Top products from r/coins
We found 113 product mentions on r/coins. We ranked the 221 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
1. 2019 Official Red Book of United States Coins - Spiral Bound
Sentiment score: 8
Number of reviews: 10
2. Plugable USB 2.0 Digital Microscope with Flexible Arm Observation Stand Compatible with Windows, Mac, Linux (2MP, 250x Magnification)
Sentiment score: 7
Number of reviews: 8
HOBBY FOCUSED - Useful and fun for students, collectors, testers, and anyone interested in exploring the microscopic worldHIGH DEFINITION - 2.0 Megapixels, up to 250x magnification (Note: Final magnification corresponds to monitor size)BROAD COMPATIBILITY - Uses a webcam chipset and sensor to suppor...
3. A Guide Book of United States Coins 2015: The Official Red Book Spiral (Official Red Book: A Guide Book of United States Coins (Spiral))
Sentiment score: 6
Number of reviews: 7
4. A Guidebook of United States Coins 2014: The Official Red Book
Sentiment score: 5
Number of reviews: 6
1,900 images7,000 listings32,000 coin pricesU.S. Coin Retail Price GuideTraditional Book collectors hard cover edition.
5. A Guide Book of United States Coins 2020
Sentiment score: 3
Number of reviews: 5
6. Official ANA Grading Standards for United States Coins (Official American Numismatic Association Grading Standards for United States Coins)
Sentiment score: 3
Number of reviews: 5
Convenient spiralbound hardcover binding.Every standard grade is illustrated and described in detail.Text descriptions of 30 levels pinpoint grades from Poor to Mint State.High-resolution photographs illustrate exactly what to look for.All eleven Mint State levels are discussed in detail.
7. A Guide Book of United States Coins 2017: The Official Red Book, Spiralbound Edition
Sentiment score: 4
Number of reviews: 5
8. BelOMO 10x Triplet. Jewelers Loupe Magnifier 21mm (.85"). Optical Glass with Anti-Reflection Coating for a Bright, Clear and Color Correct View. Foldable Loupe for Gems, Jewelry, Coins and Trichomes
Sentiment score: 5
Number of reviews: 4
10x Magnification Power - classic 3 lenses schema with the most useful magnificationLarge 21mm(0.85'') Achromatic Triplet Lens Gathers Light for a Bright, Clear and Color Correct ViewLarge 0.65'' (17mm) Viewing Area - convenient in use for any subjectsOptical Quality Glass Lenses, each BelOMO loupe ...
9. A Guide Book of United States Coins 2016
Sentiment score: 3
Number of reviews: 4
10. BCW Pro 20-Pocket Pages, Pocket Size: 2" x2", 20 Pages - Coin Collecting Supplies
Sentiment score: -1
Number of reviews: 4
20 (twenty) - BCW Pro 20-pocket coin storage page - coin collecting suppliesHolds 20 - 2 x 2 cards, pigs or photo Slides, no PVCBCW 3 inch album (single)Coin albums & portfolios sold separately
11. A Guide Book of United States Coins 2018: The Official Red Book, Spiral
Sentiment score: 3
Number of reviews: 4
12. Strike It Rich with Pocket Change: Error Coins Bring Big Money
Sentiment score: 2
Number of reviews: 4
13. The Official Red Book: A Guide Book of U.S. Coins 2013
Sentiment score: 2
Number of reviews: 4
14. Cherrypickers' Guide To Rare Die Varieties of United States Coins: Half Cents Through Nickel Five-cent Pieces: 1
Sentiment score: 3
Number of reviews: 3
Used Book in Good Condition
15. Metal Pirate Coins - 30 Gold and Silver Spanish Doubloon Replicas - Fantasy Metal Coin Pirate Treasure
Sentiment score: 2
Number of reviews: 3
MODELED AFTER REAL WORLD TREASURE. The pirate coins are inspired by hand-struck Spanish 2 Escudo Doubloons minted between 1651 to 1773. While most of the fleets carrying the original precious merchandise made it to their destination, many were lost and sea, leaving the glistening treasures to be dis...
