Collecting Coins Profitably in 11 Steps
Collecting coins can turn out to be a very profitable hobby, investment and/or business. For example, there are old US pennies that have sold for half a million dollars and more.So, take a good look at the coins in your pocket or purse, their value might be way much more than their face value.
Here are a few steps to help you have a good start in your profitable coin collecting journey: Note: This information was taken from my actual experience and from websites about time and career management. —>
Summary of “Collecting Coins Profitably in 11 Steps”:
1. Start Now2. Plan
3. Start with Cheap Coins
4. Specialize
5. Carefully Store Your Coins
6. Catalog Your Coins
7. Take Your Time
8. Regularly Value Your Coins
9. Join Coin Collectors Clubs
10. Visit Coin Shows and/or Shops
11. Market Your Coins
Final Words
The Details:
1. Start Now
Since for the most part, it usually takes years or even decades for coins to appreciate in value, now would be the best time to start collecting coins.
Imagine if you had just saved some of the coins you had in your pocket during your younger days, many of them would have appreciated in value today.
Also, there are coins that go out of circulation, either recalled by the government or are fully collected by coin collectors.
If you don’t collect coins now, there is a chance that they would be hard to get into your hands should you decide to want to collect them later on.
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2. Plan
Its very easy to start coin collecting. Currently, coins are everywhere: in your pockets, in shops, in banks, and so on.
But you need to know first if you can really collect coins. For example, where would you put your coin collection? This is very apparent if you do not possess a secured storage area for your possessions.
Another question you should ask is how much money can you spend on coin collecting. This is very important as some coins are very expensive and might be out of your range. It is useless to start a coin collection if you don’t have the financial means to complete it.
Also, how do you plan to make money off your coins? This is a frequently missed question by many businesspeople who are good at starting a business but are bad at making money off their business.
If you’re only collecting as a hobby, this might not be a problem for you. But if you are investing money for a coin collection, you might end up not making money from your coin investments because you can’t find anyone who would be willing buy them.
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3. Start with Cheap Coins
Your first coin collection should be the coins in your pocket. This is because they’re already in your hands and you didn’t even have to buy them in the first place.
Before you start investing in expensive coins, take the time to know the market. Research which coins are in high demand and what are their prices. Learn about the coin grading system so you would not be confused by the professional terms used to grade and describe coins.
Also, luck plays a good part in finding collectable coins. For example, as told earlier, there are US pennies that have sold for half a million dollars and more. So, even a cheap US penny collection could become valuable if you find the right US pennies.
If you know of a foreigner or a local who has a foreign coins, you could buy it off them using your local currency. Remember, coin collecting is a global hobby and even cheap foreign coins can bring you handsome rewards.
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4. Specialize
Coin collecting can become complex and expensive. There are so many coins to collect that unless you’re a very rich person, you wouldn’t be able to collect all coins there are.
For example, you might want to specialize only in the coins of your country. You can further specialize by collecting only certain coin denominations like dimes, pennies, 1 dollars, and so on, if you are an American.
For example again, collecting antique Italian coins can be very complex and expensive. This is because old Italian states used to issue their own coins which are different from other Italian states.
If you’re an Italian, you might only want to concentrate on the old coins of one or a few Italian states. This would enable you to know which of these coins are rare, valuable and what are their errors and quirks.
By trying to collect all possible coins as you can, you end up not being a specialist in many of them, which could cause you to miss out on the more valuable coins.
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5. Carefully Store Your Coins
Coins are made out of metals and are very resistant to damage. However, they do get damaged.
In fact, coins are graded according to how pristine they are. Coins that have virtually no damage including no scratches are graded the highest. Coins that have been widely circulated and contain a lot of damage including scratches are graded the lowest.
Usually, the higher the grade of a coin, the higher also is its price. This is why having your coin graded by a grading company can be expensive.
This is the reason why you should prevent your coins from being damaged as much as you can, including it being scratched or dented.
Luckily, there are affordable coin storage containers that you can buy. These coin storage containers can be made out of plastic or cardboard. They are worth their price if you want to fetch the highest price for your coins.
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6. Catalog Your Coins
Cataloging your coin collection would enable you to know what coins are already in your possession and which are not.
