampa. Ron and Dave blasted through the silver boom, and then split up in 1981, when Ron moved to Evansville, Indiana (his wife’s hometown), where he set up shop on First Avenue. In 1984, Ron formed Mid-American Rare Coin Auctions with Jeff Garrett of Lexington, Kentucky. The company quickly established itself as an innovative leader in the industry and, within the first year, became the fifth largest rare coin auction company in America. In 1988, Ron sold his interest in the company, went back to school to finish his bachelor’s degree in accounting and finance, and has since become a numismatic consultant and a major dealer in German coins.
In 1984, Ron won the American Numismatic Association’s Wayte and Olga Raymond and Heath Literary awards. He has written many coin-related articles and is listed as a contributor to several books, including Walter Breen’s Encyclopedia of United States Coins, Krause Publications’s Standard Catalog of German Coins, Roger S. Cohen’s American Half Cents,Walter Breen’s Encyclopedia of United States Half Cents, and others. Ron has served as a numismatic consultant for many rare-coin companies, including major firms such as the Professional Coin Grading Services, Heritage Numismatic Auctions, and Early American History Auctions.
As a rare-coin auctioneer, Ron has sold over $100 million in rare coins, including the $1.84 million 1913 Liberty Head Nickel (tied for the second most valuable coin ever sold at auction). His chant has been heard at auctions conducted by just about every major name in the business, including R. M. Smythe, Heritage Numismatic Auctions, Kagin’s, Lyn Knight, David Akers, Currency Auctions of America, Ponterio & Associates, Early American History Auctions, Mid-American Rare Coin Auctions, and Superior Galleries.
Ron’s professional affiliations include Life Membership in the American Numismatic Association and memberships in the Rittenhouse Society, Early American Choppers Club, Colonial Coin Collectors Club, Civil War Token Society, and numerous regional and state organizations.
In 1999, Ron formed CoinFacts.com, Inc., a Web site that provides free, in-depth information about U.S. coins to anyone with Internet access. In 2000, he launched PaperMoneyFacts.com to provide a similar service for paper money collectors.
You can visit Ron on his Web sites at www.coinfacts.com or www.papermoneyfacts.com or e-mail him at [email protected].
Dedication
To my wife, Susan, my son, Eric, and my daughter, Ava, and her dog Millie, all of whom helped.
—Neil S. Berman
Authors’ Acknowledgments
The following professional coin experts also helped: Andrew Lustig, Silvano DiGenova, John West Dannreuther, Armen Vartian, Barry Stuppler, John Kraljevich, Rick Bagg, Arthur Friedberg, Stephen Bobbitt, Steve Ivy, James Halperin, Julian Leidman, Anthony Terranova, Marc Salzberg, Kevin Lipton, John Albanese, Larry Demerer, Paul Nugget, Maurice Rosen, Arthur Blumenthal, Robert Steinberg, David Hall, David Ganz, Lyn Knight, Fred Weinberg, Robert Lecce, and Dennis Baker.
Publisher’s Acknowledgments
We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our Dummies online registration form located at www.dummies.com/register/.
Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:
Acquisitions, Editorial, and Media Development
Project Editor: Elizabeth Kuball
(Previous Edition: Tere Drenth and Tonya Maddox)
Acquisitions Editor: Tracy Boggier
Copy Editor: Elizabeth Kuball
(Previous Edition: Greg Pearson)
Technical Editor: Richard G. Doty
Senior Editorial Manager: Jennifer Ehrlich
Consumer Editorial Supervisor and Reprint Editor: Carmen Krikorian
Editorial Assistants: Erin Calligan Mooney, Joe Niesen, Leeann Harney, David Lutton
Cover Photos: © Bob Elam/Alamy
Cartoons: Rich Tennant (www.the5thwave.com)
Composition Services
Project Coordinator: Patrick Redmond
Layout and Graphics: Reuben W. Davis, Alissa D. Ellet, Christine Williams
Special Art: Early American History Auctions, Inc., Ron Guth, and Tom Mulvaney
Anniversary Logo Design: Richard Pacifico
Proofreaders: John Greenough, Linda Seifert
Indexer: Julie Kawabata
Publishing and Editorial for Consumer Dummies
Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher, Consumer Dummies
Joyce Pepple, Acquisitions Director, Consumer Dummies
Kristin A. Cocks, Product Development Director, Consumer Dummies
Michael Spring, Vice President and Publisher, Travel
Kelly Regan, Editorial Director, Travel
Publishing for Technology Dummies
Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher, Dummies Technology/General User
Composition Services
Gerry Fahey, Vice President of Production Services
Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services
Contents
Title
Introduction
About This Book
Conventions Used in This Book
What You’re Not to Read
Foolish Assumptions
How This Book Is Organized
Icons Used in This Book
Where to Go from Here
Part I : Making Heads and Tails out of Coin Collecting
Chapter 1: Welcome to the World of Coin Collecting
On Your Mark, Get Set, Go: Starting Your Coin Collection
Eeny, Meeny, Miney, Moe: Deciding Which Coins to Collect
I Pledge Allegiance: Turning Your Attention to U.S. Coins
I’ll Take That One, and That One, and That One: Buying Coins
Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow: Selling Your Coins
Chapter 2: Understanding Numismatics
Admitting Your Numismatism
Discovering How Cool Coin Collecting Can Be
Collecting versus Accumulating
Collecting Various Types of Coins
Getting Excited about Collecting Today
Chapter 3: Arming Yourself with Knowledge
Gaining Knowledge Before You Buy
Affecting a Coin’s Value
Deciding What to Collect
Chapter 4: Storing Your Collection Correctly
Holdering Them the Right Way
Keeping Away from the Cleaning Products
Handling with Kid Gloves
Keeping Them High and Dry
Securing Your Stash: At Home and on the Road
Insuring Your Investment
Part II : Ancient to Present Day: Choosing Coins for Your Collection
Chapter 5: Showing Their True Age: Ancient Coins
Ancient Coins — of Gods and Men
Deciding Which Ancient Coins to Collect
Understanding How Age Affects Value
It’s All Greek to Me!
