Advice to the novice collector...

[coppercoins]

As I embark into retirement from the active coin market, I look back upon nearly four decades of learning, researching, writing, and teaching, and pull out some of the most poignant details I have learned through the journey and share them here for you. Read this piece of advice and remember what I say here, and it may save you volumes of effort and mistake that could lead you into leaving the scene early due to loss of interest or realization of lack of finances to complete your journey.
Each of my points will be shared in its own post to ensure clarity and a complete break from one subject to another, because they are not necessarily inter-related and they definitely have little precedence one over the other. They are all equal of importance and share with one another very important aspects of keeping your collection safeguarded, guided, and organized.

[coppercoins]

1. Focus – one of the most important things to understand as you leave the ‘candy store’ phase of collecting where you try doing everything at once like a puppy trying to enjoy an entire day inside of five minutes is that you will buy things you later do not want, you will make mistakes, and you will have some modest level of regret over at least one purchase or sale. This is normal.

The best way to handle yourself in this stage is to buy small, buy what you like, and pay close attention to what you are buying. Learn where your interests are in ‘poking’ yourself into small things that get you started, then deciding as early as possible whether they are areas you would like to pursue, understanding what defines a ‘set’ and whether it is in your means to collect that set. If it is not for you, STOP buying them just because you have a few and you think a few more couldn’t hurt. Get rid of the ones you’ve bought (even if at a loss) and put the remaining funds toward your education in what you do decide to pursue.

Learn to specialize, because there is no way you are going to complete a master set of everything issued. I specialized in Lincoln cents for nearly four decades, and my most complete set is still 40% undone. Without focused specialization there would be no way I could have made it as far as I have.

Once you have found your area of specialty, DO NOT deviate from that specialty prior to completing that set or losing interest in it.

[coppercoins]

2. Organize your collection early, and stick with it. A collection unorganized is called a ‘hoard’. It has no direction, no purpose, and as a result, far less resale value than an organized group of the same items. Catalog what you buy in some simple way to keep you informed that you are in-budget, on track, and that you know what you spent for each piece so if the time comes to upgrade or move on, you will have some idea of what you put into them so you can try to get that back out of them.


Organization includes storage methods, how to handle duplicates or upgraded pieces, and how to catalog and inventory what you have. None of these three parts can be skipped and still call what you have an organized collection.

It is NOT necessary to use someone else’s system to catalog what you have. As long as YOU understand it and have all the pertinent information about your collection available to you at all times, you’ve done your job.

[coppercoins]

3. Safeguarding your collection involves mainly choosing the method of storing your coins that will keep them safe from fire, safe from theft, and safe from the materials in which they are stored.

A decent fire box is a good way to start, but if you begin stepping into the area of having more than a comfortable loss amount of higher dollar pieces, consider renting a safe deposit box at your bank or credit union to store the better pieces. They are far better than the best safes you could have at home, and they are far cheaper.

Some very common steps toward keeping your collection safe from theft include not letting everyone on the street know you collect coins. Keep your story under your vest and most people won’t even know you have them. Keep the more important coins in a closet behind other lesser important items (not coins), then keep a ‘decoy’ group of low value garbage and junk coins in a place where thieves are most likely to look for valuables. When they steal your decoy junk and leave behind your nice collection, you’ll thank yourself for performing this step. One of my methods is to have so much crap in coins nobody but an expert would know where to begin looking for the valuables. If I have bags and boxes of sluff sitting around, people are less likely to pay attention to the one of 20 double row boxes that is not marked and contains the best coins I have at home. Be smart, and out think the thieves. Give them something to steal and they will. Do well with disguising what you want them to leave behind, and most likely they will.

The most important part to safeguarding your collection is to store it in supplies that will not ruin the coins. It does no good to have nice coins stored in a method that will ruin them. Storing coins in PVC containers in a hot attic will ruin any collection. Be smart, do your homework, and know what you are doing with supplies before you buy.

[coppercoins]

4. Don’t go at it alone. There are a plethora of books, magazines, websites, and forums that will help you with your journey. Be patient, spend a lot of time researching what you are doing, and in the end you will be handsomely rewarded with a nice collection you understand and that didn’t cost too much to assemble.

A word of caution: Consider the source when you do your research. Trust message boards the least when reading about ‘facts’ and coins. It might seem a bit odd that I type this on a message board and say to trust it the least, but this much is fact – you don’t have to own a domain name, be an author, or be a dealer to post advice on a message board, and very often the advice you see on message boards is worth exactly what you’re paying for it…very little.

Trust websites only a little more than you trust message boards. At least then the advice you read had to go through some sort of planning and editing before it was published for the whole world to see. Often there are flaws and even bad advice out there on websites because they are inexpensive and easy to publish – so beware.

