10 RULES OF COIN INVESTMENT FOR THE NOVICE

1.  Buy collector coins and think like a collector.  Most coin investors think like an investor, but it's the real collector coins that will see price increases for sure over the next few decades.  As the state quarter and presidental dollar collectors find there way back to the "back catalog" of US coins, interest and prices will increase accordingly.  Continue on for more explanation.

2.  Do you research on ebay.  Many coin series feature what are known as sleepers.  These are coins that have low mintages, and are hard to find in the marketplace, yet have not gone up in value yet. Sometimes this is the case because a series is nearly impossible to complete by date.  This is true of most of the Seated Liberty series. Sometimes this is due to a series not being widely collected.  The three cent nickel, half cent, half dime, and liberty nickel series come to mind.  But interest in federal US coinage is strong and only getting stronger, and when selling on ebay in the future, those niche buyers for even the unpopular series will fight for that tough to find coin.

3.  Buy Key Date Coins.  They will ALWAYS be needed to fill that hole in someones album.  Be it an 1885 Liberty Nickel, 1909 S VDB Lincoln Cent, or 1916 S Mercury Dime.  The semi-keys of most series make an excellent investment as well, such as the 1926 S Mercury Dime, or 1823 Large Cent, or 1936 D Washington Quarter.

4.  None of the above matters if you don't buy the right coin.  What I mean is, you need to look for coins that look like they original (never cleaned) and don't have rim damage or tooling.  Original and problem free coins are tough to find in the market place, and even common pieces that are nice eye appealing problem free coins often bring premiums.

5.  Ignore MS or Proof 69 or 70 coins in plastic.  That bubble is getting really bloated right now, and will burst in the next decade most likely. 

6.  Learn how to grade and have the proper books.  Don't start investing if you don't have a grading guide, and Breen's book on coins.  Do all the reading you can before you start investing.

7.  Buy no risk coins.  What are these you ask?  State quarter or presidental dollar rolls when they come out.  They cost face value at the bank, and even if they don't rise much in value, you have nothing to lose.  Another no risk area is copper cents and nickels.  Get your bank to order you boxes of cents, and keep all the pre 1982 ones (usually about half of what you will find).  The US government is already planning on changing the medal of the cent to copper coated steel.  These pre 1982 coins will eventually be worth at least as much as wheat cents are now.  You can't lose money, and as copper continues to rise, you will likely have a great batch of cents to send off to melt or sell.

8.  If you are looking just to invest in bullion, buy silver, NOT gold.  Over the past decade silver has gone from around 5 dollars to around 20 dollars.  Gold has increased from around 400 to around 950.  I'm sure you can see which has the greatest percentage profit.  This will continue to be true.

9.  Search for coins on ebay that are in the wrong category.  A nice Buffalo Nickel listed in world coins (yes, this happens every day) might bring 20 to 60 percent less than it would in the proper category.

10.  The Kennedy Half Dollar series is dying a slow death, that will likely end in the next decade.  Half dollars for circulation have not been made since 2001.  Kennedy's are cheap now, but may have much more interest once the coin is obsolete.

This list is by no means comprehensive.  If you have any questions about coin investment, please do not hesitate to message me.