Knowing Where You Can Get ’Em
Chapter 6: Making a Safe Bet with U.S. Coins
Discovering a Finely Tuned Market
Understanding Why U.S. Coins Are So Popular
Recognizing Desirable Coin Characteristics: Liquidity, Liquidity, Liquidity
Chapter 7: Globetrotting with World Coins
A Few Hints for Beginners
Recognizing the Hot and Cold Countries
Understanding That Grading Standards Are Not All the Same
Chapter 8: Exploring the Wild Side with Rare, Expensive, and Esoteric Coins
Looking for the Best of the Best
Recognizing Odd and Curious Money
Investigating Tokens, Medals, and Miscellaneous Coins
Collecting by Die Variety — the Spice of Life
Part III : Focusing on U.S. Coins
Chapter 9: Colonial Coins: America’s Ancients
Recognizing a Colonial Coin
Locating Foreign Coins Used in the American Colonies
Appreciating How Colonies and States Expressed Themselves
Collecting Privately Issued Coins, Tokens, and Medals
Distinguishing Quasi-Official Colonial Coins
Washingtoniana: America Goes Ape for Its First President
Chapter 10: Copper and Nickel Coins: Made for the Masses
Getting the Hang of Half Cents
Living Large with Large Cents
Seeking Out Small Cents
Taking on Two-Cent Pieces
Rounding Up the Three-Cent Nickel
Firing Up for the Five Cents (or Nickels)
Chapter 11: Silver Coins: Keeping Commerce Alive
Thrilling Yourself with Three-Cent Silvers
Hunting Down Half Dimes
Digging in for Dimes
Touring Around for 20-Cent Pieces
Calling All Quarter Dollars
Holding onto Half Dollars
Digging Around for Dollars
Chapter 12: Gold Coins: Concentrated Wealth
$1 Gold Pieces
$2.50 Gold Pieces
$3 Gold Pieces
$4 Gold Pieces
$5 Gold Pieces
$10 Gold Pieces
$20 Gold Pieces
Chapter 13: Commemoratives: Raising Money with Money
Commemorate This!
The Early Years (1892–1934): Commemoratives Under Control
The Age of Abuse (1934–1954): Commemoratives Out of Control
Modern Commemoratives (1982–): Money Coins
Circulating Commemoratives
Collecting Commemoratives
Chapter 14: Advancing to Oddball Coins
Understanding Pattern Coins
Collecting Pioneer or Private Gold
Finding Confederate Coins
Appreciating Proof Coins
Recognizing Hawaiian Coins
Identifying Error Coins
Part IV : Buying Coins the Safe Way
Chapter 15: Foiling the Fakes
Resisting Temptation
Becoming Your Own Expert
Finding Out about Repaired, Restored, and Recolored Coins
Spouting the Cliché
Caveating Your Emptor
Saving the Day: Return Privileges and Guarantees
Slamming the Scammers
Chapter 16: Weaving Your Way through Price Guides
Knowing That Raison d’Être Isn’t a Cereal
Haggling with the Best of ’Em
Rooting Out the Right Guide
Pricing World Coins
Realizing Auction Prices
Going Online for Price Guides
Chapter 17: Wheeling and Dealers
Finding a Good Coin Dealer
Localizing Your Efforts
Going to the Nationals
Going Global
Surfing for a Dealer
Chapter 18: Going Once, Going Twice: Buying at Auction
Flying Like Bees to Honey
Preparing to Buy
Reserving Yourself
Hauling Yourself to Online Auctions
Chapter 19: Affecting Value through the Condition of Your Coins
Knowing Your Grade: Art or Science?
Committing to Memory the Big Four: Strike, Eye Appeal, Luster, and Wear
Valuing Your Coin Based on Its Wear
Being Blinded by Proofs
Grading Damaged Coins
Condition Equals Value
Malleable Grading Standards
Chapter 20: Grading Coins: Your Best Defense
Gathering the Tools of the Trade
Attending Grading Seminars
Polishing Your Skills on Your Own
Taking Your Grading Skills on the Road
Understanding Third-Party Grading
Putting Your Money Where Your Mouth Is
Part V : Selling Coins and Minding the Law
Chapter 21: The Art of the Sale: Selling Your Coins Yourself
Knowing What to Expect
Deciding Whether to Sell Coins Yourself
Getting Ready to Sell Your Collection
Knowing Where to Sell Your Coins
Mastering the Art of Selling
Keeping Good Records
Donating the Rest
Chapter 22: Selling Your Coins on Consignment or at Auction
Selling on Consignment
Auctioning Your Coins
Chapter 23: Coin Investments, Taxes, and the Law
Investing in Coins
Coins and Taxes
Part VI : The Part of Tens
Chapter 24: The Ten Most Valuable U.S. Coins
1933 Double Eagle ($7,590,020)
1913 Liberty Nickel ($5,000,000)
1804 Bust Dollar ($4,140,000)
1787 Brasher Doubloon EB on Breast ($2,990,000)
1787 Brasher Doubloon EB on Wing ($2,990,000)
1927-D Double Eagle ($1,897,000)
1920-S Eagle ($1,725,000)
1885 Trade Dollar ($1,600,000)
1796 NS Quarter Eagle ($1,380,000)
1907 Ultra High Relief Double Eagle ($1,200,000)
Chapter 25: Ten Favorite U.S. Coin Designs
1792 Silver Center Cent Pattern
1849 Double Eagle Pattern
1907 Ultra-High Relief Double Eagle
1822 Half Eagle
1785 Immune Columbia Constelatio in Gold
1776 Continental Dollar Pattern
1793 Wreath Cent
1809–1836 Capped Bust Half Dollar, Second Style
1794 Flowing Hair Dollar
1808 Quarter Eagle
Chapter 26: Ten Ways to Get Your Kids Involved in Coin Collecting
Show Him Some of Your Favorite Coins
Show Her a Book That Illustrates the Coins You Own
Show Him Interesting Coin Web Sites
Start Her on Collecting the 50 State Quarters or the Presidential $1 Coins
Use Coins in a School Project
Take Her to a Museum
Take Him to a Coin Dealer
Take Her to a Coin Show
Take Him to a Coin Auction
Take Her to a U.S. Mint
Glossary
: Further Reading
Introduction
Welcome to Coin Collecting For Dummies, 2nd Edition. You may have just discovered coin collecting for the first time and want to find out more. Or perhaps you’ve collected coins for a while and want to take your hobby to the next level.