16. AWS Series Digital Pocket Weight Scale 100g x 0.01g, (Black), AWS-100-Black
Sentiment score: 2
Number of reviews: 3
Portable Scale: This digital food scale measures 3" x 5" x 0.8", so it's the perfect size for measuring on the go. Use it to measure nuts, herbs, medications, spices, or jewelry.Durable & Compact: This mini kitchen scale is perfect for travel and can fit in your bag. Plus, it easily converts between...
17. Celestron 44302 Deluxe Handheld Digital USB Microscope and Stand with Built in 2MP Camera for Capture of Video and Images, for viewing Stamps, Coins, Bugs and more
Sentiment score: 1
Number of reviews: 3
USB-powered handheld digital microscopeBuilt-in 2MP digital camera for capturing images and videos10x to 40x magnification (up to 150x on some monitors)6 LED ring illuminatorUse the included Windows software to capture images and video of your discoveries. Measure your specimens with built-in measur...
18. BCW (25) 20 Pocket Coin 2x2 2 x 2 Album Binder Pages!
Sentiment score: 0
Number of reviews: 3
25 BCW 20 Pocket Pages
Books: This is what I said when replying to another thread for book recommendations. I love the CherryPicker's Guide - these will pay for themselves over and over. I don't personally recommend Striking it Rich, but to each their own. I'd rather see you "creep" a coin forum where die varieties and mint errors are discussed and new finds shared than spend a ton on books right out of the gate. I might also recommend learning about the entire minting process (I think a book called From Mine to Mint?) - this will help you understand how die varieties and mint errors are created in the first place and eliminate the confusion between a true doubled die and something like strike doubling.
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Bookmarks: John Wexler has a very useful site called doubleddie.com with lots of images and descriptions of die varieties. CONECA has a Master Listing of all known die varieties for US Coins and a forum (that, honestly, I rarely visit because no one ever replies to my posts there.) These are just a couple examples; there are tons of great websites out there for you to reference (even PCGS and NGC have some nice high-quality images of varieties they attribute, which also can be very helpful when determining value.) Start building your set of web bookmarks and it will make things easier for you in the long run. PCGS Photograde is a free online reference to help you learn how to grade US Coins, for example.
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Loupe: I'm always happy to recommend the BelOMO 10x Triplet Loupe - it's the loupe I've been using for about a decade now. IMO 10x is large enough to see even tiny varieties, and you'll mostly be concerned with the quality of the glass and metal. Lots of those cheap plastic loupes say they are higher magnifications, but aren't, or the "glass" isn't even glass (let alone high-quality glass.) I like the shape of the loupe and the texture of it - if your hands get sweaty, it won't slip out (like the cheaper chrome-plated examples you find at every coin shop.) You really, really want good quality glass here - save your eyes - and the better quality glass and larger field of vision (wider glass) the easier it will be on you. Cheap loupes make it hard to focus properly.
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Magnet: Get yourself a decently strong magnet - this will help diagnose some bad counterfeits out there. I think I got mine at a local hardware store. I'm always amazed when a coin shop doesn't USE the magnet and buys a bunch of fakes...like, did we forget how to deal coins today or something?
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Scale: I have been using an AWS SC-2kg scale for a few years now with decent results. My older version doesn't have an AC Adapter (just battery operated.) This will also help you diagnose counterfeits and other various mint errors.
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Lamps: IKEA sells their Jansjo gooseneck LED lamps for less than ten bucks. They have a few different styles of these including some with clamps. They will be bright enough for variety hunting and if you get a few of them can be useful in coin imaging.
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I tried to use gloves, I really did. But when you drop half the coins because the cotton is too slippery, it's best to learn how to properly hold a coin in your hand. I bought a really nice set of coin tongs in person at a coin shop somewhere - can't remember where - but they are sold on Amazon and eBay now. The problem with them, though, is that the company is in Germany and the shipping is more than the cost of the item.
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I'd start learning how to image your coins as you look for varieties and errors. If you can take a good image of a die variety, chances are someone will be able to help you attribute it. I've never had good luck with the cheapo LED USB microscopes that are available, they all take crappy images, don't work with my computer, etc. I've returned every one. This could be an entire other discussion, honestly.