Magazines are the next best source of information for collectors. At least magazine articles are written by good sources and have to go through a few different sets of eyes before the expensive process of publishing them happens. Magazine websites are one source of internet information that can be trusted just as much as the magazine companies that publish them because they are generally ‘online’ editions of the same stories by the same authors and editors who published the paper edition.

Books are generally the most reliable source of specialized information, especially for those who collect specific genres of numismatics or choose to specialize in one series. The authors usually know far more about their area of specialty than the columnists in magazines, and almost always know more about the subject than most internet sites and message board posters.

[coppercoins]

5. Enjoy what you do or stop doing it. Coin collecting is a hobby. It should be fun. If it is not fun to you, you are working at it too hard, or you are trying to turn it into a business and probably shouldn’t be. Dealing in coins is not for everyone, and having a few hundred extra coins laying around does not qualify you to be a dealer. It qualifies you to be either an indecisive collector who needs to bundle and rid themselves of some extras, or a hoarder with a problem outside the scope of this advice that needs to be addressed.

Dealers – especially specialist dealers – understand intricacies of the market and business in coins that most collectors don’t know or understand. It generally takes a level of knowledge above that of even the intermediate collector to be able to successfully deal in coins without making stupid purchases that will ruin the business, or without selling misrepresented coins to unsuspecting fellow beginners that can end up driving real dealers’ business away from the hobby. Unless you understand what you are doing in dealing coins, stay OUT of it and continue to enjoy coins as a hobby.

[coppercoins]

6. Collect what has value if you expect to have value in the end. Of course everyone is going to collect what they like. I am not trying to discourage you from collecting used cigarette butts if that’s your thing, but don’t expect the rest of the world to follow you.

It takes a number of different things for coins to have value. Part of that is scarcity. Another part is desirability – a market. There is little scarcity or desirability in die cracks, for example. They are exceedingly common and are largely ignored by all guides, books, and internet sites. This is a sign – they have no value. If you like them, collect away, but prepare your heirs for their bad news that their benefactor has enjoyed a hobby with only cash value. Don’t leave a pile behind that your heirs are going to see as a lottery winning only to be told by an experienced collector or dealer that the whole lot is worth its face value. It is irresponsible and unfair to everyone involved, especially the collector or dealer who has to break the news to your heirs that you should have told them in the first place.

If you want a collection that has value, collect what the experts say has value. Be patient, because most of the coins that have value are scarcer than the number of collectors who want them. You will NOT find valuable coins in your pocket change often. This is what makes them valuable!

[coppercoins]

What I have learned in nearly 40 years of collecting:

1. Good coins are hard to find. Don't expect to get one in your change - ever.
2. An ounce of research is worth its weight in gold when it comes to your reputation here. Nobody wants to see you not learn, but nobody wants to have to teach you the same thing two dozen times. Pay attention!
3. Coin collecting is NOT for everyone. Some people just cannot get it, and that's okay. There are other hobbies.
4. Just because a coin looks dirty to you gives you NO right to polish it up and make it ugly to everyone else.
5. You are the curator of a piece of history. Treat your collection with respect or give it to someone who will.
6. A question is a wonderful thing. Even dumb questions are fine. Repetitively asking the same question hoping to get different answers is a good sign of insanity. Message boards are a bad place for insane people.
7. Ask your questions and BE PATIENT. That I know of, there still aren't any full time jobs where people hang around at message boards waiting for your dumb questions. People answer them for free - show some respect with patience.
8. Nobody knows everything there is to know about any subject. If you know it, answer it. If you don't, shut your mouth and be quiet so those who do know can have the floor and clear up the matter quickly with a clear, concise answer.
9. Valuable coins are scarce, and they become more scarce with each passing day. If you find one, preserve it forever.
10. Slabs do NOT make coins more valuable. They add a level of protection and professionalism to your collection - and that's valuable.
11. Trust what you read on the internet only after you've read it in three places from three different people - including this thread. I don't expect to be trusted any more than the next gas filled balloon.

[coppercoins]

And with that I bid the numismatic community a fond farewell. I have been considering for days how I would make my exit, and I think this is the best way to do it. I believe I have found my buyer, I have talked to those most important in my life about my decision to leave, and all is well in my world.

Don't expect anything out of me in the future with regard to coins, but don't be surprised if some day you see a new book or a new coppercoins website. Those things are not in my future plans at present, but things change often, and the worst thing to say in writing is "never" because then its' easier to be proven wrong when something does change. All I am going to say is that if it does happen, it will be done in my best possible way in my best quality with collectors in mind, and my own mind clear of other priorities.

I may return here from time to time over the next few days to see what happens with this thread, and I may or may not post anything further. I may also return from time to time and pop my head in to say hello. But as for me and the title of "professional numismatist" - it's being moth balled at the end of this post, and may never resurface.

So, signing off one last time - have fun collecting! I'm Chuck Daughtrey. Good night!

[flyhi3]

This needs to be a sticky IMO...... EXCELLENT info Chuck