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Building A Coin Collection Without Breaking The Bank
Building a coin collection is easier than one thinks. Many coin collectors developed an interest in the numismatic hobby by noticing and hanging onto interesting coins they received back from every day purchases. Who knows? Maybe it started with getting a half dollar back as part of their change. Maybe it began with a silver quarter being mixed in with all the other ones from the vending machine. Whatever sparked the interest is neither important nor material. What is important is the fact that many coin collectors got their start without spending much money.
Start Coin Collecting Quickly
The everyday person can get started in the hobby by simply taking a trip to their local savings and loan bank. Simply enter with $10 and ask for your dollar bills to be converted into rolls of pennies. It sounds simple enough. It's amazing how much $10 in pennies weigh! The bank will give pennies in rolls of 50 cents. Most banks do not charge a coin fee or wrapped coin fee, especially for such a small amount.
Understand the Hidden Value in Pennies
Once the prospective numismatist arrives at his home, all he needs to do is to start unwrapping the numerous rolls of pennies. Although some Lincoln cents have value above and beyond their face value, most will not. When going through the rolls, be sure to separate the coins into three groups:
- Pennies that are minted 1982 and later
- Pennies that are minted between 1959 and 1981
- Pennies that are minted before 1959
There is logic behind this methodology. The cents minted in and after 1982 is mostly zinc, with some copper content. The value of the metal is less than the face value of the coin. This pile of money should be returned to the bank and converted back into paper money.
Coins minted between1959 and 1981, while not particularly valuable to a collector (at least in most cases), have a metal content that exceeds the face value of the coin. These should be kept, if only for that reason. One never knows when the next currency devaluation will occur. This is especially true in this day and age.
Focus On Wheat Cents to Start
Finally, there are the pennies minted before 1959. Although there will only be a handful of them, these coins will form the basis of one's new coin collection. These coins, also known as wheat cents can be differentiated by the reverse of the coin. The reverse will show sheaves of wheat. Because of their age and their low production, relative to modern pennies, wheat pennies have a demand that drives up the value beyond the face value of the coin. This is true for pennies that are in about good or good condition.
In summary, it does not take much money to begin a coin collection. All one has to do is take the time and their coin collecting will bloom! | 