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I love using my tablet (I maxed out with an iPad Pro a couple years ago) for reference books and cherrypicking on eBay. It's wonderful to have a ton of reference books/manuals/coin images handy and portable.
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Other than that - best of luck to you, and we'll do our best to help. Just remember at the beginning to take a breath before you get all amped up and start thinking you've found a valuable variety on every coin you see. I've seen it so many times - new person shows up, posts thirty threads about thirty different coins, none of which have usable images (all out of focus for example) and then gets butt hurt when people tell them their coins are worth face value.
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Don't take it personally.
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It takes time and persistence to learn how to find real varieties. THEY ARE OUT THERE, though...I just found a nice 1934 DDO Quarter in a bag someone told me fifty times had been searched and searched (he's just that kind of a person, though, so I just ignored him.)
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I'll echo others here, but I think it depends on what you'd like to collect. If you don't want to spend much money right now, especially if you haven't decided on what specific things you like, then searching coins from circulation - rolls from the bank, etc. - is a good way to get started (since all you spend is the face value of the coins you keep), but you may need to search a LOT of rolls before you find anything interesting. For example, I searched over $200 in half dollar rolls a few months ago - found no silver, but did find one proof that had escaped into circulation. I mentioned to the tellers that I knew what I was looking for, and they replied "so do we." Ah.
If you want to purchase coins, going to a local coin store, or meeting dealers at a show, is good, as they can help guide you to making a good purchase. If you start to specialize in particular areas, dealers can even keep an eye out for you, and put things aside. You might want to specialize in a particular series (e.g., a date run of Lincoln cents), or from a particular country, or with certain symbology (pics of animals, ships, etc.) or time period (e.g., Roman Empire - $40 will get you a nice coin that is 1700+ years old, for example - a lot of new collectors think that something that is old must be valuable/only in a museum, which isn't the case).
eBay and general Internet sites can be a good source for coins, but unless you are buying coins certified by reputable companies (PCGS, NGC predominately), from dealers that offer returns, I'd not suggest doing things this way if you are just starting out. Even if photos are decent, coins can be cleaned or otherwise impaired (so are worth less than they appear to be - you might overpay, maybe significantly, without realizing), and in one instance I had, an outright forgery (which I figured out after paying, but before it shipped, so was able to get my money back). Once you get more familiar with coins and what's out there, reasonable prices, and such, then eBay in particular can be a very good place to find things. For example, I've been collecting schillings of the Free City of Riga for a while (1563-1580). It is a very very specific collecting interest, and you just can't find them other than via eBay (out of several 100+ table shows, and multiple visits to half a dozen coin stores in driving distance, I found exactly one, but have purchased over 170 via eBay) - apparently metal detectorists in the area are finding them and selling them that way.
Lastly, I'd recommend picking up a few books so you know what is out there - what to look for and what things are worth. For one, if you are collecting US coins, the Redbook is very useful to know what is out there. If you are searching rolls, the Cherrypicker's Guide vol 1, vol 2 is handy to know what particular things to look for. The Redbook will tell you which dates are more rare/desirable, and the Cherrypicker's Guide will do the same for varieties. If you want to collect world coins, the Standard Catalog of World Coins volumes are very handy. There is one volume per century, starting in 1600. They are a bit pricey, but if you have a pile of coins that need identification, are very useful. You might be able to find these in a library, but having your own copi
Hope it helps!
A lot of it depends on how you want to collect. A fun, easy way to start is to put together date sets (one coin from each mint for each year) for modern coins from your change. You can get folders like this one to hold those coins and they'll help direct you.
You can also collect Type sets, with one version of each coin used in a country over a specific time period. Assuming you're from the US, a popular and not-too-difficult type set is the 20th Century type set, which introduces older coins that have different designs and ones made from silver.
Or you can just collect coins that are nice to look at, either ones with a beautiful design or that are in a pristine state. This might be more expensive but is no less satisfying.
Regardless, Apmex is a very popular site for coins both modern and old, and there's always eBay, although be sure to know what the price of the piece you want is (check sold listings) to avoid overpaying for anything. In that vein, a great resource for collecting US coins is the Red Book which is part price guide and part history book, with great pictures of all US coins from the Colonial era to modern times.