Coin collecting is a hobby you can share with family and friends. It’s relaxing and as expensive or inexpensive as you want it to be. Coin collecting teaches history, geography, observational skills, organizational skills, and analytical tools — all without your thinking about it. If you buy properly, coins can be an excellent place to park your money for a rainy day, and if you buy the right coins and the market improves, you may even be able to make a profit on your collection someday.
About This Book
The purpose of this book is to turn you into a world-class coin collector in as short a period of time as possible. The chapters are laid out in parts that focus on particular areas of numismatics (the study of coins), including everything from getting involved in coin collecting, to deciding what to collect, to protecting yourself and your coins, to grading, buying, and selling coins.
This book is designed to appeal to collectors at every level, from beginner to advanced. We’ve written it in everyday English without overloading you with a bunch of coin terms. (However, if you run across a term you don’t understand, you can find a great numismatic glossary in the back of the book.) This is not a hardcore coin book. Instead, this book is a great general reference that points you in different directions for further investigation. You can always come back to this book to regroup, resupply, and ready yourself for something new.
Perhaps the most important goal of this book is to get you excited — and to keep you excited — about coin collecting. Coin collecting has been an important part of our lives for many years and we hope you’ll develop a sense of appreciation for the hobby as well.
No one needs coins, but if you decide to collect them, you certainly need this book. We wish we’d had one like it at the beginning of our collecting careers. Coin collecting can sometimes be a confusing maze of choices sprinkled with little traps along the way. Sure, you can go it alone, but why not make your journey into numismatics a lot easier by picking our brains and learning from the mistakes we’ve made over the past several decades?
Coin collecting is a huge, wide-open field. Think of this book as a road map to help you navigate your way. Different issues may become important to you as your collecting evolves, so keep this book handy and refer to it often.
Conventions Used in This Book
This book is easy to use, and it’s made even more so by the few conventions we employ:
Bold: We use bold text to highlight the key parts of bulleted lists (like this one).
Italics: We use italic text whenever we introduce a new term, and we follow up with the definition of that term nearby (often in parentheses). For an example, check out the definition of numismatics in the preceding section.
Monofont: We use monofont for all Web addresses and e-mail addresses, so you can easily tell where the address begins and ends.
When this book was printed, some Web addresses may have needed to break across two lines of text. If that happened, rest assured that we haven’t put in any extra characters (such as hyphens) to indicate the break. So, when using one of these Web addresses, just type in exactly what you see in this book, pretending as though the line break doesn’t exist.
What You’re Not to Read
You don’t have to read any text preceded by the Technical Stuff icon in order to understand the subject at hand. (For more on icons, see “Icons Used in This Book,” later in this Introduction.) Also, sidebars (text in gray boxes) are asides — they’re interesting but not critical to the text, so if you’re in a hurry, you can skip them.
Foolish Assumptions
You’ve never collected coins, but you’re interested in getting started and you don’t know where to begin.
You’ve collected a few coins here and there, but you want to get serious and take your coin collecting to the next level.
You’re an advanced coin collector who loves to read every book on coin collecting, just to make sure you haven’t overlooked something critical.
Coins schmoins . . . you’re a collector of For Dummies books. You own every book in the series, and you’re not about to let this one be the first gap in your collection.
How This Book Is Organized
This book is divided into six parts that provide you with a concise introduction and overview, involve you in starting your collection, and take you deeper and deeper into the world of numismatics. Each chapter is designed to stand on its own, so you can start reading wherever you choose and jump from chapter to chapter with ease.
Part I: Making Heads and Tails out of Coin Collecting
Don’t be intimidated by the word numismatics — it’s just a big word for the study of coins, the first stop in coin collecting. In this part, we give you plenty of reasons to fall in love with coin collecting. We also stress the importance of doing your homework before you jump in with both feet, and we steer you into some areas in which you want to become knowledgeable about coins. Finally, we show you how to store coins properly so that you and future generations can enjoy them to their fullest.
Part II: Ancient to Present Day: Choosing Coins for Your Collection
Coins have been made for thousands of years by hundreds of different countries, so you have a lot to work with. Where to start? What to collect? This part takes a look at ancient coins, U.S. coins, world coins, and the wild and wooly stuff that will really get your numismatic juices pumping. After you’ve read these chapters, you’ll have a good idea of what you want to collect.
