Coins are a very popular collectible. Coin collecting can also provide opportunities for travel. People with very valuable coins in their collection often travel around the country giving exhibits and lectures.
The value attached to an item of currency is usually bound up with purchasing power: how much can you buy in exchange for a particular coin? However, numismatists attach values to coins that are very different from what this money might have been able to buy. For example, many valuable coins are ancient coins that would have bought very little at a long vanished marketplace might be worth a small fortune now, due to their rarity.
In many ways, valuable coins are some of the easiest collectibles to maintain. Given the material of which they are made, you will not have to worry too much about any permanent damage being done to your coins. They may tarnish over time, but this can be fixed with polish. Contrast this state of affairs with that of stamps or comic books, where the merest stain or spilled cup of coffee can cause irreparable harm. They are also compact and easily portable, unlike collectibles such as porcelain dolls, which must be carefully packed if ever you plan to take them anywhere.
If you are planning to start collecting valuable coins or expand your current coin collection, knowing people in the museum circuit might help. They can put you in touch with items that have been considered for exhibits, but rejected, or items from exhibits that are about to close.
It also helps to have friends or acquaintances who work in banks. Such people may be able to tell you in advance when a certain coin is going to go out of circulation. You can then set aside a supply of these ordinary (for now) coins, until the day when their value shoots up as a collectors item and considered very valuable coins to have.
Even so, sometimes the best way to find valuable coins is to look through your change. After all, it isn t just the famous coins like Spanish doubloons, Renaissance ducats or pieces of eight that get money. Modern or recently minted coins with rare minting mistakes are also valuable to collectors. That s right—somebody else s unwitting error can earn you hundreds or thousands of dollars. Try learning about these valuable error coins and check your change to see if you might have one of them.
Necessity or inclination often pushes numismatists to make some money from their hobby. Valuable coins can be sold to private collectors or museums. If you have a coin collection, and suspect that some of the items may fetch a good price, do invest in an up to date numismatics book. Some excellent manuals and catalogs have been published over the years, but try to make sure the text you are using has been published recently. The current prices of valuable coins may change over the years, due to inflation/deflation or new discoveries. Furthermore, you might try numismatics websites, as these tend to be updated more often than books.
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