Coins Collection

Newbies to coin collecting tend to WASTE a lot of time and money on erroneous and deceptive purchases simply because they have insufficient experience and knowledge. If you don’t want to commit the same mistakes of other newbies like you, here are some tips to help you have extra time and money to make your coin collection as beautiful as any other veteran coin collector’s:

Step 1: Information First before Purchases

Don’t start collecting coins until you’ve gained a considerable amount of knowledge about your prospective hobby. While reading books on coin collecting would certainly help, what will truly aid you best is interaction with old-time coin collectors. These guys have learned from experience and some of the things they’ll share with you probably wouldn’t be found in any coin collecting manual or article.

Step 2: Find a Playmate

There’s nothing better than having someone else to share your hobby with. Friendships with fellow coin collecting enthusiasts will make your hobby twice as fun and meaningful because they understand the value behind each achievement you accomplish.

Step 3: Deciding What to Collecting

Now that your “coin collecting crew” has been completed, all of you are now ready to begin your quest for old and rare coins. Having a theme for your collection will make your hobby more interesting and challenging. You have several options when choosing a theme for your coin collection:

Firstly, you can do what most coin collectors do and collect coins according to their country of origin; seeing the physical differences among coins of various nations can be quite beautiful to observe.

Secondly, you can collect coins according to series, but in order to do this, you must look up for information about different coin series, and check the price range and rarity for each series. That way, you’ll know which series is within your budget.

Thirdly, you can also organize your coins chronologically. You can divide them into different eras such as the Victorian Period and the Medieval Period.

Lastly, you can choose to collect specially made coins - ones that can’t be used as financial instruments but instead have special or commemorative value such as coins given as medals or those used to honor events like the Olympics.

Step 4: Cleaning and Handling Your Coins

Always hold your coins at their edges so that you won’t accidentally leave any indelible print on them.

Although old and financially used coins generally have flawed surfaces already, it’s best to minimize the chances of giving them additional scratches and further reducing their value by placing each coin in a separate casing.

It is only in rare circumstances that coin collectors find it necessary to clean their coins. Don’t attempt this without consulting an expert, and if possible, simply hire a professional cleaner to do the cleaning for you.

If, however, you’re determined to clean your coins by yourself, make sure that you test whatever method you choose to use on a replaceable coin to see if anything untoward happens. Avoid using strong cleaning solutions and tap water when cleaning coins because this may damage the coin’s appearance.

Step 5: Improving Your Coin Collection

The first attempt of most newbies’ is usually not enough to have a “perfect” coin collection; simply put, their collections mostly lack an integral element or two. To improve your coin collection, you can subscribe to a coin collecting magazine or newsletter and receive alerts and notices regarding rare coins on sale. You should join a coin collecting club as well in order to meet other coin collectors and possibly trade some of your goods with them.

Step 6: Organizing a Coin Collecting Party

To cement good ties with coin collectors in the area, you can try organizing a coin collecting party for all of you. Always hold an event like this indoors because a sudden downpour of rain can cause irreparable damage to anyone’s collection. Advise guests not to eat and drink while handling any coins to avoid damaging any coin treasures as well.

Coin collecting is a challenging hobby, albeit expensive, to pursue. The great thing about it though is that it’s inevitable for the coin collector to pick up some nice trivia along the way as his collection starts to grow. Hope you enjoy your newfound hobby!

Lee Dobbins writes for http://antique-coin-collector.info where you can get more coin collecting tips.

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Gold Maple Leafs and Silver Maple Leafs are receiving packaging makeovers, changes clearly mandated by investor disfavor with packaging that the Royal Canadian Mint has used since the coins were introduced. Gold Maple Leafs debuted in 1979, Silver Maple Leafs in 1988. The changes appear to be good moves, which should increase sales of Silver Maple Leafs and help keep Gold Maple Leafs the preferred pure (.9999 fine) gold bullion coins.

Since inception, 1-oz Gold Maple Leafs have been packaged ten to a tube. Because Maple Leafs are 24-karat, pure gold, they are “soft,” relative to alloyed gold coins, such as American Gold Eagles and Krugerrands. Further, because of the design of the coins and the tight-fitting tubes, it is difficult to remove, inspect, and reinsert 1-oz Gold Maple Leafs in their tubes without scratching the coins.

Actually, reinserting Gold Maple Leafs without at least some scratching is nearly impossible. Further, if the persons inspecting the coins do not know how easily the Gold Maple Leafs are damaged, needless damage often occurs while the coins are out their tubes.

Gold Maple Leafs carry the image of Queen Elizabeth II on the front, with a flat, clear field alongside the image. The backs have the outline of a maple leaf, hence the coins’ names. The problem arises from the coins’ really sharp milled (reeded) edges. When the coins are reinserted in their tubes, the milled edges often scratch the fields.

Then there is the problem with investors who like to “heft” their coins “to get a feel of them.” If they put four or five Gold Maple Leafs in the palms of their hands and “clang” them, the damage can be quite severe. Should a Gold Maple Leaf be dropped, rim damage is almost guaranteed.

As Gold Maple Leafs have been sold into the secondary market, damaged coins have become such a problem that Gold Maple Leafs have lost popularity with investors. The problem has become so widespread that many wholesalers bid only “melt” for Gold Maple Leafs, regardless of their condition. By paying only “melt,” wholesalers can profitably resell the coins for industrial or jewelry purposes if no buyers are found for the coins.