Part III: Focusing on U.S. Coins
The United States has a rich and varied numismatic history that includes some of the greatest coins in the world. In this part, we present more than just a peek at most of them. Our goal in these chapters is to present you with choices and then let you decide which ones are for you.
Part IV: Buying Coins the Safe Way
You buy coins with the money left over after paying all your living expenses, so make those purchases count. That can be difficult because it’s a jungle out there! In this part, we alert you to some of the scams that less-than-reputable dealers use to separate you from your hard-earned money. We discuss the various numismatic price guides that help you value your collection and buy and sell coins. We also introduce you to the bane of coin collecting — counterfeit and altered coins — and show you why not to fear them. Where you buy your coins can be just as important as what coins you buy, so this part presents an in-depth look at working with dealers and buying coins at auction.
A coin’s condition (known as its grade) is the single most important factor affecting its value. Learning to grade coins takes time, patience, and practice. In this part, we introduce you to some of the concepts behind grading, explain how to learn to grade coins, and show you how to use third-party grading services to your benefit.
Part V: Selling Coins and Minding the Law
You can’t take your coins with you when you die. So what’s the best way to sell them before you do? In this part, we present the three main options: selling your collection by yourself, selling to or through a dealer, and selling at auction. Each method has its pros and cons, all of which are outlined here. We also cover legal issues surrounding coin collecting — everything from using coins as an investment to paying taxes.
Part VI: The Part of Tens
Our editors said to have fun with this part — so we did! In this part, you meet the ten most valuable U.S. coins (wait until you see the prices), our ten favorite coin designs (what a bevy of beauties), and ten ways to get your kids involved in coin collecting.
Icons Used in This Book
Throughout this book are handy road signs — called icons — that point you toward valuable advice and away from potential hazards.
This icon points out specific coins or types of coins that you may want to add to your collection.
This is the type of information you want at your fingertips. Consider marking these pages for quick reference.
This icon highlights deeper, more technical information that may come in handy as you pursue coin collecting. Feel free to read or skip these mini lectures!
An old hobby that continues to evolve has developed many shortcuts to help its participants have more fun. This icon highlights some of the most important tips.
Heeding the advice next to these icons helps you spend wisely, so you have additional pennies for the stuff you really can use.
Where to Go from Here
This book is a reference book, which means you can dip into it when you need a piece of information, and you don’t have to read it from beginning to end. (Of course, if you want to read it from beginning to end, we won’t complain!)
If you’re just getting started with coin collecting, Part I is a good place to begin. If you already know the basics and you’d like to start looking at specific coins to add to your collection, Parts II and III are for you. If you’re ready to buy or sell, check out Parts IV and V, respectively. And if you’re short on time but still want some fun and useful information, you can’t go wrong with any of the chapters in Part VI.
We hope your journey through the world of coin collecting is as much fun
as it’s been for us!
Part I
Making Heads and Tails out of Coin Collecting
In this part . . .
If you’re new to the word numismatics (the study of coins), then you’re new to coin collecting. This part is an important one to get you started on the right foot.
In this part, we explain why coin collecting is such a fun and exciting hobby and why millions of people now call themselves coin collectors. We also show you the importance of finding out as much as you can about coin collecting — not just to protect yourself as a consumer, but also to give you a big advantage over other collectors. We save you money right off the bat by showing you how to take advantage of the wholesale pricing that’s available to the smart collector.
We also discuss buying strategies and how to plan your collection so that you maximize the money you spend on, well, money! The right strategy saves you time and money and increases your enjoyment of the hobby.
Finally, we jump into the nitty-gritty of collecting coins, presenting a number of options for storing your coins so that they remain as beautiful and as valuable as they are today. We also discuss security issues and how best to protect your coins from theft and harm.
Chapter 1
Welcome to the World of Coin Collecting
In This Chapter
Moving from a coin admirer to a coin collector
Buying your first coins
Getting the best deal for your coins when it’s time to sell
The first actual coins date from about 600 B.C. They were really nothing more than crude, pre-weighed pieces of silver, electrum, or gold, stamped with a punch by the king who made them. Soon thereafter, dies were invented that were fancy enough to identify the king who issued the coin and the value each coin carried in trade.
Formally called coins at this point, those that were available in quantity and found to be usually reliable in their weight and purity became acceptable to all who traded them, and so started the use of coinage in commerce as we know it today. The trading efficiencies that coins afforded over barter were so great and so obvious that all those in economic power copied the idea to the benefit of themselves and their own people.
Huge quantities of coins were made by countless rulers, and barter as a trade method promptly became the second favorite way to trade. Trading with coins, and exchanging coins of one country for those of another, became a profession. (These were the first “bankers.”)
Since the earliest days of coins, tens of thousands of princes, kings, and emperors, as well as dictatorships and republics from an untold number of cities, states, kingdoms, and empires around the world — most having long since disappeared into the mists of history — all manufactured coins. But before they disappeared forever, they first minted and issued — and left behind for us to find — untold multiple millions of coins in literally hundreds of thousand of designs, sizes, denominations, and metals. The first coin collector undoubtedly appeared along with the first coin. And collecting coins became a social event, fun then as it is today!
B.C.: Before coins
Before the invention of coins, all commerce was done “in trade,” by bartering. Every time one man wanted to trade the extra goods he had for the goods he needed, he had to set a rate of exchange for each and every item he traded, with each and every one of his trading partners, each and every time they met. How much cauliflower for how much salt? How many sheep for a cow? What to pay to the chief in return for his protection?