Hope this helps, and happy hunting!
Awesome you are keeping to collection going! I wish I had some of my granddads collection. The family wanted to sell it, so it got sold. So I started my own collection for the family to sell when I pass on.
Looks like you have quite a journey ahead of you, r/coins is great for identifying, showing off and steering you in the right direction on places to learn more.
Here are some links if you want, the PCGS site is great.
https://www.pcgs.com/grades
And a Redbook is always helpful, and any other good book on coins.
https://www.amazon.com/Guide-Book-United-States-Coins/dp/0794845061/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1509639315&sr=8-3&keywords=red+book&dpID=51vv8FmczFL&preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch
"Photograde Coin Grading Guide" is one I really like for grading. It's practically free used except for shipping.
https://www.amazon.com/Photograde-Official-Photographic-Grading-United/dp/0307993612/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1509639444&sr=8-2&keywords=Photograde+Coin+Grading+Guide
And most of all have fun!
You certainly could, and it would probably be a fun and educational experience, but it's not necessary -- and if you're more interested in obtaining information than buying or selling, the shop owner may not be as generous with his/her time.
But the info you're after -- how to assess condition and rarity -- is available fairly easily. You can get a good intro to grading condition by comparing your coins to graded specimens at PCGS Photograde, for example. And you can assess rarity by checking out mintage charts online or by checking out a copy of the Red Book from the library (or buying one). A note on the Red Book: the price guides tend to reflect top retail prices, and the book is much better for the info on the coins than the price guides -- as a result, older editions are still very useful. All of the price guides, however, give an idea of what's special and what's not.
Once you have condition and rarity, I would direct you to eBay to check "sold" listings for coins in similar conditions, for an idea of market price.
Newer collector here also:
Video is going to be your problem, most cheap scopes won't do a very good job, depending on what you're looking for.
I've been using one I got off Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00XNYXQHE/ or similar, there are several identical ones from different brands there). Picture quality is OK, good enough for basic work, but it doesn't seem like it would do video well (though it can).
A few example pictures:
https://imgur.com/J49ZBFM
https://imgur.com/ocAlHr6
https://i.imgur.com/N90jTHI.jpg
Not great, but decent magnification and perfectly acceptable for basics (could use some better lighting). That's going to be your baseline, and at $40 you're pretty limited (you can probably pick up a version of that for a bit under $40 if you look around).
Anything past that and your price is going to pop. The one /u/Thebillyray linked is a similar but slightly better option, but at twice the price. Anything higher quality than these will start to push you well over $100.
I don't own one yet but I've got my eye on this one since I want something fairly inexpensive and easy to use for my first purchase:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00XNYXQHE?psc=1&redirect=true
It's only 2mp and uses a flexible arm to hold it instead of a sturdy, straight stand so not sure how great is for photography. I think I'm going to use it mainly for viewing a lot of coins vs. photographing a few ones so might fit the bill.
But if I'm being honest, I hope I can get cool pics as well :)
Congrats on getting into the hobby! I'm not sure that either of these is of any significant value, so if they were in my pocket I'd probably save the money and not grade them.
If you haven't already, get yourself a copy of The Red Book to help you better understand the value of coins you might be interested in, and what to look for when evaluating a specific coin.
I'd also spend a little time on youtube learning about luster (particularly cartwheel luster) so you can better spot coins that have been cleaned...before learning it the hard way like I did!
Are they U.S. coins? The main price guide to U.S. coins is called the Red Book - the values aren't exact, but they will give you a rough idea of what the coins are worth. To find out exactly how much you could actually sell the coins for, you can search through Sold Listings on eBay - eBay is the main online marketplace for buying and selling coins, and if you want to sell you'll get better prices there than going to a coin dealer. Finally, feel free to post pictures of the coins in this subreddit and people will be happy to help out in telling you how much they're worth.
That is an awesomely insane amount of dimes. Can you post a picture, for science?
Now, some tips from someone who has mass-sorted 10s of thousands of dimes, nickels and pennies:
...up to 1945
Once done:
Good luck !!!
Whitman Red Book is gonna be one of your best friends. eBay sold listings or greysheets are gonna be you best bet for up to date value/pricing.
