Collecting American coins is an easy and entertaining hobby if you live in the United States. In most denominations there are some really interesting coins.

Pennies

The Lincoln head penny is probably the most collected American coin. They have been minted since 1909. During WWII some Lincoln head pennies were made out of zinc instead of copper. A very few were made of copper in 1943, and these are rare and valuable American coins.

Before the Lincoln penny was minted, pennies had an Indian head on them. Indian head pennies are another rare American coin.

Nickels

From 1883 to 1913, nickels had a picture of the goddess Liberty on them. Interestingly, the 1913 liberty nickel is an extremely rare American coin. Only five copies were made, and a mint employee made them illegally after hours.

The buffalo nickel is the most classic American coin. It has a buffalo on one side and an Indian head on the other.

Since 1938, the nickel has had President Jefferson’s portrait on it. In 2004, the mint started a “Westward Journey” series of nickels to commemorate Lewis and Clark’s journey. They’ve tweaked Jefferson’s portrait and the coins have different historical themes on the reverse side, so the Westward Journey nickels are destined to be collectible coins.

Dimes

Probably the most boring American coin are dimes. The design of dimes hasn’t changed since 1945, the year after President Franklin Delano Roosevelt died. He suffered from polio and supported the March of Dimes. The March of Dimes helps people with birth defects now, but in Roosevelt’s time it also helped children who had polio. To memorialize his support of the March of Dimes, Franklin’s portrait has remained on our dimes since his death. Dimes are a boring coin, but that is a great American coin story.

Quarters

The quarter, our favorite American coin, had the Statue of Liberty on it until 1930. George Washington replaced her. The mint has been releasing the very collectible US State quarters, an American coin series that will be completed in 2008, since 1999.

Half Dollars and Dollars

Half dollars used to be common, and until 1964 they had Ben Franklin on one side and the Liberty Bell on the other. In 1964, President Kennedy’s portrait went on the half dollar. People hoarded them and they became a treasured American coin, both because Kennedy was beloved, and because the 1964 silver dollar was to be the last “real” silver dollar. Because so many people collected the 1964 Kennedy half-dollars, the mint released more of them than any other half dollar. Congress even froze the date, and 1964 half dollars were minted in 1965, too.

The Susan B. Anthony silver dollar is an interesting American coin as silver dollars are rare now. Minted from 1979-1981, it is the only American coin with a woman’s portrait on it.

Coin collecting is one of the best hobbies in the world. Ancient coins add even more interest. There is something wonderful about holding something that was used as currency thousands of years ago.

Coin collecting has been around since the time of ancient Rome. As the years have gone by it’s something that more and more people have been interested in. This is one hobby that will only get larger with time.

If you’re new to coin collecting you might want to decide the category of coin that you’re interested in. It might be Byzantine coins, Roman coins, Greek coins or many others. Think about what piece of history appeals to you the most.

You should definitely get a book on collecting coins. You’ll find a good deal of information and you can use it as a valuation guide. This will tell you a huge amount of information so you can make sure you’re getting the most for your money and other important information.

It is especially important to know what you’re getting when you are dealing with ancient coins. Many of these have been damaged throughout time. Some of them are incredibly valuable even so. Know your stuff and you can find some really great deals on certain auction sites.

There are also coin collecting clubs that you can join. It’s great to find people that have the same hobby as you have. You can also learn a lot from others who have been collecting coins for a while.

Consider your budget and how much you’re willing to put into coin collecting right now. A great way to build your collection is to avoid the coin dealers and go straight to the source! Auction sites like eBay are wonderful places where you can really luck out with the pricing of ancient coins.

One good way to start your collection is to buy coins in bulk lots. These are easy to clean up once you have the right tools. You never know what you might uncover. You might find an incredibly rare and valuable coin that’s worth a lot more than you paid for the whole lot.

Collecting ancient coins is one of the most prestigious hobbies in the world. You will truly own a piece of history. There are very few people who wouldn’t be impressed with that. All you need to do is make sure you know as much about coins as you can before starting your collection.

When trying to identify a certain coin, you must remember that some are easy to do while others may be too far gone for it. In the end it really depends on the condition of the coin.

The most important feature of identifying Roman coins is making sure the inscription is legible. Often parts will be worn off, but as long as the damage is not too bad you should be able to work with it. This is made easier by the fact that the letters in the Roman alphabet are all in use in English today, so you don’t have to worry if you’ve interpreted the character right, because they are all familiar. One potential pitfall here is that certain letters can resemble others. They are not very large and somewhat worn, so you have to make sure you are looking carefully.

It also helps to look at the picture of the ruler on the coin before beginning major research. A lot of times someone who has been doing this for awhile can identify the ruler on a coin simply by recognition. You should remember though that this technique should only be used as a guide and not necessarily as the final decision. For actually making the call on the identification of a coin you’ll need to combine all of its aspects and make a decision.

On a similar note, you should start to learn the styles of different types of coins. Things change over time and you can clearly see a progression by analyzing the dates of different Roman coins. Recognizing these styles on sight will give you a valuable tool as you’ll already have a good idea of where to begin your search.

When you are ready to start the identification process, the easiest place to go is an online database. Wildwinds.com is probably the most versitile one on the web and is very highly recommended. Using their partial inscription search, you should take any of the letters and words that you found and enter them in. This will give you a list of possible matches to your coin. Hopefully you have a small list so that you can quickly look through them and find your match. Often though, many coins have the same inscription so you’ll have to dig through them to find the correct one. A good way to do this is to keep in mind the details of the pictures so that you can quickly browse the list.

When you finally identify your coin it is a rewarding experience. You are no longer holding a random piece of metal, but a coin that represents a period in time and a the reign of an individual. This makes the hobby and the coins themselves infinitely more interesting and significant.

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