| If someone mentions coin collecting, what comes | | | | but how and why they were made, and beyond |
| to mind? | | | | that, who and what was happening in the time |
| Valuable coins, right? | | | | and place they first appeared. |
| You may be thinking, "Coin collectors must have a | | | | Coin collectors always have a story to tell. And |
| lot of money to have a collection of... MONEY! | | | | they seem to do real well in school - especially |
| Could I make money with coins?" | | | | when it comes to history, but also in economics, |
| Or, "What's the big deal? Most of the coins I see | | | | or even math. |
| all look the same." | | | | OK, so it's fun to collect coins. But these coins, |
| Maybe instead, "When I saw my cousin's coin | | | | and these collections... are they valuable? Are they |
| collection I was amazed he could own so many | | | | worth real money? |
| that were so old, and from so many different | | | | It all depends on what your interest is. A coin is |
| places." | | | | always worth at least its "face value". For |
| Or even, "I know someone who made the down | | | | example, a penny bears the words "One Cent". |
| payment on his first car with one coin from his | | | | At minimum, it will be worth one cent, or as we |
| collection!" | | | | say, a "penny." |
| "I wonder who had that old silver dollar in his | | | | If scarce, or in excellent condition, or both, a coin |
| pocket? If only that coin could talk!" | | | | may have a much higher value as a collector |
| "If I could have just one old coin... I'd want it to be | | | | piece. This will be especially true if the coin is |
| an old GOLD coin!" | | | | collected by a large group of people - the collector |
| "Hey, what's that famous rare penny? A VDB | | | | base - whose interest is fed by a strong body of |
| something or other?" | | | | literature, or a colorful connection to history. |
| And so forth and so on. | | | | And remember, if a coin is scarce (few were |
| Everyone knows that coins have value. They're | | | | minted or few have survived) and if it is in |
| money. You can spend them, or save them, or | | | | excellent condition, AND in demand by collectors |
| jam them into a Coinstar machine at the grocery | | | | over a substantial number of years, AND you can |
| store for some folding money. But when we learn | | | | identify the current market value and purchase |
| that there are people who have a hobby of | | | | the coin at approximately that value, well then, |
| carefully building a collection of coins, a whole new | | | | you have what will likely be a profitable coin |
| perception of these small, ever present metal | | | | investment. |
| disks comes into being. Coin collectors are | | | | But be prepared to hold the coin for at least 5 |
| (sometimes) normal people in every other way. | | | | years. Ten would be better. Time does good |
| Except that they have this strong interest, some | | | | things to a coin's value - especially if it meets all |
| might say obsession, with finding and acquiring odd | | | | of the above criteria. |
| little pieces of copper, silver, nickel, and even gold. | | | | The good news is that collectors vary in their |
| And not only do these coin collectors add coins to | | | | approach to the hobby. And no one can say that |
| their collections, they pick up all sorts of | | | | another collector has it wrong! |
| information -knowledge - not just about the coins, | | | | |