I would honestly just decide how much money you want to spend and find a LCS (local coin shop) and go pick out something you like. Decide if you wanna buy just one coin or maybe a few for cheaper. Make sure to pick a coin up and really examine it closely, don't just decide by looking at it in the case. Also don't just pay the listed price, see if you can talk the dealer down a bit (sold listings/greysheets can help with this), just don't make an insulting offer.
These things you will not be afforded buying a coin online. And the experience is part of the education process. That fact that you've already studied puts you ahead of most and you'll just keep learning as you go.
First, I am very sorry for your loss. This is never a great way to receive coins.
In terms of valuing it, I would take it very slow. It looks like your Dad was passionate about this hobby, and he had a fairly large collection. You would honor him by learning all you can about them.
You will need to start by separating them by denomination. It looks like there are a lot of coins in those cigar boxes, so you want to do this as orderly as possible.
Once you have them grouped, start checking for any key dates. You can use the PCGS price guide to identify those. I wouldn't rely on their prices, however, as they are known to be very inflated.
https://www.pcgs.com/prices
You can also get yourself a copy of the redbook...
https://www.amazon.com/Guide-Book-United-States-Coins/dp/0794847021/
You will also need to learn how to estimate each coin's grade. This can be difficult if you don't have experience doing it. PCGS has a Photograde app that you can download, and use to compare your coins to pictures of other examples in every grade. That will help.
Any higher grade coins, or key dates will end up being the most valuable.
In terms of tracking, you should look into using Numista. Enter each coin in as you evaluate them. This way you will end up with a complete record of everything, and a running total for estimated value.
https://en.numista.com/index.php
Hope that helps!
It shouldn’t take much money. I’d start by grabbing Red book and blue book. I’d say blue book would be better for you, unless you plan on buying more coins.
2019 Official Red Book of United States Coins - Spiral Bound https://www.amazon.com/dp/0794845711/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_dkz-Bb81A1982
A Handbook of United States Coins Blue Book 2019 (The Official Blue Book of United States Coins) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0794846491/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_Lkz-BbQFGHZ9R
Blue book will give you an idea of what coin dealers should offer value wise if you want to sell. Red book is closer to what dealers would charge for coins. These are just guides though, and prices can take wild swings, but they should give a decent idea on values, how to guess the grade for ungraded, and some errors to look out for.
Sorry for your loss, but hopefully his collection brings you some happiness.
Also, I am in Fairfax, Va, so if you wanted to talk about coins, or anything really, feel free to hit me up.
Depends on what you're interested in. Some people are really passionate about large cents, others love Morgan dollars, some like wheat pennies. The key is to find your niche. For me, its British coins and Standing Liberty quarters. There's plenty of references, some useful books would be:
The Cherry Picker's Guide Volume I
And Volume II
I don't know where you got that Amazon link but the URL appears to contain an affiliate ID so reddit's spam filter flagged it.
I agree that the Krause catalogs are pretty useful, up to a point. You can find them at the library or buy them new or used on eBay or Amazon. They don't change much from year to year so buying cheaper ones that are a couple of years old is usually fine.
Here's a non-spam link to Krause on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/2014-Standard-Catalog-World-Coins/dp/1440235678/
If you're looking for varieties, there is The Cherrypicker's Guide. If there is a certain series you would like to start in, the Red Book/Bowers Series has some good choices (Peace Dollar, Lincoln Cent, ect). Vamworld.com is a great resource for Morgan and Peace Dollar variates. For pricing trends, get a trial pack to The Grey Sheet
Check out these two sites, they are the #1 and #2 coing "grading" sites. They will help you find a "certified dealer" in your area...throw your zip code into the search and it'll bring back results:
http://www.ngccoin.com/services/dealer-listing.aspx
http://www.pcgs.com/Dealers/Default.aspx?ss=provident%20precious%20metals
After you find a few dealers in the area, google them and/or use the BBB or angies list to find which is the most reputable in your area.
Or if you give us your general location, we might be able to point you in the right direction as well.
After you find a dealer you can think you can trust: bring a small sampling of what you have into for an appraisal. If you have any albums, coins in little cardboard squares or a few handful of coins take a few of each.
