For some, the best kind of currency to collect is old paper money. For others, old coins are the perfect currency to try to pick up. While anyone who collects old currency should be interested in both, most tend to pick one or the other.

There are plenty of pros and cons to both old coins and old paper money. Taking the time to look into the pros and cons of each will help you to understand where you should take your collection, in terms of future direction.

The Case for Old Coins

If you are looking for a piece of history that is as stable as possible, you are going to want to collect old coins. Simply put, old coins hold up to wear, tear, and time better than old paper money does. These coins still hold much of their integrity, showing the beautiful lines and designs that are carved into them rather well. These old coins are known for their beauty, and are generally the most sought after pieces of old currency.

These pieces of currency are easier for many to collect in the sense that they are easier to keep. They require safe handling but do not require nearly the amount of delicate handling that is needed for old paper money. You can be sure that you are less likely to accidentally damage your investment when you choose to collect old coins.

The Case for Old Paper Money

While old coins are some of the most sought after in the industry, old paper money can be some of the most rare and the most expensive. People are looking for old paper money because of how difficult it can be to find the money.

Old paper money is incredibly exquisite, as the paper medium allows for the money to be more intricate and more detailed. Individuals are going to find that they fall in love with old paper money because of the beautiful designs they find.

It is true that older paper money is more delicate than coins and is therefore somewhat harder to handle and show off. With that being said, this currency tends to bring more interest in viewers of a collection. The safe handling is often worth the high value that is placed on these various types of paper currency. If you choose to go with old paper money over old coins, you choose a collection that is visually interesting and unique.

For some, old paper money is a rarity that they want to continually add to their collection. For others, old coins are a testament to the beauty of the coin and the path that coin currency has taken over the years.

In the end, you will want to look at each to determine which you want to add to your collection. Your choice will help to lead you to a gradual theme for the future of your collection – an important choice for anyone who is serious about their coin collection.

Photo Credits: Smabs Sputzer

To the rest of the world, those who collect coins are known simply as coin collectors. They see it as nothing more than a neat hobby that people of all ages can get into. While there are certainly those who enjoy collecting coins as a hobby, there are others who prefer the title of numismatists. These are the people who do not merely collect coins. They engage in numismatics. The question is, exactly what does this term mean. It means that the study of currency in all of its forms including forms which are simply related to currency.

Those who engage in numismatics are most interested in coins simply because there are so many varieties which are available. It is amazing to find out all of the little nuances which surround the different ways currency is made, the reasons for the methods which the currency is created and what happens to the currency after it has been created. The more which is discovered about currency and trends in currency, the more questions people are likely to have in regards to it. The answers to these questions will drive the value of different collectibles and more.

Studying How Currency Is Made

Over the years, currency has gone through different evolutions. These evolutions have been noted in numismatics for their ability to strike coins in a more homogeneous manner. This is exemplified in the switch from hand striking coins to machine striking coins in the 17^th century. Other changes include the ability to use more than just precious metals to create coins and the ability to include more detail and more relief on coins. These are changes which have helped to create more unique coins and to change the way coins are made forever.

Reasons for Different Kinds of Currency

The initial reason for currency was simply to barter for goods. As far back as the Romans there have been standardized coins which have been created. These standardized coins helped to reduce arguments between those who were trading currency for goods and services. Numismatics has observed as the nature of the coins has switched from simply needing to standardize the currency to making it possible to immortalize certain figures or events as well as to make changes in the economy of the nation. These changes have helped to shape the value of the currency.

What Happens to Currency

Another very important thing in numismatics is what happens to the currency after it has been created. This includes when the currency has been seized or reclaimed by the government to be replaced by something else. Coins like the gold sovereign in England are routinely reclaimed so that they can be melted down and coined again. This makes the coins which are still around more valuable. Additionally, coins like the 1933 Double Eagle are made extraordinarily expensive because they have been made illegal to own by the government after Franklin D. Roosevelt issued an executive order to take America off of the gold standard.

Photo Credits: Jorge-11

Originally posted 2010-08-24 03:27:07. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Old coins are the hallmark of any serious coin collection, providing history, rarity, and intrigue to the collection. Every coin collector should be on the hunt for old coins, even if they are still new to the hobby.

There are some tips that can help you to find old coins for your coin collection. These tips will direct you to the best places to look, teach you the best purchasing techniques and methods, and help you to avoid counterfeit coins.

Stay Local If Possible

If you can, stay within the bounds of your local coin collector shops. This will help to give you the power of inspection before you actually purchase the coin. You will be able to see the front and the back of the coin and will be able to identify whether or not the coin is real. This will save you from being taken advantage of online by an un-reputable online dealer.