Gold Maple Leafs, like the Gold Eagles and the Krugerrands, are bullion coins, which trade for the value of their gold content, plus small premiums. Damaged Gold Maple Leafs do not mean a loss of gold; they contain an ounce of gold regardless of the scratching or rim nicks. Still, buyers do not like to receive damaged coins. This means that Gold Maple Leafs sold into the secondary market have to be evaluated for the degree of damage.

Some wholesalers refuse to take the time to individually inspect Gold Maple Leafs and separate them according to their condition. These are the wholesalers who generally will pay only “melt” for 1-oz Gold Maple Leafs, regardless of condition. Fortunately, the free market being what it is, there are still some wholesalers who will buy according to condition.

Yet the handwriting is on the wall: 1-oz Gold Maple Leafs in tubes will continue to lose popularity and probably will join Krugerrands, Mexican 50 Pesos, and Austrian 100 Coronas as basic bullion coins, which carry the smallest premiums in the bullion coin market. Still, the packaging makeover should fillip sales of new Gold Maple Leafs.

With the new packaging, each 1-oz Gold Maple Leaf will be encapsulated in plastic and suspended in the middle of a plastic card, somewhat as 1-oz gold bars are packaged. However, the plastic protecting the Gold Maple Leafs will be heavier and more durable than the plastic used with 1-oz gold bars. The new packaging should keep the coins from being easily damaged.

With the new packaging, the Royal Canadian Mint made another big change: 1-oz Gold Maple Leafs will now come 25 to a box, whereas the old packaging is ten to a tube. This change could further increase sales as 20 coins are common ordering units for gold bullion coins, because the world’s most popular gold bullion coinsAmerican Gold Eaglescome 20 to a tube. As a result of the change, investors wanting “complete original packaging” will move up to 25 ounces.

However, orders for small quantities mean the coins will have to be removed from their mint boxesbut still individually encapsulatedand put in other containers. The new packaging also will require more storage space for Gold Maple Leafs than for 1-oz gold coins that come in tubes.

Although 1-oz Gold Maple Leafs will be a little more cumbersome to handle, a large segment of the gold coin bullion market prefers pure gold coins. Gold Maple Leafs have long been the most popular 1-oz pure (.9999 fine or 24-karat) gold bullion coins on the market, and the new packaging should keep Gold Maple Leafs as the preferred 24-karat gold bullion coins. (The market for pure gold bullion coins is estimated to $2.4 billion annually.) The new packaging is expected to debut sometime in August.

New packaging for 1-oz Silver Maple Leafs has already been introduced. However, Silver Maple Leafs in their old packaging are still available. Since Silver Maple Leafs were introduced in 1988, they have been packaged twenty coins to a sheet, 200 coins in a box. Each coin was individually enclosed in plastic. The new packaging will be similar to the U.S. Mint’s Silver Eagles packaging.

Silver Maple Leafs will now come 20 to a tube, 25 tubes to a container, and 500 coins to a “mint box.” The new box will be made of durable heavy plastic, whereas the boxes of 200 are cardboard. The new packaging should make Silver Maple Leafs more competitive with American Silver Eagles, presently the most popular 1-oz modern silver bullion coins being sold.

Bill Haynes heads CMI Gold & Silver Inc, one of America’s oldest precious metals dealers. See CMIGS’ website at http://www.cmi-gold-silver.com

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With the numerous investment opportunities available in the world today, some of the most basic investments are often overlooked. Take for example the often-ignored art of investing in collectable metals such as rare coins, silver bars, and other precious metals. Literally practiced for centuries around the world, many investors are now beginning to see the advantages of investing their money in physical objects to complement the investments that they might make in the stock market or other investment fronts.

If you’ve ever considered investing in coins and precious metals or if you’d just like to learn more about this alternative to stock investment, then the information below should get you well on your way to making your first coin and precious metal investments.

Why Invest in Coins?

Coins are one of the oldest forms of currency, and some of the most lasting reminders of eras gone by. Some coins from ancient days are made of gold, silver, copper, or even clay, and can be easily identified by the pictures used by those who minted the coin as to when and where the coin was made.

Putting money into collectable coins can be a practical way to invest, since many of the coins that serious collectors purchase are quite rare and often are made of high-value materials which only increase their value. As no additional coins from the era of those you purchase are being minted and they become increasingly harder to find as years go by, the value of many coins continues to rise among private collectors. Complete sets of coins tend to bring more as a group than the individual coins that the set is made of, though some coins of exceptional rarity may surpass even that price.

The Practical Approach to Metal Investment

In addition to coins, many investors prefer to purchase precious metals such as gold or silver to add some security to their investment plan. Even when stocks and bonds fall in value, there will always be a market for certain metals especially those that can be used in jewelry and have been used as a basis for various economies.

Of course, just because something has value doesn’t mean that you should use all of your investment money to buy it. When buying precious metals, you should always temper your investment with other forms of investment. This helps to protect you against theft, since there are no easily traceable methods of finding stolen gold or silver bars and coins.

One of the better ways to supplement these purchases is by investing in the index market, especially in the precious metals that are represented there. That way you can keep track of the value of the metals that you physically own, and reap an additional benefit from owning shares of the metal index as well.

Using Coins and Metals to Supplement Investments

Coins and precious metals can be used as a wonderful supplement to traditional investments, giving you something physical that can be relied upon in addition to the stocks and bonds that you might own. You might choose to invest in indexes as suggested above, or you might choose to use index investment as only a portion of a well-diversified investment portfolio.

Regardless of which you choose, dividing your money and applying some of it toward physical investments such as coins and metals can help to protect your investment money from losses while reaping you the greatest benefit.

John Mussi is the founder of Direct Online Loans who help homeowners find the best available loans via the http://www.directonlineloans.co.uk website.

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