This cumbersome process was probably confusing and time-consuming, and no doubt dreadfully inefficient and very stressful. It probably led to heated arguments and maybe even fights. Our man wants to trade a cow for some sheep, but the guy with the sheep wants a horse. The fellow with the food already has water and three daughters, but he’s willing to trade for husbands for his daughters, wine, or axes. But the guy who makes ax heads doesn’t feel well, so there’s a shortage of his fine product. The chief wants his taxes in arrowheads, axes, and knives, and probably not daughters. And so it went. Trade, although necessary, was barely productive and definitely not fun.
Out of this carousal of chaos in the barter economy came the first standards of trade. A standard in trade is an item that everyone who trades agrees has a value against which everything else can be judged and then traded. Objects used in this way have included seashells (in inland areas where seashells weren’t found), animals, beads, grain, salt, obsidian (volcanic glass), stone arrowheads and knives, and bone fishhooks, to name just a few. Standards of trade slightly simplified the trading process into a productive and at least somewhat social event.
Next came man’s discovery of metal in a natural state. The first of these metals was iron (from meteorites), followed by copper, gold, and silver. These metals were desirable to all men, not just because they were great for making tools, but because they were beautiful. Over time, the metals became the most acceptable items for exchange — a storehouse of value. Now a man could sell his cow today for gold, and have something to trade for food next month. These metals were, for the most part, small and convenient to carry and store, making for the first universal medium of exchange.
Still, during each trade, the amount of each metal varied in weight and in pureness. To solve this problem, the natural solution was the weighing and marking on each the value of each piece. Eventually the local chief took to marking each unit with its value and assigning his mark, indicating its acceptability in trade — a preset value. Trade expanded to include metal arrowheads and knife blades, even nails, the direct ancestors of coins as we know them today.
On Your Mark, Get Set, Go: Starting Your Coin Collection
Coins have been collected by everyone from Julius Caesar and Trajan (both Roman emperors) to U.S. presidents Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, and Bill Clinton, to millions of “commoners” like us.
You can join those millions of famous and not-so-famous folks of the past and present and have lots of fun collecting coins, but first you need to arm yourself with some information. Every coin collector builds his collection differently. Some people with less imagination go for the simplest and least interesting coins; others with more derring-do go for the complex and confusing. The good news: There isn’t one right way to collect coins, and no matter how you go about it, you can have a good time. (For an overview of coin collecting, including the whys and hows, turn to Chapter 2.)
Before you spend a dime on collecting coins, you need a buying strategy. You need to know how to research the coins you’re interested in, and how condition, rarity, supply, and other factors influence the coins’ values. Most beginning coin collectors get hung up on the coins’ values. Don’t get us wrong: Value is important, but it’s just one of the things you may want to consider when collecting coins. Also important is discovering which coins interest you and building a collection you can enjoy. (We cover all these topics in Chapter 3.)
When you’ve decided to give coin collecting a green light, and you’ve set up a plan for building your coin collection, you’ll want to be sure you know how to hold a coin correctly (because if you don’t hold it correctly, you could damage it) and how to store your collection (to keep it safe from all the evils that can befall a coin). (Turn to Chapter 4 for more information on storing and handling your coin collection, whether it consists of one coin or a hundred.)
Eeny, Meeny, Miney, Moe: Deciding Which Coins to Collect
Sure, you could rush out to the nearest coin dealer and fork over a bunch of cash for the first shiny coin you see. But we recommend getting familiar with what’s out there first. Maybe Ancient Greek or Ancient Roman coins or other coins from the biblical period suit your fancy. Maybe you’re blown away by coins from the Byzantine Empire or mowed down by medieval European coins. There are unlimited choices in just these areas alone. (Turn to Chapter 5 for the lowdown.)
On the other hand, maybe you’re more interested in modern U.S. coins. If so, you’re not alone. The U.S. Mint has sold coins to 130 million people in the past few years. That’s a lot of collectors, so you can count on meeting all kinds of new people and making friends as you build your U.S. coin collection. (For more on U.S. coins, check out Chapter 6.)
Maybe you’re more interested in collecting coins from around the world than you are in sticking with the red, white, and blue. You can collect by country, by denomination, by date, by size, or by topic. Coins go in and out of style, too — maybe not as fast as brands of blue jeans, but there are trends in coin collecting, and as a collector, you should be aware of them. (You can find more on all this in Chapter 7.)
Finally, even though you may not think of the word wild when you think of coin collecting, trust us: Numismatics has a definite wild side. If you fancy yourself a bit of a rebel, or you like to tread the road less traveled, all those rare, expensive, odd, and curious forms of money may be just right for you. In Chapter 8, we fill you in on what’s out there, touching on collecting the coins in the best of conditions and investigating all manor of tokens and dies along the way.
I Pledge Allegiance: Turning Your Attention to U.S. Coins
All kinds of coins have been used in the United States, starting with coins the colonists used before they got together and became a country. Before Tom Jefferson sat down to try his hand at declaring independence, when colonies were the order of the day, foreign coins — coins from France, Great Britain, Ireland, Mexico, and Spain — were used, as were coins made in the colonies themselves (including Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Vermont). (For more on privately made coins, tokens, and medals and the desirable coins of the Continental Congress, turn to Chapter 9.)
In Chapter 10, we cover copper and nickel federal coinage, including copper half cents, large cents, small cents, and two cents, as well as nickel three cents and five cents. We bet you’ll discover some denominations that you’ve never heard of before.