By also researching online the prices of the coins in your collection, you would be able to know the value of your collection. This is important. Coins have monetary value even only in face value. But as time goes by, many coins appreciate in value just like other financial instruments.
For example, although the date of your coins doesn’t correlate to the price of your coins, that is, old coins are not always necessarily more expensive than newer ones.
But it is still good to catalog you coins by date as there are coins that have low mintages according to year. There are also coin collectors who buy coins based on date alone.
So, knowing that you have a coin available for a certain date would be a fast sale to a willing buyer.
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7. Take Your Time
When coins are first released by the government mint, usually, their value is just their face value. That is, a newly minted two dollar coin would also have a value of two dollars as well.
However, as previously stated, many coins do appreciate in value over time, especially if they have errors or quirks which make them stand out from the other coins of the same denomination.
For example, there are coins that become very collectable just because they don’t have the mint mark initials of the minting company. Others become very collectable when there are only a few coins minted, say like a million coins.
The same is true with buying coins. There are some coins which are hyped by savvy coin sellers hoping that amateur or unknowing coin collectors would buy them at a high price.
But since coins are usually minted in the millions and even billions, there is a good possibility that you can buy a much hyped coin for a very reasonable price. So, take your time in buying coins, but be very vigilant in spotting good deals.
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8. Regularly Value Your Coins
If you treat coins as investments, it pays to regularly check their price. This is because just like other investments as stocks, forex, collectibles and so on, they sometimes shoot up in value.
Whatever is the reason for their sudden price spike, you should capitalize on the situation and sell your coin for the very expensive amount it’s currently being bought.
But how do you know if some of your coins have spiked in value? You can buy coin pricing guides which are released each year. Many of these coin pricing guides even have an online version.
Also, sites like eBay and Etsy are where old coins are actively bought and sold. You would know from these sites the various prices your coins are being bought and sold.
For example, eBay allows you to display the sold items in their website. All you have to do is select the “Advanced” search button and tick out the “Sold Items” box. The resulting items display would give you items that were recently bought and at what price.
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9. Join Coin Collectors Clubs
If you have the time, you should definitely join coin collectors clubs, even just online groups. This is because by joining these groups, you would gain coin information that you wouldn’t find in coin books and online coin sources.
You might even be able to find a coin that is only in the possession of a particular coin collector in your club.
Also, being in any club exposes you to other people who share your passions. You might even find close friends within your club.
Lastly, being in a club opens up other opportunities for you besides coin related opportunities. A club member may turn out to be a future business partner, investor and/or employer. Your connecting link would be your common like for coin collecting.
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10. Visit Coin Shows and/or Shops
Again, if you have time, do make it a point to visit coin shows and coin shops. This would enable you to not only be updated regarding the world of coin collecting, but would also enable you to possibly find the coins you are still missing in your collection.
As to coin shows, you would have the possibility of networking with the top level personalities of the coin collecting industry.
This is especially very important if, besides collecting coins, you also want to gain a foothold in the coin collecting industry.
Coin shows and coin shops are also places to sell some or all of the coins in your collection. You can sell your coins to both coin sellers and coin collectors in the coin show or coin shop.
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11. Market Your Coins
If you are hoping to make money off your coin collection, you must market your coins. Otherwise, no one would know about the coins in your possession.
You should have an active social media presence. For example, you can create a Facebook page dedicated to your coins, an Instagram or Pinterest profile for your coins, and so on.
You can even start a YouTube channel dedicated to your coins and coin collecting in general. All of these efforts would expose your coins to potential buyers.
You might even sell your services as a coin expert. You can have a podcast, create books, hold seminars, offer courses, and so on. It might just turn out that your coin service and digital products would create more revenue for you as against your coin collection.
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Final Words
It is a good idea to collect coins because many of them significantly increase in value over time.
Even newer coins have increased in value significantly. For example, even if a coin is new, if it has a mint error, then it would be more than its face value.
This is the reason why you can virtually start your coin collection using the coins in your very pocket. If you’re lucky, a coin in your pocket could be worth hundreds, thousands and even over half a million dollars.
But the best time to start coin collecting is now. Because for the most part, it usually takes decades before a coin appreciates in value. A coin in your pocket now could just become your retirement money in the future.
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