A coin is simply a piece of metal that is produced by a government and provided value by that government. In the past, many years ago people used to give coins many different purposes that we would never think of today! These purposes helped provide people with the tools to stay alive, show off their wealth, or save money SpoonsOne of my favorite examples of purposes that people used to give to coins, is that of spoons. In the 1800s, it was a very common practice to make spoons with coins embedded in the handle, where oftentimes there is a lot of craftsmanship in the pieces that were made. Although they did not provide many purposes, they did help people show off their wealth, while still having money in case they came across hard times. Towards the end of that century, it was a very common practice to do this for saviors, where many people liked to have coins from different countries in their spoons.Whats even more interesting, is that people used to use larger, lower denomination coins to make the "bowl" portion of a spoon, instead of getting the metal from elsewhere. This helped people live their lives, and be successful while saving money. Love TokensAnother very interesting thing that people used to make frequently with coins, were love tokens. These tokens were made to show ones affection towards another, where they display a personal part of someone's life from so long ago and are oftentimes very beautiful and enjoyable to own. People would make these pieces by wearing down one side of a coin until it was smooth, then they engraved a design by hand which signifies the person that they are trying to hand the coin too, so they can display their affection. Some of my favorite examples are those where they layered the piece in gold if they could not afford to make one out of a gold coin, which is definitely very interesting. Gears
AdvertisingOne very interesting purpose that people gave to coins a long time ago, was advertising. There are thousands of different coins, where companies would create a "counter stamp" on coins to grow their business. What companies would do, is they would get a hot piece of metal, and "stamp" the name of their company on the coin at hand. Since coins, at the time were considered to be valuable due to their metal content, and they had a larger purchasing power, they proved to be great advertising tools for many people! Interestingly, now and days the company can be researched, to understand even more history about the coin at hand, and the purpose it may have served. A Pie CutterAnother interesting item that people would often times make out of coins, was pie cutters. What they would do, is they would get a large cent and cut small triangles through the entire rim of the large cent, and attach it to a handle to some sort of a handle, and use it to cut pie crusts. JewelryFor hundreds of years, coins have been a critical part of many pieces of jewelry! This was a great way for people to display their wealth in the pact while proving a purpose for coins that they had if they had more than they wanted to spend. They also make amazing pieces of already made art to be made into jewelry, which is admired by coin collectors and jewelry enthusiasts the like. People still do this with coins, where it is more common than ever where entire bracelets and necklaces have been made from them! Modern ExamplesNow and days, so many people have more coins than they know what to do with. One very interesting thing that people have been doing with pennies, is they have actually been using them, along with epoxy to cover floors and tables to make an awesome design that will last! Amazingly, many people are also using coins to make pieces of art, which are definitely interesting to look at, where there is definitely more of a focus on grouping coins in specific ways as opposed to modifying them. There are also many people that take coins, and make them into rings, which are filled with craftsmanship. It is truly amazing what people used to make out of coins, as they oftentimes served more purposes than their original intention. Peoples resourcefulness, along with coins that they had on hand helped bring America to the point where it is today and adds an added level of character to old coins in modern times. I really hope that you enjoyed this article, and please keep on the lookout for more from Let's Start A Coin Collection!
