Beginner’s Guide To Collecting Gold And Silver Coins

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More individuals are investing in gold and silver as concerns about economic stability rises. Based on its long history of resilience against other currencies and commodities, these precious metals are highly recommended for investments and wealth protection.

If the idea of collecting gold or silver is appealing to you, then read on to know the basics of collecting coins for the first time.

Getting Started With Your Coin Collection

1. Be familiar with “mint lingo.”

Coin collecting, just like any other specialised hobby, has its own language that collectors are familiar with. So, it is important for beginners to get to know the key terms in the industry in order to know what they are dealing with during transactions. 

For example, you should educate yourself on the many types of coins available, whether they are circulation coins, uncirculated coins, commemorative coins, proof coins, or numismatic coins that can be added to your collection. 



It would also help beginners to understand the difference between the face value (nominal value displayed on the coin) and its intrinsic value (actual value) because this would determine how much one should be willing to pay for a coin.

It is also important to learn the “coin anatomy” as the body of a coin has its own terms for reference. These include the obverse (“heads”) and the reverse (“tails”), relief, field, rim, and edge.

2. Start acquiring coins.

Typically, there are two ways to begin your coin collection: acquiring coins that appeal to you and acquiring coin sets. For collectors, any coin can be considered of high value for many reasons, including its emotional significance to the owner, its intrinsic value, or its rich component materials such as pure gold and pure silver. Gold or silver coins you can get from City Gold Bullion can be great starters for your upcoming coin collection.

Aside from procuring coins that pique your interest, you can also invest in coin sets, a collection of uncirculated or proof coins that are in true “mint” condition, as a beginner’s set.

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3. Determine what type of collection you are building.

Eventually, you will notice similar attributes in the coins that you are collecting. Whether it’s the design or the colours, or whatever characteristic, these will help define what your collection will be and influence the coin sets you will continue to collect. 

While collectors have the freedom and flexibility to collect bits and pieces of varying types, it will be more exciting to search for particular coin sets and more rewarding when you successfully acquire them.

For beginners, you can collect coins based on a particular year, a particular country, a specific time period, design themes, and metal or composition. 

Some collectors focus their efforts on coins made of certain metals like gold or silver. If you include high-end coins such as gold bullions in your collection, you will be happy to learn that their values generally increase over time too.

4. Invest in a starter kit.

As a beginner coin collector, you do not need to spend a lot on equipment in order to start collecting. You only need a basic reference book about coin collecting, a magnifying glass (at least 7x magnification) to help you inspect coins and check the details up close, a notebook or an app to keep track of your collection, a good quality storage holder, and cotton gloves for proper handling of coins to keep them in mint condition.

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Eventually, as your collection grows and your interest in the activity increases, you will also need to invest in tools and supplies specifically made for coin collecting.

Real Coins: The Traditional And Safe Way To Invest

It’s no secret that the financial market can be volatile, especially now with the rise of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. Since the U.S. markets are so unpredictable, leading 70% of investors to lose money in 2015 alone, more people are now seeking out other trustworthy, dependable ways to invest their hard-earned cash. 

Now, the focus is returning to making solid investments in ventures that will actually lead to returns, rather than testing out a trendy but precarious track, like crypto.

Even if you are new to investing, one venture that will almost always be worth your time, energy, and money is buying gold coins. Nowadays, since we are all so used to trading through online stocks and bank accounts, real money has become rather obsolete. 

But investing in something that is both solid and reliable—like gold coins—has a number of advantages and may be the wisest strategy to bolster your bank account.

Benefits of buying gold and other hard metals

Buying coins like 1 ounce gold American eagle or Canadian Gold Maple Leaf has always been a smart option for traditional investment plans. There are a number of undeniable advantages to buying gold coins, including the fact that it is a bulwark against inflation. 

Plus, gold tends to go up in value while other investments decline, which provides a stabilizing effect for your investment portfolio.






Another advantage of buying gold or other hard metal coins as an investment is that you don’t have to pay any capital gains tax on the coins until you sell them. If you do not want anyone to know about your investment, buying coins is an entirely individualized process that you can keep to yourself. 

And while this concern is unlikely to happen, in the rare case that the U.S. markets would face massive currency devaluation, investors could use gold and silver to buy and sell.

How to purchase and keep gold coins

If buying gold coins is something that interests you, you will want to make sure that you purchase the coins from a reputable financial institution or dealer. Just as you would be aware of cheats when making other investments, you should always be on the lookout for coin scams. 

If you decide to purchase the coins from an individual or someone you may not exactly trust, you should have the coins’ authenticity verified before you actually buy them. This way, you can avoid handing over large sums of money for gold-plated copper or lead.

It is important to know that U.S. gold coins come in one-tenth, one-quarter, one-half, and one-ounce denominations. Most dealers will make you pay a premium over the price per ounce, which is how they make a profit off of the transaction. 

If you buy gold coins that are less than one ounce each, you will pay a much higher premium. It is generally a safe bet to buy bullion coins, including the American Gold Eagle, Canadian Gold Maple Leaf or South African Krugerrand.

Unless you have researched and are knowledgeable about collector’s coins, you should stick to buying bullion coins. As a rule of thumb, you don’t want to get carried away with buying gold coins—instead, designate 5 to 15% of your investment portfolio to showcase hard assets, like coins. 

That way, a majority of your portfolio will still be in stocks, growth funds, and other investments, which is the best way to generate a healthy balance of both return and risk.

Without having to worry about the volatile financial market, people can invest in hard assets like gold coins and reap the many benefits of gold’s hedge against inflation in order to augment an individual investment portfolio.