Nicholas Tan asked:


If you are a coin collector who wants to sell or buy coins, one good way to do it is through coin auctions or bidding.

Coin auctions provide the best ways to obtain coins that have remarkable values. Coin auctions are the primary source of rare coins because most rare coin collectors want to sell their treasures to the highest bidder.

Unlike the typical way of selling and buying coins, coin auctions entail some rules and regulations for both the bidder and the seller that they must adhere to.

Basically, there are three types of coin collecting auctions. These are:

1. Auctions through mail bidding

In this type of coin auction, the seller will advertise and publish coin auctions through the mail. This is highly beneficial for people who want to participate in the activity but cannot attend the event personally.

Usually, the seller has a mailing list available and it is used to send catalogs that contain the descriptions and pictures of the item(s) to be sold. At times it may contain the starting bid amount and other pertinent information.

The seller’s mailing list, the catalogs, or brochures are sent out to the potential bidders. These lists may also be sent to those who have purchased from them in the past.

2. Phone auctions

These auctions are conducted by phone. Just like the mail bidding, phone auctions must observe the rules and regulations that are to be followed.

Once the highest bid is identified, the item goes to the winner. However, there are some instances when people may ask the seller for an approximate selling price but the rules still remain the same, no disclosure of previous bids.

3. Online coin auctions

This type of auction is popular because when bidding on a particular coin the bidder is able to see what the coin looks like. Greater interaction between the seller and the buyer may also be achieved as the seller can instantly contact the bidder for important information.

The only drawback to this kind of coin auction is that through the Internet, others can deceive a coin collector into believing that what they see on the screen is exactly the same item that they are bidding on.

All of these things can provide you with the best ways of obtaining the best coins available on the market. Just try to stick to your bidding budget.

Muna wa Wanjiru asked:


There are a great many things you can do wrong in the caring for coins, and I have to say that at the tender age of eight I did just about everything wrong that you can imagine. Luckily for me I didn’t have any old or rare coins in my possession otherwise for certain they would have been ruined beyond all hope!

However, I did learn a lot of what-not-to-do’s from my early forays, as well as a few good tips on caring for coins to conserve my coin collection. All of these experiences, came through my own, or my fellow coin collectors’ efforts and have all proven to be equally disastrous and equally worthy.

If you’re only into coin collecting for the fun of it and don’t have any particularly rare coins, then go ahead and break all the rules about caring for coins.

Rules were meant to be broken and if you’re an avid coin collector it can be a breath of fresh air in your life. I know from firsthand experience how frustrating it can get if you have to always be handling your coins with kid gloves, so to speak.

For me at least part of the pleasure of coin collecting is getting my hands on the coins and running it through my hands. Which you’ll find when caring for coins, is a no-no to most coin collectors.

However, I’m only alive once and if I can’t enjoy the fruits of my efforts in a manner that I like then what’s the use? So know when to break the rules and when you should really stick to them in caring for coins.

Nicholas Tan asked:


A special machine does the stamping of coins to make them genuine. People who counterfeit coins are well trained and have the capacity to manipulate their duplication - especially those rare coins which have high value among collectors. The most common procedure used in counterfeiting is that they pour a liquid metal into molds that will leave die marks with cracking on the counterfeit coin.

Those who are experts in determining counterfeit coins have observed that the changes seen in the coins have added, removed, or even altered the coin’s date markings. If a person thinks that he is in possession of a counterfeit collectible coin, he can compare it with another coin – one like the suspect coin – which is known be genuine and have the same markings.

If the coin’s value is more than 5 cents, look for corrugations in the outer edges of the coin. These are very thin railings (also know as “reeding”) on the edges of the coins. Genuine coins have very thin edges and the railings are even and distinct if one is very observant. Those coins that are counterfeit can be distinguished if the edges are not thin enough and the railing is uneven or missing in some areas.

Should there be an instance when a person perceives that he has received a counterfeit coin, he must not return the counterfeit coin to the person that handed him. He must try to delay the person – should he try to escape – or try to keep that person in sight and follow him to his destination if possible. It is important to remember the person’s clothes and physical appearance and if the person has any companion during the exchange: if they have a vehicle, get the car’s license plate number and immediately call the nearest police department or the United States Secret Service for help.

There are many things that can be considered to determine whether the coin is counterfeit or not. There are terms that are used to describe a counterfeit coin’s characteristics and they are as follows:

1. A restrike of a coin can be considered to be genuinely authenticated. These coins are actually dated earlier than those originally issued by the country that released them but have the same or exact features as the original coins.

2. Coins of a specific country in the ancient times are sometimes copied by another country. A person may think that it is forgery, but it is not because they had been legally approved in the country where they originated.

3. Forgery can be associated with the making of an illegal profit. It would be the main objective of the counterfeiting syndicate. The government sometimes uses forgery for political propaganda, as in the Second World War when Germans produced millions of American and British banknotes with the intention of profiting from them and destabilizing their enemy’s economic situation.

4. Another known type of counterfeit coins is replica coins. Replica simply means that the original coins are copied with the same features and markings. The usual counterfeit coins have differences that are noticeable when examined by coin experts. Some coins have the word “copy” intentionally put on the sides of the coins and these replicas are used for educational purposes and museum displays.

5. A Lebanese connection is said to have a huge production of counterfeit coins. These coins were found to be used in an attempt to fool many museums, collectors, business leaders and other countries that are searching for their ancient lost coins before the discovery of this syndicate.