- Brandon Spiegel, owner, and founder of Let's Start A Coin Collection
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As coin collectors, it is very natural for us to look at every coin that we come across in the hopes we will find something that is better than average. This concept is taken to the next level with coin roll hunting, where rolls of coins are obtained than searched through. It is amazing what can be found when you partake in this part of the hobby, especially if you look through an entire box of pennies Ever since I started collecting coins, I have looked at every coin that has come into my possession but considering that the vast majority of transactions that I participated in as a coin collector were either digital or infrequent, my finds were minimal. This summer, I was blessed enough to obtain some checks for graduating high school, where in the process of going to the bank to deposit them I would purchase $5 in pennies and search through them, which is the first time that I have done this since I first opened the account months ago. The first time I did this, I found eight wheat back pennies, and the next I found three. This weekend, I decided to get an entire box of pennies, which has a $25 face value and consists of 2500 pennies. The process of actually obtaining the pennies was not as simple as I initially thought because the local credit union that I use did not have as many coins on hand as I expected, where they could not fill an entire box for me. This was especially surprising, considering that they could always easily compensate my other requests for smaller amounts. On the way home, however, I stopped off at a local Bank of America branch and obtained a box of pennies without a problem, where the teller actually had the coins near him and was able to get quickly, which was a convenience for the both of us. With this surprise, I went home and started to search through the box. Interestingly, these pennies were not of the normal Loomis brand that I was accosted to, but rather an "off brand" that I have never heard of, so I had no clue what to expect. The entire search took about two hours, where I was able to find some pretty nice coins with a total of ten wheat back pennies found! In addition, I was also able to find 22 awesome high-grade Lincoln memorial copper cents and three hundred copper cents! (Some of the coins that I found is above) One of the best parts of looking through pennies is the odds that copper cents which were minted in 1982 and before (only during part of 1982.) Amazingly, at the current copper price; each copper cent has a melt value of about 1.8 cents. Although they do not trade for more than their face value right now because people argue that they are not pure copper, and you cannot melt them; we have to keep in mind that this is the same story for 90% silver. Personally, I think that the reason why no one is going to pay a premium for copper cents right now is that you can find them without too much problem at all in circulation. In fact, throughout the box, I was able to find well over 300 of them, where I found some in every single roll that I searched through! Personally, that means that they make great long term investments, as they are becoming even more and more difficult to find, and the market for them is growing every day. Amazingly, I also found well over 50 2017 cents in the box, so I can guarantee you that some of them would have been copper instead if it was 2016! There were two rolls that really struck out to me; where in one of them I found a 1969 p, 1969 d, and a 1969 s. In another roll, I was able to find three wheat back cents, where I found 2 1951 d coins back to back! Surprisingly, the best coin that I found that day was actually not found searching through the box of pennies, but rather while I went to Kroger. I went to the store to purchase some food, and the person that was using self-check out before I forgot four cents, where one was from Canada, and another was a 1949s what back! Ths is especially shocking, considering that I did not find anything that scares in the box of pennies, where just over 7 million 1949 s cents were minted. As a whole, searching through an entire box of pennies is definitely a new experience for me. It definitely was enjoyable, but I might not do it a whole lot because of the amount of time that it took, unless if I want to get some more copper bullion. Quite honestly, the main reason why I might not do it much is that I do not go to my bank a lot, which fortunately has a fee free coin exchange machine, it is over 20 minutes away. Fortunately, I now have more than enough pennies to make an American Flag out of them which I will make and sell in the future! Despite the conclusion, I am definitely going to continue to pick up a couple roll of pennies or nickels to see what I can find, every once and a while, which will definitely yield a wheat back every once and a while! For those that want to do this on a much larger scale, there are definitely some well-defined methods that the pros use, which I have been looking into. First of all, multiple banks are in the process, with two main categories being "pickup" and "dump" banks. This is because there are some banks which are willing to exchange out boxes of coins for cash without much problem, and others that do not, On the other hand, usually the banks that do not hand out boxes of coins are more likely to have a machine that will let you deposit your coins into your account and redeem the amount of cash, or put it into your bank account without having to pay fees. Therefore, it is oftentimes advised to have an account at both kinds of banks, so you can take advantage of their services. Typically banks that do exchange cash for boxes of coins are much more willing to do so if you have an account with them, and you are oftentimes not allowed to use other banks change cashing machines unless you have an account with them. Although you can get rolls of pennies from places like grocery stores and super markets, you often times can only get a roll or two of them at a time, and they typically do not have half dollars or quarters to exchange, but it is a good strategy for looking through pennies, and sometimes nickels, especially during your day to day routine. If you are interested in seeing my search through a roll of pennies where I found a wheat back cent, please follow the link below to my two minuets, one roll coin roll hunt! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3FEB2e4otI Well, there you have it, my experience of searching through an entire box of pennies for the first time! I really hope that I shared some knowledge with you that you found to be useful! If you have your own experience with coin roll hunting or have some awesome finds that you would like to share please feel free to post them in the comments below, and feel free to ask me if you have any questions about coins at all. As always, happy collecting! Brandon Spiegel, owner, and founder of Let's Start A Coin Collection We all have seen the evidence, smartphones, tablets, smart watches, and so much more; technology is consistently taking over peoples lives more and more as time goes on. Companies are now making "smart" versions of items that we have always thought of as being dumb. The implementations that this has had on the economy as a whole has been drastic, and has altered the coin market forever; both for the good and the bad. One of the biggest aspects of the coin market that technology has changed, is the way that collectors participate in the hobby. Younger generations have fortunately entered the market because of it, but there is still a large gap between the more traditional and the younger generations of coin collectors, with little middle ground. Mainly, people of the older portion of the market (typically about 60 years of age or older) typically purchase coins at coin shows, and coin shops as they are the more traditional way of doing business in coins. On the other hand, many people in the younger generations (typically around 15 to 30 years old) buy and sell coins online, with only the occasional coin show or coin shop visit. Prior to the invention of e-commerce platforms such as eBay or Amazon, coin collectors had to go to a coin show, a coin shop, an auction, or use mail orders to grow their collection. This made it relatively difficult for collectors to learn about a lot of the coin listings that were out there and created a large barrier to entry to become a coin dealer. Now, with the advent of various e-commerce and social media platforms, anyone can sell coins online, and collectors can now browse thousands of listings with just an internet connection and a few minutes. This is great for the collector because the increased competition from dealers has driven down the price, and there is so much more to choose from. This is especially considering, that often times online dealers have periodic discounts on their products! However, this has made it more difficult for coin dealers to make a profit, and stay fully functional as there are even sellers that are not trying to make a profit on their coins. However, it also makes it easier to make money in coins as now coin dealers can sell coins with very little overhead, and there are a lot more participants in the market, which Strengths the market as a whole. The separation between younger and older generations is also present in the market, with how collectors communicate and interact with other coin collectors. More traditional coin collectors tend to go to places such as coin club meetings, where younger people are typically seen in places such as Youtube or Facebook groups. As a whole, this is good because it definitely expands the market, and provides both collectors and dealers with opportunities that could not have been imagined just twenty-five years ago. However, in my honest opinion to be an effective collector both traditional and nontraditional resources should be used to interact with others. This is because, you can build a more personal interaction at coin shops, shows, and coin club meetings; but you can meet a larger volume of people online. The separation between younger and older generations is also present in the market, with how collectors communicate and interact with other coin collectors. More traditional coin collectors tend to go to places such as coin club meetings, where younger people are typically seen in places such as Youtube or Facebook groups. As a whole, this is good because it definitely expands the market, and provides both collectors and dealers with opportunities that could not have been imagined just twenty-five years ago. However, in my honest opinion to be an effective collector both traditional and nontraditional resources should be used to interact with others. This is because, you can build a more personal interaction at coin shops, shows, and coin club meetings; but you can meet a larger volume of people online. The fact that both traditional and modern methods need to be utilized by the modern collectors is especially prevalent when it comes to purchasing coins online. A picture does not allow collectors or dealers to analyze all of the attributions or defects that a coin may have, such as its luster, or small contact marks or hairline scratches which are often times only viewable at a specific angle. This is especially true when it comes to coins that are bullion, where stock photos are typically used instead of the exact coin that the buyer is going to receive by online coin dealers. This effect is especially seen when it comes to "junk" silver, where at coin shows and shops you can pick out all of the pretty awesome coins, which is not possible online. Fortunately, online dealers are very ethical when it comes to business and typically try to make their customers very happy by selling the highest quality products possible, to the point where oftentimes older coins such as mercury dimes or standing liberty quarters are often times received in 90% silver coin lots! On the other hand, when purchasing coins online you can compare hundreds of different listings, analyze, and compare them in order to get the best deal possible. This is especially true for large auction sights such as