Bring it to the dealer and ask for an appraisal and see what they tell you/how they treat you ( I wouldn't say any details about your family member or his larger collection). If they find rare stuff, they will make an offer: tell them you'll think about it and go home and you probably have much more rare stuff in there...
Do some research on eBay "sold" listings to find general market prices on pieces or you can follow-up with us and we can help you out. Some other resources to help you determine what you have:
http://www.coinflation.com/silver_coin_values.html
Purchase a "RedBook":
http://www.amazon.com/Guide-Book-United-States-Coins/dp/0794842151
Go to http://www.coinflation.com/coins/silver_coin_calculator.html they have a calculator that will tell you how the silver is worth. A silver quarter is worth about 3 dollars, a dime is worth about 1.20. All of this is dependent on the spot price of silver. Unless you have a key date coin or an error you'd probably get about melt for them. IMO keep them until the value of silver goes up or keep them for your own collection. You may want to cross post in /r/silver too. If you want to sell there's a subreddit for selling silver as well. Hope this helps. Very neat inheritance.
Also, get a red book https://www.amazon.com/2019-Official-United-States-Coins/dp/0794845711/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1522357135&sr=8-1&keywords=coin+red+book+2019 it'll cost you about 4 silver quarters. It'll show you what are the key dates and a few major errors to look.
As for storage just get some paper coin rollers, you can get them at your local bank for free usually.
this is one of those cases where the more effort you put in, the more money you get out. I'm sure there are plenty of people who would make you an offer just based on what you posted (i would take a gamble). the price would be pretty low and if you sold it, the person would make a lot of profit. what i recommend to everyone in your situation is to build an excel database and document every coin in the collection. From there, buy a "red book" for ~$10. just that alone will protect you quite a bit from unscrupulous dealers. from there, you can take pictures of the more high dollar coins and we all can help you determine a more exact price. the rest, a dealer will offer you a low price for, because there isnt a lot of profit margin.
Glad to help.
Strike it rich with pocket change is also a great book if you're getting into errors and varieties.
https://www.amazon.com/Strike-Rich-Pocket-Change-Error/dp/1440235708/
Is this the book you were talking about? I put it on my Christmas list either way. Definitely looks like it will be helpful. Thanks for the recommendation.
Not really what you have in mind but this is what I might do with it.
~The key dates get really spendy btw~
or you could buy a Red Book (~$10) and flip through it until you see something that is in your price range
People will ALWAYS exploit you for your lack of knowledge in any subject. Educate yourself on coins and their values, the best thing new collectors can do is to buy the red book . It is a price guide of US coins, every coin that the United States has officially made is in there along with montage numbers and it’s value in several different conditions. You don’t have to buy the 2019 you can get one that is a couple of years old for a lot cheaper. Buy it and actually read the beginning, it gives a good run down of American coins and tips on how to get started.
That being said a 56D is one of the most common wheat pennies out there. Unless it has an unusual mint error it should never go for thousands of dollars even in BU condition that’s been graded by the PCGS.
I recommend dropping $13 or so on a US Coins red book. It'll have all the basics on how to grade, mintages, and, of course, a basic guide as to the value of the coin. It also makes for a great read on some coin history.
1931 S is the one most of us covet.
Your best bet is to pony up about $15 and get yourself a Whitmans Red Book. I have several copies and an e version on my mobile for reference if I'm out and about and come across anything.
Oh, and all wheaties are worth more than face value. They average around $0.15 a piece.
If they a packaged US mint products you can pretty easily look up prices on eBay sold auctions.
For everything else you can get one of these: https://www.amazon.com/Official-Guide-Grading-Counterfeit-Detection/dp/0375720502/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1495145544&sr=8-1&keywords=pcgs+grading
or one of these:
https://www.amazon.com/Official-Standards-American-Numismatic-Association/dp/0794838243/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1495145572&sr=8-1&keywords=ana+grading+standards
You can use those books to start evaluating their condition, then you can use eBay or even a Whitman Publishing US Coins Red Book to get relative values.
Collect what you like. There are many ways to do that affordably. It is helpful to have some kind of collection goal to guide and focus you [ex., get an example of every dollar coin from Morgans to moderns, or build a type set of coins minted in 1892, etc.]