Set a Serious Budget

If you are looking to purchase old coins, you are going to want to set a budget. This budget is going to keep you from overspending on one single coin, helping you to expand your collection at a more regular rate.

Learn to Negotiate

Every good coin collector needs to know how to negotiate and negotiate well. As a buyer, you are going to want to get the lowest price possible from the seller. As someone who is selling, you are going to want to stay firm to make sure that while you make the sale, you still make money on the sale.

Research Values

If you are trying to collect old coins you need to understand exactly how much the coins are worth. Research all of the older coins that you are interested in and understand their face values. Head to auctions and ask dealers about sales to better understand how much these coins are selling for. This is going to give you a strong indication of how much the coin is worth and how much you should expect to pay for it if you try to purchase one.

Research Fakes

There are plenty of counterfeit coins out on the market, especially in the world of fake coins. Individuals want to make money off of those who are looking for expensive coins and will produce fakes in an attempt to do so. Research the true markings that you should find on the coins that you want, and understand the markings of a counterfeit. This is going to help you to make smarter purchases, as far as your old coins are concerned, and will help you to avoid purchasing a fake coin.

There are plenty of old coins that are still available to those who are serious about coin collecting. Take the time to research these different coins, their values, and the counterfeits that tend to spring up in stores around the country. Set your own budget and try to visit local shops. The more that you can incorporate these tips into your collection

Photo Credits: Tjflex2

Coin collecting has been the preferred hobby of certain individuals for centuries, and has just recently begun to find a resurgence in interest. Finding and building a collection of coins can be extremely gratifying, as you never know exactly what each day will bring. While people pay excessive amounts of money for certain coins, the hobby itself doesn’t have to cost you anything. If you know how to find old coins, you can often get away with spending very little on this extremely enjoyable hobby.

One of the best ways to find old coins without paying for them is to make use of a metal detector. Some of the rarest coins in the world have been found this way, as coins tend to end up deep in the soil over long periods of time. These days, metal detectors are cheaper than ever, and can quickly begin to pay for themselves, as anyone who is interested in trading of selling the coins they find could potentially make out very well for themselves. Using a metal detector is easy and fun, and many people find that beaches, fields and other, similar areas are the best places to go to look for old coins.

Another way to find old coins is to attend trade-shows and collectors conventions as often as possible. While more often than not you’ll have to pay for the coins you attain this way, it’s still one of the best ways to find rare, old coins to add to your collection. Collectors and merchants that set up shop at conventions and trade shows know their audience and know what they’re looking for, which makes a convention the best place to go if you want to meet other people who are enthusiastic about collecting coins. You may even strike up a few friendships on your search for old coins.

Perhaps the biggest and most important factor of change that has occurred in recent years is the use of the internet to facilitate the trading and purchasing of old coins. Between auctioning websites and message boards, there are mold rare coins floating around the internet for sale than anywhere in the world, and anyone with an internet connection and a bit of patience can potentially find themselves obtaining coins online in no time. Joining an online coin collecting community is a great way to share your passion for rare coins with others, and can eventually lead to relationships that might even facilitate rare trades and sales. It is advised, however, to use discretion when setting up trades or sales over the internet, as the potential for fraud is far higher than it is in a physical setting.

With the world as interconnected as it is, collecting rare or old coins is easier now than ever before. The more time you spend researching different options such as conventions, the internet or scrounging with a metal detector, the more versatile and enjoyable your hobby will become.

Photo Credits: tsuihin – TimoStudios

Originally posted 2010-08-03 09:28:25. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

The Wild West proved to be such an exciting place and time. Immediately following the Civil War, for the next twenty years or so until the late 1880′s, the lands west of the Louisiana Territory were a strange combination of towns and forts, Indian territory, cowboys and trails, outlaws, gold mines, and government mints. Collecting coins from the days of the wild west is a hobby that has many passionate followers.

Mints of the Wild West

Although there were three mints in territories covered by the wild west, including the famed Carson City, San Fransisco, and Denver mints, the Denver mint never struck a first coin until 1895, about ten years after the cowboys and Indians era was ended. Coins from the Wild West are best considered to be those struck at either the Carson City or San Fransisco mints.

The Carson City Mint and Coins

The Carson City mint is the quintessential home of Wild West coins. Built directly in response to the enormous discovery of the Comstock Lode of Nevada, this mint with the coin initials of “CC” was only established in 1863 and ceased minting coins in 1896. In its brief thirty year history, it produced a massive number of the legendary Morgan Silver Dollars. So many of these were struck here that after the mint was closed and the remainder of the unused ones were shipped back East, fully 750,000 of these uncirculated Carson City silver dollars were uncovered. These have since been made available for purchase to the public by the U.S. mint since the 1970′s. They carry a small premium over other uncircultated silver dollars when they come in their original GSA enclosures. Carson City Morgan Silver Dollars of all varieties and grades remain popular and heavily sought out by Wild West coin collectors to this day. They can be purchased at coin auctions and shows, from a local coin dealer, or alternatively as released from the storage vaults of the U.S. mint.