Silver coins make up the bulk of U.S. federal coinage. In Chapter 11 we cover three cents, half dimes, dimes, 20 cents, quarter dollars, half dollars, and dollars. Most everyone has seen a silver dollar, but how about a silver half dime or a 20-cent piece?
The balance of U.S. federal coinage made of metal is pretty much confined to gold coins (Neil’s personal favorite). In Chapter 12, we discuss $1 gold, Quarter Eagles ($2.50), $3 gold, $4 gold, Half Eagles ($5), Eagles ($10), and Double Eagles ($20). These are the royalty of U.S. coinage, and they’re as popular today with coin collectors as they were over 200 years ago with merchants.
Coins are made for more reasons than just commerce. In Chapter 13, we cover commemoratives (coins that were made for special reasons) and the new 50 State Quarters program and its cousin, the Presidential $1 Coins.
Chapter 14 brings you to the odd and unusual coins. These include patterns (coin designs that never made it into production); private pioneer gold, including Quintuple Eagles, or slugs for short ($50); coins of the 1830s through the Civil War; Confederate coins; Hawaiian coins; coins made as proofs; and coins made with errors (yep, people collect them, too!).
I’ll Take That One, and That One, and That One: Buying Coins
Coin collecting is not without its pitfalls. If you want your coin collecting to be more fun than not, you need to know what the pitfalls are and how to avoid them. We fill you in on grading and fakes, as well as coins that have been repaired, restored, recolored, cleaned, or dipped and what that means. We also discuss scams, misrepresentations, overgrading coins, and undergrading coins, as well as return privileges and guarantees of authenticity and grade with coins. (Turn to Chapter 15 for all this and more.)
Part of buying coins is finding coin price guides and knowing how to use them. If you’ve ever looked up a stock price in the newspaper, using coin price guides will be a breeze (and if you haven’t, don’t worry: we walk you through it). (For more on price guides, check out Chapter 16.)
When you know which coins you want to buy and about how much you should expect to pay, you’ll want to find a good, reliable coin dealer. There are plenty of dealers to choose from — locally, regionally, and nationally — depending on your needs. (Chapter 17 shows you how to select a dealer with confidence.)
Many coins are bought and sold at public auction — and for more than a few good reasons. If you’re going to buy a coin at an auction, though, you need to be prepared and know how to bid. (In Chapter 18, we cover all this, as well as all the rules you need to be aware of.)
An important aspect to buying any coin is the coin’s condition and how it affects coin value. You need to know about strike, eye appeal, luster, and condition (wear), as well as how coins are graded, how grade affects the coin’s price, proofs, grading damaged coins, and what constitutes grading standards. (Turn to Chapter 19 for all this.)
Finally, when it comes to buying coins, it helps to know how to grade a coin, the tools required to do it correctly, and how to find a professional grading service. (Chapter 20 is where we fill you in.)
Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow: Selling Your Coins
There is an art to selling anything, and coins are no exception to that rule. You need to know what to expect when you sell your coins, decide whether to sell your coins yourself, and prepare to make the sale. You also have to get your coins properly graded and fairly priced, find coin dealers to sell to, and keep records of your sales. (Turn to Chapter 21 for the lowdown.)
If you decide to have a professional sell your coins, your choices are to sell directly to a dealer, on consignment, or at a public auction. You have to make sure you’re paying a fair commission, know how to set a price, and choose a dealer. If you decide to go the route of the auction, you need to know how to pick an auction house, the fees you should expect to pay, and the fees you should not pay. In Chapter 22, we fill you in on all this, plus tell you what you’ll find in an auction contract and provide a handy list and up-to-date description of all the leading coin auctioneers in the United States today.
Coin selling involves certain legal and tax responsibilities. In the United States, selling just about anything for a profit is taxable and, sadly, coins are no exception. You need to understand your tax obligations and the ways to minimize them, as well as the like-kind exchange rule in taxes. We cover this in Chapter 23, and also briefly touch on coins as an investment. Coin collecting is lots of fun, but not if the IRS comes pounding on your door. Don’t let the fear of legal or tax issues deter you: In this last chapter before the Part of Tens, we give you the information you need so that you can focus on the fun of buying and selling coins, not on the legalities.
Chapter 2
Understanding Numismatics
In This Chapter
Understanding the satisfaction and enjoyment the word numismatics instills
Collecting coins from silver dollars to 50 State Quarters
We bet you have a jar at home into which you throw your loose change at the end of each day. At some point, the jar gets so full that you have to empty it, roll up the coins, take them to the bank, and exchange them for paper money. As you separate the coins, are you ever distracted for a short moment by the coins themselves? Do you see details that you previously didn’t notice? All the different types of coins, cents with wheat backs, the different types of nickels, and so forth? Are you suddenly intrigued by the very fact that these small pieces of metal represent value, history, and your hard labor? Have you ever had the desire to sort the coins by the different types and dates, trying to see how many different ones you can find? Have you ever picked through the coins, trying to find the best looking one?
If you have, you’ve experienced a delicious taste of what it is to be a coin collector. Coin collecting refines a person’s natural desire to accumulate things. Coin collecting teaches about organization, classification, preservation, authentication, verification, and pride in ownership. Coins humble collectors with their ancient stories. The coin you hold in your hand may have witnessed the fall of Rome, been carried by a king, endured the Black Plague, been carried by a GI on D-day, or it may simply be a brand-new coin just about to begin its own journey.
The fact that you’re reading this book is a good sign that you’ve already been bitten by the collecting bug. Coin collecting is a great “disease” whose treatment is to find out as much as you can about the hobby and make yourself feel better with an occasional addition to your growing collection. This chapter helps you get started.
