Don't spend money collect them

• Numismatics overview
• Coin collecting
• Coin collecting advantages
• How coin grading works

Coin collecting While hoarding coins due to their value goes collection. This increases the number of back to the beginning of coinage, coin examples needed to complete a collection from collecting as pieces of art was a later one per year to several per year. Some development. Known as the "Hobby of Kings", mintmarks are more rare than others and modern coin collecting is generally believed harder to find. This is what makes collecting to have begun in the fourteenth century with different  mintmarks exciting for collectors. Petrarch. Notes of Roman emperors having coin collections are also known, but it remains Variety  Collections somewhat unclear whether these coins were studied, considered curiosities or possibly As the mint issues many thousands or millions were  merely  hoarded. of any given coin, there are generally multiple sets of dies used. Occasionally Coin  collecting  specialties these dies will be slightly different, generally in a very small detail, such as the Coin collectors often begin by saving coins number of rows of corn on the recent US they have received in circulation, but found Wisconson state quarter. Varieties are more interesting. These may be the remnants of common on older coins, when the dies were change from an international trip, or an old hand  carved. coin found in circulation. Over time, if their interests increase, chance will not be Error  Collections sufficient to satisfy the demands for new specimens, and a potentially expensive hobby The automation of coin manufacturing is born. Some become dedicated generalists, processes during the 19th century has looking for a few examples of everything. If decreased the number of error coins produced, they have enough resources, this can result and somewhat perversely, increased their in an astounding collection, as that of King collectability. Collectors of modern coins Farouk of Egypt, who collected everything find errors desirable because modern (and not just coins either). Some are processes make the likelihood of their completists, wanting an example of everything production very limited. Examples of coin within a certain set. For example, Louis errors include doubled dies, repunched mint Eliasberg was the only collector thus far to marks, overdates, double strikes, off metal assemble a complete set of known coins of the coins, displaced or off center coins, clipped United  States. coins, and mules (different denominations on two  sides  of  one  coin). At the very highest levels of coin collecting, it can become a highly Subject  Collections competitive sport. Recently, this has exhibited itself in registry sets, where the Collectors with an interest in a subject most complete set of coins with the highest (i.e. ships or dogs) may collect only coins numerical grades assigned by grading services depicting  such  certain  interest. are published by the grading service. This can lead to astronomical prices as dedicated Composition  Collections collectors strive for the very best examples of  each  date  and  mint  mark  combination. For some, the composition of the coin itself is interesting, for example there are a Most collectors determine that they must number of collectors of only bimetallic focus their limited financial resources on a coins. for example gold, silver, copper... narrower interest. Some focus on coins of a normally only precious metals like gold, certain nation or historic period, some silver  and  now  platinum fit this category. collect coins from various nations, some settle on error coins or exonumia, such as Period  Collections currency, tokens or military challenge coins. Many collectors restrict themselves to coins Every collector collects what interests them, issued after the 18th or 19th century, while and there are as many ways of collecting as others collect ancient and medieval coins. there are collectors. However a few themes Coins of Roman, Byzantine, Greek, Indian, are common and are often combined to a goal Celtic, Parthian, Merovingian, Ostrogothic, for  a  collection. Snappic, and ancient Israelite origin are amongst the more popular ancient coins A number of common collection themes include: collected. Specialties tend to vary greatly, but some approaches include the collection of Country  Collections coins minted during a particular emperor's reign, or a representative coin from each Many collectors attempt to obtain an example emperor. from every country which has issued a coin. In contrast to those who collect coins from Coins are often a reflection of the events of all countries, many collect coins from only the time in which they are produced, so coins one  country,  often  their  own. issued during historically important periods are  especially  interesting  to  collectors. Year  Collections While many of these themes appear simple at Rather than collecting one example of a type, first glance, the more serious the collector some collectors prefer to collect by year, becomes, more problems surface. Where someone and thus collect one lincoln cent for every collects coins from every country, eventually year  from  1909  to  the  present. the issue of what is a country will arise, especially in areas beset by civil war. When Mintmark  Collections a collectors aim is every year and mintmark of a particular type, then there will often Many collectors consider that different mint be one coin which is significantly more rare marks give sufficient differentiation to and expensive than the others. justify separate representation in their 1 A B C D 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107