The San Fransisco Mint and Coins

The other true Wild West era government mint was the original Western mint of San Fransisco. This California mint proved to be a key coining facility following the California Gold Rush. It was only several years after the major gold discovery at Sutter’s Mill that the San Fransisco mint started cranking out both gold and silver coins in 1854. That first year, only four million dollars of face valued coins were produced there, making those 1854 S coins extremely rare. As a result of this slow operating start, coin collectors today find that the 1854 S Half Eagles with $5 face values and the Quarter Eagles with $2.50 face values prove to be among the most prized and obscure coins in coin collecting. Their values commonly come in at over $100,000 for better graded coins.

1874 saw the opening of a new and larger mint in San Fransisco. From this year on, the gold “S” coins became more and more common. San Fransisco struck greater quantities of gold coins than any of the other U.S. mints in operation. These gold coins in Liberty Eagles, Liberty Half Eagles, and Liberty Quarter Eagles continue to be prized by coin collectors around the country to this day. These coins are similarly available at coin auctions and shows, or from an area coin dealer. Being mostly minted of gold, their prices tend to be significantly higher than the Silver Carson City coins from Nevada.

Photo Credits: Larry Rosenstein

Originally posted 2010-08-09 03:40:13. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

If there is one constant in the coin collecting world it is that the value of old coins is much higher than the value of newer coins. This is because as they get older they become rarer. The rarer a coin is, the more it is worth. Of course, there is more than just age which goes into what makes an old coin go up in value so much. Getting to know the different factors will help you to make better decisions about which coins you will buy and what you will do with them once you have them.

There are three things which will help to add to the value of old coins no matter what the price was that they started out as. Getting to know these things will help you to make sure that you will be able to get a good amount of return on your initial investment. You will need to know such things as how to make sure that you are grading the coins correctly, that the coin is real and that the coin is being properly protected. This will help you to sell the coin for much more than you bought it.

The importance of grading

Grading is one of the most important things in collecting coins not just in the value of old coins. This is based on the Sheldon grading scale which goes from 1 for poor to 70 which is the ultimate. Not even some of the coins coming straight from the mint can get an MS 70 grade. This is because of the way they are struck, handled or any number of different factors. It is a good idea to know the grades for the coins you have so that you will know how much they are worth.

Checking for authenticity

Counterfeiting coins is nothing new. Since people have been faking coins for centuries, it is possible you will get a fake which looks pretty good. It will even look like it is from the right era. It is important to know all of the details so you will not be fooled by a fake coin. You will be able to spot the fake so that you will be able to get a fair price on the value of old coins when you buy them.

Protecting your coins

Once you have the coins and you know they are real, it is time to make sure that they are protected. For many, this means making sure that they are placed inside of a slab. This is a hard clear plastic case which will allow your coins to be protected and viewable all at the same time. This way they will preserve any value that they have. You will also be able to make sure that the value of the old coins will increase because their condition will increase in rarity as opposed to coins which get no protection.

Photo Credits: kevindooley

Originally posted 2010-09-28 09:15:36. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

There have been many different coins which have been created and used by the English government. These coins span the years for some with a very short run for others. It is easy to see why the coins in England have such a high value when exchanged across the pond. None of the coins in the past were really made to last. Instead, the English coins were expected to be reclaimed, melted and coined before being redistributed to the public. This is because the government always wanted to have a coin which was shiny.

There are many different kinds of English coins which have been used over the years. These include designs which have been intended to honor Kings and Queens over the years. Perhaps one of the best know pieces is the Gold Sovereign. Any coin with the head of a past king or queen is extremely valued because of the concerted effort of the crown to reclaim all coins to have them made with the new image on them. A recent addition to the collectible coins was the creation of the 25 pence coin which celebrated the union of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer

The Gold Sovereign

One of the most brilliant of the English coins contains nothing on it which signifies what value the coin is intended to have. The coin has been used for over 500 years. The design has not much changed since it was first minted. The only things to have changed were that the 23 Carat gold was downgraded to 22 Carats and the weight was reduced nearly in half. The average coin has been regularly reclaimed and melted so that the coin in circulation can be shiny and new.

The past royalty

If there is one thing English royalty does not like to see, it is to see the old royalty on the coins in circulation. This is why even inexpensive coins have been valued well beyond the value that the old coins were intended. The older the coin is, the rarer that they are likely to be. This is especially true after the rule of an especially tyrannical ruler. This is because they will go out of their way to make sure that all traces of the old ruler have been completely eradicated from anywhere the public can see them from.

