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Beginning a Coin Collection
 Michael Francis
Coin collecting is a great hobby to share with your kids. Encouraging them to start a coin collection can be a rewarding proposition in many ways. They can be easy to start and a lot of fun.
Young people getting into coin collecting can start with an easy set of coins to build their first coin collection. Over the past several years, the U.S. Mint has been putting out new sets of many of its common coins. Recent coin collections that can be started include state quarters (1999-2008), national attraction quarters (2009-present), and historical nickels (2004-2005) are all popular coin collections at the moment.
Other variations can be based on collecting pennies, nickels, dimes, or quarters for each year in their current form. The Lincoln penny, with the Lincoln Memorial on the reverse side, has been printed since 1959. The Jefferson Nickel has been printed since 1941. The Washington quarter with an eagle on the reverse was printed from 1932 to 1998. Lastly, the Roosevelt dime has been printed since 1946.
Completing these types of coin collections can be fun for both parent and child. It provides an opportunity to discuss certain places or figures in history with your child as each coin of the set is collected. The commonality of the coins also make it somewhat easier to assemble an entire set, thus limiting the frustration a young person may have in first starting something new.
After assembling these types, it may be fun to attempt to assemble a more difficult coin collection of rarer objects. Buffalo nickels, wheat ears pennies, and Indian head pennies are the most popular collections of older and rarer coins. Assembling these collections can further your child's interest in history and collecting, while also providing some education on the value of collecting. You can learn about effectively valuing coins and about their appreciation over time. Thus, you are teaching a valuable lesson about investing for the future in addition to investing time in something you enjoy doing together.
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