Building A Coin Collection

As they say it’s never too late to start a collection. Starting a collection and building it both a time consuming activity as well as heavy on pocket. The cost can be reduced to an extent if one restricts the type of coins that one is interested in collecting. In the article “Coin Collections Themes” I listed of some of the themes one can pursue in Republic India coin collecting. The basic circulation commemorative coins together with the major design of standard coins should be achievable with a budget of around Rs 30,000 to 40,000. On the other hand building a complete series of Proof set and UNC Set would cost around 30 to 40 lacs and would require a huge amount of time.

It’s not just hunting for the coins that would be time consuming in itself, but the storage and cataloguing them would take more time than hunting for the coins itself. If one is not careful about storage, then the coins can quickly become a heap of metal with scrap value.

If you are new to collecting, it is very important to invest in good books or do adequate research on internet or visit coin exhibition. Typically one should at least read couple of books and study the market for nearly a year before beginning serious collecting or putting in large amounts of money.

If you are looking at coins as investments, it’s more difficult than stock markets. If you go by hot tips or buy without research, you can quickly loose money. There are several private individuals who purchased entire lot from dealers based on faith only to realize few years later when they were selling that whatever they bought was worthless piece of junk. Nothing beats the systematic approach of building a good complete collection than restricting to hot tip and buys select few coins at high price.

Read on the article “Buying Coins” to explore the various aspects of building a collection.

And once you get tired of them, you may also want to read "Selling Coins" to understand the issues with it.