Truly Inspiring Collections

Most often the novice collector will start because of a certain interest in a particular series. That interest may have been sparked by that shiny new half dollar that your Grandparents gave you from time to time or possibly by that odd-looking foreign coin you received in change or by that quarter you happened to get in change that has your state on it.

There are countless reasons why we all started collecting coins, currency, medals or some type of numismatic related objects. One of the typical and basic ways to collect coins is to collect by series. This is probably true for the new collectors today who are acquiring the statehood quarters as they become available. In time, that collector may acquire a fascination for some other series of coins, such as the Jefferson Nickel that is now being produced with the peace medal reverse.

One of the basic ways to collect a series is to save a coin by date and mint mark, usually in a purchased coin board or album produced for that particular series. So now that you have completed that series or are close to completing a series you have hopefully realized that there was a certain enjoyment and thrill each time you found a new coin for that blank spot in your album. And with that realization you’ll start to think of what else is there to collect.

So what is there to collect? The count is endless. The way to go about making a truly inspiring collection that you’ll be proud of is to personalize your interests. Let me explain some ideas here. My son has a nice collection of the Washington Quarters, displayed in Dansco premium albums. Now he has done something that I thought was interesting. He would clip articles from the newspaper that pertained to Washington quarters and the current statehood quarters and encase the articles in document protectors and tailor fit that to size so he could add that as a page in the album in between each coin page. So now when you look at the album it seems so much more interesting to have something to read along with the looking at the various coins.

Another way to is to start a collection of all the different type coins that have been made for a country or collect all the bronze coins or certain denomination coins of several countries. Like I said, the ways seem endless. As you spend time collecting and reading about whatever you are collecting you realize that there are rarities, oddities and varieties of coins for just about any given series. I have seen all different types of collections some were based on themes, for example one guy I knew collected coins with Eagles on them from all the various countries around the world. Of course they do not make a special album for that, so he displayed them in a 3-ring binder with pages that are made to hold 2x2 flips. Another person had assembled a collection of numerous series in the different stages or conditions of common wear. So as you can see with just these few examples, the different ways to build a truly inspiring collection are left to your imagination and creativity.

Written by Gary Stuve

Originally posted on Yahoo’s USA Coin Group (posted here with permission from Gary, edited for clarity)