eBay.com. Additionally, often times online dealers have specials periodically, which can be browsed and search for very quickly. This is perfect for younger generations because we use the internet as a vital tool in our day to day lives, and it provides coin dealers with more opportunities to acquire inventory. However, the more traditional methods of coin collecting and dealing are typically suited to more traditional generations because they typically have a bit more time in their lives, especially if they are retired. Furthermore, at coin shows and coin shops, you can analyze coins in hand, and make better purchases because of this without having to risk that your coin will be damaged in shipping. However, more resources need to be used as there are gas costs and entry fees which are often times involved with these events. Another factor of coin collecting and coin dealing that technology has changed is the tools that dealers can use to advertise. Before the internet, advertisements about coin shows and shops were spread through many different means such as television advertisements, flyers, posters, magazines, and the like. Now, there are tools that dealers can use to advertise their offers and messages for free! Social media platforms such as Facebook, Youtube, and Twitter, along with websites such as coinzip.com and coinshows.com allows dealers and organizers to spread their message like before, and allows collectors to learn about events in their area like they could not before! This changes the game because now real time information about local events can be accessed easily, where even the smallest coin show gets more attendants. This is also beneficial, because it exposes coin collecting to more people, which adds the number of participants, and strengthens the market. Another major way that technology has changed the coin market is how knowledge is enjoyed and shared. Traditionally, information about coins has been written down into books, magazine articles, and various guides which were, and still are published. In fact, very popular numismatic resources such as "A Guide Book of United States Coins" and "Grading Coins By Photographs" are still used for the most part in the form of a physical book. Believe it or not, this tradition is so well rooted in the market that many of the crucial specialized texts that are not even printed anymore cannot be found online. This, in my opinion, is the biggest thing that holds the market back as a whole from a lot of growth, because knowledge is the key to coin collecting. However, technology has made it much easier for collectors to share knowledge with one another, as coin facts can be learned by doing something as simple as reading a tweet. Additionally, major third party grading companies such as PCGS, and many other individuals are publishing a lot of the specialized information where apps such as Coin Facts and Photograde have really been helping collectors! Hopefully, sometime in the future a lot of the old references will be published online, but we can only wait and see! However, people can now see up to the second copper, silver, and gold prices which definitely changes the game when it comes to selling these commodities. This is especially considering the fact that online bullion dealers fluctuate their prices every second based on this factor, which would not be possible twenty-five years ago. Another area where technology has vastly changed the coin market, is the technology that mints around the world have to produce coins. Amazingly, there are currently multiple mints all around the world such as Niue, Tuvalu, The Cook Islands, the Perth Mint, and dozens more that produce amazing eye-popping, colorized and three-dimensional coins like never before. Right now, hundreds of new coin designs are produced every year, oftentimes with limited mintage's, and cutting edge features! This definitely benefits the coin market because it advances technology and provides collectors with a much greater selection to choose from, but it also saturates the coin market in my opinion. Typically, after a coin is released the associated premium start to decline less than a year after it is produced unless the piece is a popular series such as the Lunar series, or there is an unexpected low mintage for one reason or another. Personally, I have noticed so much money going towards this sector of the market, that it could help explain why coin prices are declining as a whole. Unfortunately, minting technology in China has also brought many fake pieces on the market. Fake coins are being produced of a higher and higher quality, at an increasing rate despite the third party grading services that screen so many of them out. They are all over the internet, where many unfortunate and unsuspecting people purchase them. It is always the saddest thing to see people bidding on, and purchasing obviously fake coins on sale, or innocent people accidentally selling fake coins. Personally, I have accidentally purchased a couple of fake coins, and it is definitely a disappointment to have wasted the money that I did by mistake. This factor decreases the size of the market as a whole, because of no one, especially someone that does not have a lot of experience with coins, wants to spend money on something that is fake. It is always very discouraging to collectors when it is discovered that a coin they have is fake. The way that people buy, sell, learn, and enjoy coins and coin collecting has definitely been altered forever by technology! Although there have been many advancements, traditional methods still need to be utilized by modern collectors, and there are numerous advancements that need to be made before the online resources can touch the quality that the traditional ones offer. However, with the rate that technology is changing the market at the present time; the sky is the limit. So far, technology has definitely had a positive impact on the market as a whole, and I definitely think that this will continue!
- Brandon Spiegel, owner and founder of Let's Start A Coin Collection |
Author: Brandon Spiegel.
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