The Red Book is a MUST have for any collector, and is especially helpful for new ones. If you don't have one yet, I would invest in one now.
these make it really convenient, and make great gifts for the holidays
The same one /u/sleepyminion has other folks hooked on. It's really great, especially for the price, but I can't get gold to show up in the correct color yet. As you can see in this picture, it looks more like a nickel.
Here's the link to the microscope
It's obvious once you've seen it. I have a Carson 7x loupe. Grab a flashlight and point it at the coin. Look through the loupe. If there are tons of tiny scratches in one direction, it's cleaned. If you rotate the coin and see tons of tiny scratches in the same direction while the coin is rotating, it's cleaned. Basically, if there are any micro scratches in a little cluster, clusters, or on the whole coin, is cleaned.
If you don't have a loupe, I recommend you get one. They're also good for familiarizing yourself with real coins so that you can spot fakes. I'm surprised how easy it's gotten.
I have these and really like them.
Carson LumiLoupe 7X Power Stand Magnifier With Dual Lens (LL-77) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0010PCL5Q
BelOMO 10x Triplet Loupe Folding Magnifier https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EXPWU8S
I've had luck with estate auctions, especially with silver. Other than that, if you don't have a good coin dealer near you, get an up-to-date red book, find the coins you like, and get on eBay. There's a lot of crap on there, but you can find some really good deals too.
Seriously...I would buy a Redbook and Strike it Rich with Pocket Change and start looking at values. The Redbook gives high values for graded and slabbed coins. You can expect a little less, but it will give you a ball park that can be further compared to completed e-bay auctions.
I have a digital microscope I got for Christmas last year that's awesome. This one.
Here are some pictures.
You should get a copy of the Red Book (A Guide Book of United States Coins, by R.S. Yeoman), which has grading standards for VF, EF and other grades for each series of US Coins. A more advanced version is the ANA Grading Guide.
https://www.amazon.com/Official-Standards-American-Numismatic-Association/dp/0794838243
I found this cheap on amazon but does it include modern coins? I didnt really find an answer
A Guide Book of United States Coins 2020 https://www.amazon.com/dp/0794847021/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_oz7VDbXS29WYZ
A while back a user mentioned this one and his pictures where awesome! Not sure about video though.
I've been very happy with this. I'd steer you away from cheaper loupes.
I use a [cheap hundreths scale for things like coins and jewelry] (https://www.amazon.com/American-Weigh-Digital-Scale-sensitivity/dp/B0012LOQUQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1494520671&sr=8-1&keywords=hundreths+scale), so not overly confident.
I did just weigh a normal penny using it and got the correct 2.5g, so I think the coin is most likely a good counterfeit - unless 0.3 grams is within the Mint's "margin of error".
Yea...I got this one about a month ago. http://amzn.to/1R96gCl It ain't bad, but I think I wish I got yours.
photograde as others said, and also take a look at the grading standards book if you want a better description of it https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0794838243
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0794847021/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_image_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
IF you haven't got this yet start with this book. I have just recently started too. yes silver you want 1970 halves and older. quarters are 1964 and older. 1943 and 1944 copper and steel pennies. 1964 dimes and older. Nickels are ...1945 and older ... there may be ones to the 60's as well I really dont know about much other than halves and I really dont a great deal yet.
Buy yourself the official red book
It has tons of useful information and will teach you a lot about US coins and how to collect.
I have mine in pvc safe paper flips and I wrote the date and mint on them and store them in separate binders in these pages https://www.amazon.com/BCW-20-Pocket-Pages-Pocket-Size/dp/B002KDNAU2/ref=asc_df_B002KDNAU2/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=309839945011&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=123389967417149020&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9031592&hvtargid=pla-547645253914&psc=1&tag=&ref=&adgrpid=61059095029&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvadid=309839945011&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=123389967417149020&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9031592&hvtargid=pla-547645253914 l
I highly recommend this book. It really helped me learn the basics.
What do you mean? How is this different from other doubling?
it looks just like the one in this book : http://www.amazon.com/Strike-It-Rich-Pocket-Change/dp/1440235708
and isn't Ken Potter a respected authority on the subject?
