Coin Collecting 101

August 7, 2009

coins Coin collecting is an industry that has grown to encompass billions of dollars in sales. The earliest hobby of coin collecting is capable of being traced as far back as 1300 AD, which is when an Italian scholar known by the name of Fracesco Petrarca began to save coins and realized that his hobby collecting coins was growing in value. Collecting coins differs from the concept of numismatics in that numismatics specifically focuses on the study of currency like coins, monetary objects and notes, while coin collecting focuses on collecting those types of money for fun as well as profit.

People who make hobbies out of collecting coins tend to specialize in different specific types of collections. This is often determined by their financial resources and whatever they can invest, as well as the ease of availability for the type of coins. Collections can vary significantly including coin collections that focus on specific countries, coin collections that focus on certain eras and so on.

Coin collections focusing on a certain country are the most common type of coin collection because accumulating coins from a single country is generally a lot easier and more straight forward.
Coin collections that focus on a certain era in history may include Russian Revolutionary coins, United States Colonial coins and so on.
There are other obscure types of coin collections including collecting exonumia or error coins that are created improperly as a result die errors, designs that are uneven and double strikes, as these coins are generally in a high amount of demand. Another specialized form of coin collection is to focus on coins that come from one specialized civilization such as Roman coins, Aryan coins, Celtic coins or coins from the Goth era.

People who are interested in collecting coins can find hundreds of different coin collecting groups and clubs around the United States and around the world. Here, people who are serious about coin collecting gather so that they can discuss trends in coin collecting as well as numismatics. In the United States, a good option worth checking out is the American Numismatic Association which has a constantly growing roster of collectors that are all over the country. This organization was founded in 1891 and highly encourages the research and the collection of a myriad of different types of coins and currencies.

The American Numismatic association brings out a magazine every month that is known as the Numismatist. This is a virtual treasure trove of information for any collector, regardless of whether they are new to the art of have been collecting for years. If you are interested in collecting coins, it would be wise to check out the publication offered by this group of coin collectors, as it is a great place to jump start your understanding of the subject.

Photo Credits: Roger Smith

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