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Coin collecting has been a favorite past-time for many years, as the types of coins and the material they are made from has changed. Coin collecting is also a lucrative investment hobby, as well. Many serious coin collectors buy and sell coins and can make thousands of dollars with the right opportunity.
The Boy Scouts even offer a merit badge on coin collecting. There are many aspects they need to learn in order to receive this badge. Such things as collecting terms used like obverse and reverse, grading terms like un-circulated and extremely fine, and three different ways to store a collection and the benefits or problems with each are just a few things required.
In addition, Boy Scouts are required to actually have a coin collection that can be 50 foreign coins from 10 different countries, 20 bank notes from at least 5 countries, a collection of a single type of coin for each year since birth or 15 different tokens or medals. They also have to demonstrate several coins from the State Quarter program and a US currency set demonstrating mint marks and designer initials, if any. This is a great background for coin collecting for valuable and rare coins, as well.
The value of a rare coin is determined by its availability in the marketplace, condition or quality of the coin and its rarity. Since the supply of investment quality coins are fixed, at any given time, the more that are bought by investors, the fewer that are in the marketplace and the higher the value goes. Rare coins cannot be manufactured or produced, so this limits the supply as demand may still remain.
It used to be that coin grading was subjective, however, since the 1980’s there are two leading independent coin grading firms, the Professional Coin Grading Service and the Numismatic Guaranty Corporation. These firms have industry-wide acceptance of their grading standards and guarantee the authenticity and condition of each coin they grade.
Because of the independent, third party grading, rare United States coins have become one of the most liquid of all assets. Coins that have been certified and encapsulated are traded sometimes sight-unseen. There is a more standard price listing and value available on rare coins than is past years.
When collecting coins, many coin collectors take pride in cleaning their coins to look like new condition. The first rule to remember is if you don’t know what its value is, don’t clean it. Even if you know it is a valuable coin, you should leave it untouched and stored because some dealers are interested in coins that are in original condition and natural state of aging.
Another reason is that you should take them to a professional coin cleaner, because by removing tarnish you can harm coins leaving scratches or pockmarks that can devalue the coin by up to 90%. If the dates and mint marks are hard to determine, a professional will know the best method, such as dripping, to clean the coins with minimum damage.
Coin collecting is a fun and interesting hobby that can also be a great investment. There are many sources of information available on the Internet to help you determine where to start.