Admitting Your Numismatism
Numismatics (new-miz-mat-ics) is the systematic study of coins, medals, tokens, currency, and the like. Therefore, a numismatist (new-miz-ma-tist) is someone who seriously studies coins. Collecting coins is the first step to becoming a numismatist.
No, you don’t have to know how to pronounce or spell these words to be a coin collector, but sooner or later you’ll be wearing them like badges of honor. After all, you’ll be joining a rich company of kings and queens, presidents, industrialists, robber barons, brewers, and tens of millions of other folks who have been proud to be known as numismatists.
Discovering How Cool Coin Collecting Can Be
People love money. People love other people who have money. Coin collectors collect money. Therefore, people love coin collectors.
Don’t believe us? Try this test. Go down to your local coin store and buy a common Morgan silver dollar dated anywhere from 1878 to 1921. Pick out a nice one, but don’t pay more than $20 for it. Put it in your pocket the next time you go to a party. At the party, casually pull the coin from your pocket and show it to your friends. You’ll probably get comments like
“Where in the world did you get that?”
“I haven’t seen one of those for years.”
“My grandpa used to give me one of those every year for my birthday.”
“Is that a real silver dollar?”
“Can you get me one?”
Return the coin to your pocket and pull out a picture of your kid or your dog. Everyone has a kid or a dog. The party returns to normal — boring!
Face it: Collecting coins is cool.
Collecting versus Accumulating
The collecting instinct is a common trait among people; it shows up in many ways. You’ll discover that many of your friends are collectors of something. Who do you know who collects baseball cards, Hummel figurines, beer cans, Coca-Cola memorabilia, books, or dolls? Even people who claim to collect nothing probably have accumulations of some thing they haven’t even realized they’re accumulating — tools, newspapers, shoes, you name it. There’s a special comfort in collecting, in surrounding yourself with familiar objects and building a store of assets — perhaps in response to some primeval instinct that prepares you for a rainy day.
The allure of money is especially strong. Coins represent real value. Coins can be exchanged for other objects we desire. Coins travel throughout the world and through time itself, representing and absorbing history as they pass from one person to the next. Oh, the stories coins could tell if they only had voices! And they’re everywhere, because no one anywhere ever throws away old money.
Pull a dime out of your pocket and what do you see? If all you see is 10¢ to spend, we’ve got a lot of work to do. But if you look at your dime and wonder at the artistic work of the engraver and the meaning of the symbols and the words, or if you see Franklin Roosevelt, the Great Depression, and the New Deal, man, you’re hooked. You’re going to make a great coin collector and, perhaps, one day, a numismatist!
We make the distinction in this book between numismatists (those who study coins) and coin collectors (those who collect coins). You can be a numismatist without being a coin collector, you can be a coin collector without being a numismatist, or you can be both.
Not sure whether you have that collecting instinct? Here’s a great way to find out whether you’re an accumulator or whether you have the potential to become a coin collector:
1.Visit your local coin store and purchase a folder made for the pennies from the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s.
A folder is a cardboard holder with holes for every different date.
2.Raid your change jar or go to the bank and buy $20 worth of pennies.
3.Sort out the coins and fill as many different holes as you can.
If possible, find the best-looking coin to place in the folder.
4.After you’ve gone through all the coins, sit back and take a look at your work.
Do you wonder why some coins were harder to find than others? Do you wonder why you couldn’t find even a single example of some coins? Are you interested in completing the set? Did you have fun searching through the coins?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, you’ve discovered the difference between being a collector and an accumulator — and in case you’re wondering, you’re a collector.
What makes a collection complete?
Completion is in the eye of the beholder. Many years ago, coin collectors were interested only in collecting by date. Therefore, in order to be complete, a collection had to include one coin from every year that the coin was minted. Later, collectors developed an interest in mintmarks (the tiny letters that indicate where a coin was minted). Suddenly, to be complete, a collection had to include a coin from every year and from every mint. Then came collecting by variety (major or minor changes in the design of a coin), and the definition of completion expanded even further.
Obviously, completion is an ever-changing standard. Taken to the extreme, the only complete collection of coins is one that includes every coin ever made! Striving for completion will drive you nuts. Instead, decide on your own goals and set your own standards for completion. When you’ve completed that collection, consider a new definition of completion and go for it! Remember: There is no “correct” way to collect.
Collecting Various Types of Coins
Throughout the years, people all around the world have experimented with a variety of items used to denote value. The natives of Papua New Guinea valued the dried carcasses of the beautiful bird of paradise. The Yap Islanders valued huge, round stones. The early Chinese created copper money in the shape of knives. Native Americans made and used wampum (clam shells, handmade into beads, polished, drilled, and strung on strands of leather) as a medium of exchange. All sorts of innovative methods have been used to facilitate trading, but none of them became so convenient and important as those little round pieces of metal we call coins.
Gold and silver coins
Look at the history of coins and you’ll notice two metals that have played a critical part in the development of money: gold and silver. These two metals formed the basis for most great civilizations’ systems of money. Greece, Rome, Egypt, Spain, England, the United States, and other countries all based their monetary systems on gold and silver at one time or another. When you hear of the great treasures of the world, you imagine piles of gold and silver, not piles of tin and copper. Why have people throughout the ages been so in love with gold and silver when there are plenty of other metals from which to choose?
Gold is popular because it is
Rare: Gold is one of those metals that has been recognized as being rare and desirable for over 6,000 years, but it isn’t so rare that it’s impossible to find.
A naturally occurring element: Gold is found in nature as flakes or nuggets on the surface of the Earth, in rivers, or in thin veins buried deep within the Earth. The purity of natural gold may vary from one location to the next, but it requires little processing to achieve a uniform quality. There is gold to be found on every continent of the world except Antarctica.