The 25 Pence Coin

Like so many other commemorative coins, the 1981 25 pence piece is one of the English coins which was created to honor the marriage of Lady Diana Spencer and Prince Charles. This coin skyrocketed in price for Mint State Coins after the death of Princess Diana. Today, it is still one of the most treasured coins in England as well as a very grim reminder about what can happen when you least expect it. This is a coin which will continue to get more valuable over time because less people will be able to maintain the coin at the Mint State.

Photo Credits: Mc95

Originally posted 2010-08-19 07:03:26. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Rare coins are often the most sought after coins for collectors of all types. While they may not focus on rare coins for their coin collections, they will look for them as they search through various coin collector shops.

One of the most important things to think about when looking at or for rare coins is their value. While these coins have overall values, some fall under the value and some fall over the value. There are certain factors that can completely change the value of the different rare coins that you prize for your collection.

It is important for all collectors to understand how to determine the value of a coin. While these individuals do not need to be appraisers, they need to understand what can raise or lower the value of a coin.

Physical Condition

The most important aspect of the value of a rare coin comes from the actual condition that the coin is in. If the coin is in mint condition (no scratches, blemishes, etc), the coin will be incredibly valuable. If the coin is extremely worn and barely recognizable, it will not be as valuable. Coin collectors want rare coins that look like the rare coins that they are – the more worn the coin is, the less the value will be.

Year

When people think about rare coins, they think about a specific type of coin. What they often fail to realize is that the year that the coin was minted can completely change the value. There are some coins that were minted over a period of 10-20+ years. While the version of the coin that was minted in 1930 may be slightly rate, the version minted in 1931 could be the most sought after coin in the market. Be sure to pay attention to details to understand the actual value of rare coins.

Mint

Different coins are minted from different locations – some are minted from various locations each year. While the rarity of some coins is based on the year, others are based on the specific mint location from a specific year. You need to focus in on the actual mint location to ensure that you are indeed looking at a valuable coin (as opposed to a somewhat rare coin). While both may be interesting to view, only one will be the actual valuable coin.

While monetary value may not be the most important aspect of your collection, it is something that must be considered for your current and future coins. Determining the value of the coins that you are considering purchasing will help you to understand whether or not the coin is worth the sale price. Understanding the value of rare coins will help you to ensure that you are selling your own coins for the right price. While value may be unimportant in the grand scheme of things, it is important when considering any rare coins transactions.

Photo Credits: oceandesetoiles

In the late 1800’s to the mid-1900’s many American coal mining companies had their own coins, or scrip made by different coin manufacturers. These coins were used by the owners of the coal mining companies to pay or create loans for the men who worked for them. These coins could only be used at the mining company’s store and to pay for services, utilities, and housing offered through the mining company. Since these coins are rare pieces of a past era in American history there are many people who have coin collections which consist only of mining company coins.

A Unique Solution to a Unique Problem

Coin collections of mining coins are collections made up of a very unique form of currency. Mining coins were first developed to solve the problem of not being able to keep much currency on hand at a mining site. This was a problem many mining companies faced since they were located in remote areas where there were no banks to be found. In the late 1800’s transpiration was not as advanced as it would be later and this made getting to and from a bank to get currency difficult. By paying mining employees in scrip these problems were then eliminated.

The Important History Scrip Represents

One of the interesting facts about mining company scrip is what makes coin collections which consist of them so unique. This is because the mining company’s took advantage of paying their employees in scrip by building stores near the mines where the mining employees and their families could shop. The companies scrip was the only currency accepted at these stores. The mining companies would often inflate the prices for the items sold at these stores because those who worked at the mines had no other way of getting the supplies they needed. By the time a miner paid for his rent for the housing provided by the mining company, their supplies at the mining store, and for other fees imposed by the company many miners were often in debt to the company at the end of the month.

Mining company coin collections are very rare because these coins are no longer made anywhere in the United States. This is because in the 1950’s laws were passed which made it illegal to pay a mining company’s employees in anything but U.S. currency. Mining company coin collections serve as an important reminder as to why we have labor laws in place to protect workers across the nation.

The Many Names for Mining Coins

Coins made and used by the mining companies had several names. Most of there were and still are referred to as scrip, which was the name given to the bulk of coins used in West Virginia and Kentucky. In other regions people gave the coins different names. Some of the names used to refer to the coins were stickers, dungaloos, p’lolly, flickers, and bingles. These are amusing abounding names given to an item which was designed to kept employees forever in debt to their employer. These names are still used by many to classify the coins in their mining coin collections.

Photo Credits:  wcgaskins59