Coin collections grow easily, one coin at a time, until one day we look up, and see a Dragon loosed from its cave. A dragon is hard to tame, but it can be done.
Today on Pendant and Ring, we discuss how to tame the Fire-breathing Coin Collection in five steps.
How to sort your coin collection.
In pursuit of the perfect toning, details, or error, coin collectors can amass numerous copies of the same coin. One way to tame your coin collection is to limit how many copies of any coin you can have. For example, I have a self-imposed US penny limit:
I keep no more than one penny per Mint per year.
That means I search for, find, and collect four US pennies a year. This limit is specific and actionable. If I have a roll of pennies with only one of my allowable pennies, then I sell or cash in the rest. I do not keep those other pennies hanging out in a jar to feed the dragon.
These kinds of self-imposed limits look different to each collector. For example, Charles has a quality threshold limit. When he gets a coin, he sorts it into one of two broad categories: keep and sell. The fineness, rarity, or other coin-specific qualities dictate if it is a keep or sell coin. If he wants to keep a coin but already has that one in his collection, he trades out the less-than-coin for the new treasure.
Maintaining the one-in/one-out limit helps Charles keep his coin collection in check.
If you have fifteen 1964 JFK Half Dollars in your coin collection, a limit can help you sort those silver dollars. You can sort out and let go of 13 of those coins and still have an example of a 1964 JFK Half Dollar from both mints that produced the 90% silver coin that year.
If you bought a 1921 Peace Dollar from the Philadelphia Mint, but when it arrives, it is not as good as the one you already have in your collection – take it to your local coin guy or list it for sale.
Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today. ~ Benjamin Franklin
Make sorting and selling part of the joy of collecting. It feels good to find the treasure, to get it, and to collect it. It also feels good to share the joy of coin collecting by sending treasure in the mail.
How to create new coin collectors.
When you have your collection sorted and know what you can let go of, take action. You can encourage the love of coins by putting some of your treasures back into circulation.
To recruit new collectors, we take Buffalo nickels, Indian head pennies, and Mercury dimes to local high school football games. We use them to pay for concessions, buy band booster fundraising items, and sometimes drop a few in the busy spaces during halftime or place them conspicuously on bolsters, on bleachers, or on flat handrails. Kids are curious, and old money is a great treasure to find.
How to sell coins.
You can take your coins to your local coin guy. Before you go, do some research to determine your coin values. Keep in mind the coin guy has to make money to stay in business and cannot offer you top-dollar for your coins.
Sort your coins into flips or holders for transport. If you have a lot of coins, call ahead and see if you need to make an appointment. If you have a small number of coins, drop by anytime, your local coin guy will be happy to see you.
If you would rather sell your coins online, subscribe to Pendant and Ring for our very first Pendant & Ring Subscribers Only article: How to sell coins online.
How to organize your personal coin collection.
Now that the dragon is a more manageable size, it is time to make friends.
Protect your coins from damage. There are many ways to keep coins safe; we like acrylic holders.
If you want to display your coin collection, we have you covered with this how-to article: How to display your coin collection.
We made free Pendant and Ring Coin Collection organization sheets that you can keep online or print out to help keep track of what is in your collection.
This article details How To Maximize Your Coin Collection for investment purposes.
In brief, keep your collection safe and organized in a way that is comfortable for you. If you enjoy the method of organization, then you are more likely to keep using it. You can sort coins by country, year, value, or any system that makes your heart sing – so long as you can explain it to someone else in 250 words or less! If you cannot explain your organization system briefly, it is too complicated to keep up with.
We want to leave a pleasurable experience for whoever inherits our collection one day. We do not want to leave a big mess.
How to preserve your coin collection.
In addition to storage solutions, protecting your collection can preserve its value in case of accidental damage. If you have a valuable collection, get it insured. To begin the insurance journey, sort, organize, catalog, and photograph your tamed collection – then contact your insurance agent. You can read How to Insure Your Coin Collection for helpful details. Unwieldy coin collections are difficult to manage. Organized coin collections are easy to manage.
Follow these steps to tame the Fire Breathing Dragon and Streamline your Coin Collection.
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