How to Become a Coin Collector Instead of a Hoarder

A coin collector is a numismatist, or one who studies, collects or appreciates money. Numismatics is the name of the study of coins, notes, bills, and other items of currency. A coin collector differs from a coin hoarder on many fronts. Here's what you need to do to become a coin collector.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Love of coins
• Knowledge of numismatic terminology
• coin cataloging software
• coin folders or albums
• grading service
• numismatic periodicals
• price lists

1. Learn the numismatic terms. Do you know what basining is? What the Greysheet is? Who Walter Breen was? Coin collectors regularly deal with coin dealers and people who run auctions, and they have to know the lingo. See the Resources section for a link to a glossary of coin collecting terminology.

2. Decide what you're in it for--the investment? A love of history and the stories behind the coins? A love of the coins themselves? If you're only in it for the investment value of coins, perhaps you're really more of a coin hoarder or accumulator than a coin collector. Coin collectors are systematic in their approach to ammassing coins and interested not just in coins' values, but in what makes a coin rare, how it's different from others in the same set, and questions of condition, history and provenance.

3. Purchase numismatic supplies. You'll need albums to store the coins in, and you may want coin organizing software with which to catalog your collection. You'll probably want subscriptions to the numismatic news periodicals and price lists, as well as books detailing rare coins that are parts of sets.

Tips & Warnings

• When you acquire a valuable coin, don't clean it. Leave that to the conservationists. Have the coin graded as is. If it's cleaned, it may not be able to be graded.

Resources

• Coin Collecting Glossary of Terms: A to B
• Book: The Expert's Guide to Collecting & Investing in Rare Coins