6. The collector intended forgery and the circulated intended forgery are types of forgeries where the coins are intended to be tokens yet the face values are accepted, despite of their illegality and irrelevant intrusive values.

It is important to consult an expert to determine if the coin is counterfeit or fake. An ordinary person can easily detect if the wrong metal was used for the counterfeiting. If the person is a collector of such items, he should be more aware of these coins. A collector needs to be more concerned with the collectible rare coins because this is where counterfeiters benefit frequently - their aim is to profit from the exclusive market for valuable coins.

Cindy Heller asked:


According to history, Egyptian King Farouk and Roman emperors were among the first coin collectors. They collected a large number of coins in their palaces and castles. Over the years, the concept of coin collecting has changed and common people have become coin collectors. In fact, the competition between these collectors is quite fierce and this makes the price of rare coins always increase. A single coin can hundreds of thousand and even millions of dollar, which shows that coin collectors will do anything necessary to get the coin that they want.

Coin collecting themes

Some coin collectors are generalists, which mean that they collect bits of everything, but others are very specific and this creates coin collecting themes. The country theme is one of the common ones. The purpose of this theme usually is to collect coins from as many countries as possible. Traveling has become easier nowadays and thus it is easier to collect coins from different countries. Internet and online friend network can also be used to get foreign coins.

A year theme is fairly common as well where coin collectors used the year when the coin was minted as the basis of their collection theme. A variation of this theme is to collect a coin denomination from the first to the last model. When collectors complete all models from a coin denomination, they will continue with other denominations. This theme is closely related with period theme where the basis of the collection is the period when the coin was minted. Common period collections are collecting coins from Victorian era and Greek period.

Prior to the 19th century, coins were hand minted and it was pretty common for coins to have errors. Today, these errors have become one of coin collecting themes as well. Another coin collection theme is mintmark differences between coins. Mintmarks that are rare and difficult to produce will have higher value than the common ones.

Subject, for example like a figure of animals on the coin, can become a coin collecting theme as well. Composition or the type of metals that a coin was made from is another common theme. You will find that it is common for a coin to have two or even three metals combined.

Whatever the theme is, many coin collectors like to compete between each other because they want to outdo their compatriots. They brag when they have completed a rare set of coins that is available nowhere. This situation has made coin collecting a fascinating and an expensive hobby.

Peter Gitundu asked:


An auction is where people go to buy rare and expensive collectibles such as antiques. But now there are some coin auctions where you as a collector can go and bid, in fact out bid the next guy so that you end up with the coin you want.

Coin auctions are also a good place to go and see other collectors who during the auction are actually your competitors. You will also get to know what coins are out there. However these kinds of auctions are for the enthusiastic coin collectors who are qualified to know original rare coins from the counterfeit ones. If you are a first time coin collector at the auctions it would be wise to go with someone who already knows what happens as well as knows how much the coins are worth.

Rare coins are hard to find and the best place to get this kind of coins will be at an auction. You must be prepared to out bid your competitor who is probably good at bidding. Many of the coin collectors you will find there have probably been doing this kind of coin bidding for a long while, so you best get to know their tricks. Some of the other bidders at the coin auctions will probably be the kind who owns the merchandise or have a vested interest in the money they will get from the coin. This kind of bidders will probably try their best to get the coin to go for more its worth or try and make a profit for more than they got it for.

Gareth Bray asked:


People are desperately looking for investment opportunities as it is foreseen nowadays to be a lucrative means to earn some decent extra income. Like anyone else, we are very keen yet cautious in determining which investment opportunity to consider. It is hard-earned money hence we don’t want it to go to vain.

But don’t waste your time anymore. Collecting numismatic rare coins is now valued as one of the best means to investment. It is forecasted that the worth of these numismatic rare coins will exponentially double in the next coming years.

In fact, it presents a greater chance to be richer in a shorter length of time. This is specifically applicable to people who are collecting numismatic rare coins. These valuable coins are more likely to double or triple its market price in the next few years. They already discovered the feasible way to do it. The great deal about starting off this investment is its availability. At the moment, there are few people who are into this kind of collection. Also, the prices, which have been almost the same for the past five years, for these rare collections of coins are still reasonable.

As this kind of investment is not yet saturated, there is very high availability of these rare collections. There is easy access and availability for whoever wishes to buy it.

But what exact is numismatic rare coins? These are actually old coins where are generally made of gold or silver. It is not becoming prominent among the experienced investors as they consider it as a balancing stock portfolio. It implies that investing to such rare collections; the investors are actually reducing the risk in the investment market while expecting substantial return of investment in the next few years.

In fact many financial analysts recommend depositing their discretionary funds to these rare coins and other related precious metals. The advisable percentage of the discretionary funds is at least 10 to 20 percent. Apart from that, the current market price for some rare coins which are made of silver and gold in 1970’s at a minimal production cost of 1,000 only has now escalated to 58,000. This illustration which was depicted by the Coin Universe in the recent market analysis is a persuading fact on how numismatic rare coins are really considered as valuable assets to financial investors.

It is a wide option to prefer an investment in these rare collections of coins as its value escalates whereas the value of the investments made to treasury bills, stock markets and bonds are easy to lose or depreciate. These type of investments are unstable which has probability of losing it in just seconds and days.

Most of the rare coins are made of gold, silver and platinum; hence, you can assure that indeed its market value is escalating. You have also a slim chance of fluctuating value as this coin investment is not directly affected with external factors such as inflation. It is indeed more stable than stock markets and treasury bills.