I almost exclusively collect foreign coins, and I use the 2x2 cardboard flips for all of them worth displaying. I keep the 2x2s in sheets like these in a big binder. What kind of foreign coins do you have? I imagine that they make ones sized specifically to different currencies, but I just use the US sizes and approximate: for example, a turn of the century Russian 2 kopek coin is a few mm smaller in diameter than a US quarter, so it goes in a quarter-sized flip.
For US coins, I'd recommend the Whitman Red Book.
Amazon has this usb microscope by Celestron that I was looking at for $35. It appears to be one of their top sellers in the category.
By "redbook" coin collectors mean this Guidebook of United States Coins which, strangely, is cheaper in hardback than paperback on Amazon right now.
Get a red book! Here’s a link to it on amazon!
https://www.amazon.com/2019-Official-United-States-Coins/dp/0794845711?keywords=red+book+coins&qid=1538231178&sr=8-1&ref=mp_s_a_1_1
I didn't have the ISBN's handy for all of these it was easier to find Amazon links and a link to Rick Snow's site for the Indian books. These are the books on my bookshelf which aren't the common ones: (Some are hard to find.)
Nah sorry I'm only into silver. If you are looking us coins only pickup one of those coin books like this one.
https://www.amazon.com/2019-Official-United-States-Coins/dp/0794845711
You want a "Cherry Pickers's Guide".
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008S3BUDM/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_i_LS5VDbJ9Y3XKH
Or something similar
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1440235708/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_i_UU5VDbFHRACFW
For those of you not on a mobile device:
http://www.amazon.com/Official-Red-Book-United-States/dp/0794836771
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0794836771/ref=redir_mdp_mobile
Blue Book or Red Book
You can buy a red book if you don't have one already - https://www.amazon.com/Guide-Book-United-States-Coins/dp/0794845061/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1498506416&sr=8-2&keywords=red+book
Start by finding this
Red Book
plastic coin tubes can work. or plastic coin binders
Haven't used them myself but https://www.amazon.com/BCW-Pocket-Album-Binder-Pages/dp/B003GMTTLA/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=2x2+coin+binder+pages&qid=1565286073&s=gateway&sr=8-4
https://www.amazon.com/Plugable-Microscope-Flexible-Observation-Magnification/dp/B00XNYXQHE/ref=mp_s_a_1_1_sspa?keywords=pluggable+microscope&qid=1571013193&sprefix=pluggable+mic&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEzUDQyUEVGUTMwN1ZZJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwNjA1Mjk0M1I1VzRYMFJJMzhJSSZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwNjczMjU2MTZMWkVMTTE4QVNVQiZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX3Bob25lX3NlYXJjaF9hdGYmYWN0aW9uPWNsaWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl
If you can, get one of these and post a magnified image of the S/8 to fully confirm it's not PMD/modified/actually an S.
40 bucks aint bad
You should buy a http://www.amazon.com/Guide-Book-United-States-Coins/dp/0794842151 and check the prices. I dunno why no one has suggested that. It's not about grade at first. If you have a coin that could be worth something. Dig further.
i would say get a bunch of 2x2 holders of varying size and some of these. Im not an expert in coin storage, so maybe this isnt the best way to store them, but it will work
Fake pirate money, I have a bunch of it, http://www.amazon.com/Pirate-Treasure-Coins-Doubloon-Replicas/dp/B001CICTZS/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1411438806&sr=8-2&keywords=pirate+money
I have these and they've been great so far. For weird denominations like 3c, I just used whatever was the closest side. The closer the coin fits, the less it rotates or (obviously) slides around. Just kind of an appealing part of using a properly sized flip. Also, the little clear material is (I believe) Mylar [EDIT, the seller, Hobbymaster USA, says it's polypropylene "which contains no acid, PVC, or Vinyl". Similar to Mylar, but not the same, since Mylar is trademarked"] , which doesn't cause the same issues as just being loose in PVC flips, like verdigris. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0118GQZUS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1#customerReviews
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And I also have these to hold the 2 x 2. No complaints with them either. Check out the reviews on both though, to see if you think they'd suit you. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002KDNAU2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1