Malleable: Pure gold is soft and can be beaten into extremely thin sheets or pulled into long wires or strips. Because it’s so soft, gold takes good impressions from dies (the steel cylinders used to strike coins) and it won’t wear them out as fast as a harder metal may. Or it can be alloyed with other metals and made as hard as you want.
Reasonably inert: In nature or in normal use, gold won’t react with moisture, oxygen, or human skin, which means that jewelry and coins made of gold will last virtually forever.
Beautiful: Pure gold has a soft yellow color and a gorgeous sheen that has appealed to people’s visual senses since we lived in caves. Mix gold with silver or copper, and you’ll come up with an interesting range of color; the colors that come up most frequently on U.S. gold coins are pale reds, light greens, softer pinks, and white.
Many collectors prefer coins that are white and untarnished; other collectors will pay huge premiums for coins with natural, bright, rainbow-colored tarnish known to collectors as toning. Be aware that toning is not always natural and can — whether it’s natural or not — often hide flaws and defects that could dramatically lower the value of the coin.
Silver is popular because it is
Common: Vast quantities of silver have been found in various parts of the world, including the United States, Mexico, and South America. Because it is common, silver is the perfect metal for creating lower-value coins for use by the general public.
A naturally occurring element: Found deep within the Earth, silver is usually mixed with another great coinage metal — gold. Although native silver is perfectly good for casting into ingots and making into coins, most of it is processed to purify the silver and to separate out the more valuable gold.
Beautiful: Pure silver has a bright, white luster and a deep brilliance. As it tarnishes, silver can acquire some lovely colors, including blues, reds, and purples; this is especially true for coins that have been stored near a source of sulfur, such as paper albums.
Commemorative coins
In the 1930s, numerous proposals for commemorative coins appeared before the U.S. Congress. Although many of the coinage bills had narrow appeal, they became law, and the U.S. Mint dutifully struck the coins (including the one shown in Figure 2-1), which were then sold through distributors who added a premium above the face value of the coins. The collecting public paid the premium for the coins and were happy to add them to their collections. But the U.S. Mint, producing a new coin every few months, almost seemed to be saying to collectors, “Here’s the latest commemorative. Please send your money, and oh, by the way, there’s another commemorative coin coming out next month, so please be ready to send your money for that one as well.”
Figure 2-1: A commemorative coin.
Collectors complained that too many different coins were being produced and that speculators were manipulating the markets and prices, both of which were true. The U.S. Mint got the hint, the flood of commemoratives slowed to a trickle, and collectors were happy again. Nevertheless, many new people were attracted to coin collecting by the often beautiful commemorative coins, just as they are by today’s commemorative coins. (In Chapter 13, we tell you more about these interesting coins.)
BU Rolls
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, collectors went nuts for BU Rolls, those original, bank-wrapped rolls of Brilliant Uncirculated coins (such as those shown in Figure 2-2). Collectors tried to obtain rolls of as many different dates, denominations, and mintmarks as they could. Certain issues, like the 1950-D nickel, were promoted as being rare, and prices shot up. One day, the public woke up and realized that coins with mintages in the millions were not rare and would never be rare. Today, the BU 1950-D nickel roll remains cheaper than it was 35 years ago, and new collectors can’t understand why BU penny rolls from the 1950s are so inexpensive. Like all good fads, the BU Roll craze created lots of new collectors.
Figure 2-2: BU Rolls.
A mintmark is a tiny letter (or letters) indicating where the coin was minted. The U.S. Mint is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and currently has facilities in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (P or no letter); Denver, Colorado (D); San Francisco, California (S); West Point, New York (W); and Fort Knox, Kentucky (where U.S. gold bullion is stored but no coins are minted). In the past, coins were minted in Dahlonega, Georgia (D); Carson City, Nevada (CC); New Orleans, Louisiana (O); and Charlotte, North Carolina (C). Notice that two mints (Dahlonega and Denver) use the same letter. However, these two mints made coins during different time periods, so it’s easy to tell them apart!
Silver Certificates
The front of old Silver Certificates (like the one shown in Figure 2-3) state that they are redeemable on demand for one silver dollar (or later, for silver). That ended in 1968, when the U.S. government changed the law and discontinued the redemption of Silver Certificates. For a short while, the government allowed the public to redeem Silver Certificates, in person, for a fixed amount of silver per note, either in granules or bars. The market value of the silver exceeded the value of the note itself, so coin dealers found themselves the enviable recipients of another windfall. Suddenly, everyone began looking through their wallets for Silver Certificates to sell to coin dealers. You can bet that many new collectors were created among the thousands of people who visited coin shops to sell their Silver Certificates.
Figure 2-3: Silver Certificates.
Art bars
Silver popped up again in the early 1970s when 1-ounce silver art bars (such as those shown in Figure 2-4) became the rage. Art bars are thin, rectangular silver bars with polished surfaces and designs that commemorate just about everything imaginable — weddings, birthdays, a new year, Thanksgiving, trains, hearts, cats, you name it. Mintages were limited, unusual varieties appeared, and some rather deliberate errors showed up. In short, a flood of new and unusual art bars overwhelmed the market and quickly killed it. However, while it was alive, the art bar craze introduced thousands of people to coin collecting, many of whom stayed.
Figure 2-4: Art bars.
The paper silver dollar was exchangeable for a metal silver dollar from 1863 to 1964. When the metal in the silver dollar became worth more than a dollar, the U.S. government stopped exchanging the paper dollar for the metal dollar.
