An adage that’s been with us ever since the Romans began setting aside Fifth Century coins of the Greeks.   

Know what you are buying.  Have a good feel for the rarity and desirability of the piece based on available census reports.  Many coins, especially in the early US series, are surprisingly underappreciated, given the broad appeal and wide collector base of these issues.  

Any dealer worth his salt can point you to the appropriate reference book for a given series, especially in US coinage, where vast compendia exist for everything from the earliest mint issues up to and including Jefferson nickels and Lincoln cents.  If you’re looking for a single volume spanning the entire output of the U.S. coinage, you can do no better than Walter Breen’s classic “Complete Encyclopedia of US and Colonial Coins” unquestionably the single best introduction and overall US reference ever written.

However, when I say “book”, I mean all the literature relevant to a specific issue or series, not just the standard reference works. Learn about the factors other than rarity which affect the value of a coin.  For example, branch mint Buffalo Nickels of the twenties are famously weak in strike, a fact which might turn you on to the challenge, or off entirely to the series.  Learn about color as well, especially in copper issues.  And toning.  Surfaces.  Luster.  These are all factors which affect the overall desirability of a coin and therefore its price. 

Auction catalogs and prices realized from reputable auction houses provide the best means of keeping track of the material that’s available in your collecting area, and the prices you can expect to pay.  Be sure to examine the lots in person wherever possible.  Discuss a coin’s pros and cons with the dealer or house expert.  Make your own estimate of what the coin will bring.  Attend the sale in person and watch the bidding closely.  In time you’ll develop a good feel for the ‘spreads’ – how much a coin’s value is helped or hindered by factors other than its technical grade.  In addition, you’ll start to see which coins in a series are ‘sleepers’, which are perennial favorites, and – most important of all – which have recently fallen from favor.

In non-US, especially classical issues, the market is strongly influenced by factors other than rarity and condition.  Here a working knowledge of the political and historical setting of a coin is imperative.  An excellent starting point for a collector interested in Greek and Roman is the series of popular guides written by David Sear.   Sear's Greek Coins and Their Values and Roman Coins and Their Values offer a unique combination of scholarship and readibility and are probably the most frequently consulted reference works in their respective series.  There are certainly more in-depth treatises of Greek and Roman, but for sheer approachability, these are the best.

The key point here is to buy the best coin you can afford the first time around.  Don't get a 'space filler' now with a view toward upgrading in the future.  You only wind up doubling the buyer's and seller's premium. 

This doesn't mean you should limit yourself to superb mint state coins every time you make a purchase.  Far from it.  You're more likely to do better in the long haul with coins which are at the top of their grade in EF and AU -  choice problem-free coins with with excellent eye appeal, natural toning, light even wear and a hint of luster.  In these days of runaway prices at the very top of the grading scale, the patient collector can find a wealth of opportunities in outstanding coins of lesser grade, especially in the early United States series (1793-1806)

Don’t try to go it alone.  Not until you’ve spent years developing specialized knowledge in a given field, and even then, you’ll need a good dealer when it comes time to sell.   

I’ve been fortunate in this regard.  For nearly thirty years I’ve had the opportunity to work closely with Stack’s, the New York auction house.  I unhesitatingly recommend their services to you, both auction and retail.  They are always completely reliable and honest, possess expertise in all areas of numismatics, and have access to a great depth of material. 

When working with a dealer, let him (or her) know what your short and long-term goals are.  Even if your particular area of interest is in a narrow field, ask him to show you some better examples from other areas as well.  This will educate your eye and give you a better perspective on the market as a whole.  In addition, ask your dealer to keep you up to date on which areas are “hot” and which have fallen off somewhat.  (Remember, you’re much more interested in the latter).

Collect coins much the same as you would art.  Develop your eye.  Subscribe to the major dealers' auction catalogs.  Attend coin conventions and don't be shy about browsing a dealer's material.  And, of course, visit the major numismatic web sites. 

The internet has made it possible to view a vast assortment of full-color high-resolution images of first rank specimens in all areas of coin collecting.  This is fine, and I hope you'll return to sites such as ours often and perhaps even pick up an example or two.  Nevertheless, do keep in mind that coins are three-dimensional sculptural artifacts complete with rims and edges.  You should examine as many as you can ‘in the metal’ as we say, and this is where a healthy relationship with a reputable dealer comes in handy. 

Soon on-line sites such as ours will provide the ability to examine coins under varied lighting conditions.  You'll be able to rotate the coin  under a raking light in order to highlight any surface irregularities.  Examine it edge-on to inspect the reeding and, in the case of earlier issues, lettering.  The digital technology has been available for nearly a decade now, all that’s lacking is bandwidth.  Be sure to watch this space for improvements along these lines.

In the Roaring Eighties, it was possible to buy a coin at retail, hold on to it a few months and sell it for a whopping profit.  Those days are gone.    

Simply speaking, you should buy what you love and hang on to it for the long haul.  This was the first of many sound pieces of advice wafted my way by my good friend and mentor, Harvey Stack.   

I had been eyeing a 1793 half cent which I needed for my type set.  Though the coin was not fully up to par condition-wise with the rest of my collection, it seemed to me I should latch on to the thing and upgrade it at some future date.  Harvey advised against it.  He explained that the finest collections were invariably formed by individuals who bought the best they could the first time around, then held on to the pieces for a decade or more.  In the ensuing years, I would see the truth of this time and again when good collections came to auction.   Besides, it seemed intuitive to me that when a dealer, for whom quick turnaround is a way of life, advises holding on to purchases for the long haul, I'd do well to heed the advice. 

There's no universally accepted and agreed-upon pricing standard in coins, not even for slabbed material.  Each specimen is unique, each worth whatever it brings at the time of sale, no more no less.  The high markup in numismatic material precludes the average collector from dashing in and out of the market in search of quick profits.  Buy what you love.  Buy the best specimens you can afford.  Hang on to them.

Irrespective of the series you collect, you're better off - in the beginning at least - limiting yourself to type coins, major varieties or key dates rather than plunging into the bottomless pit of in-depth specialization.  

In the first place, you're much less likely to lose interest in collecting altogether.  It's sad to see beginning collectors become smitten with, say, early half dollars and set about trying to acquire every available Overton number (or every Bolender dollar, Cohen half cent...the list is endless).  Invariably they tire of the chase as opportunities become slimmer and prices rise dramatically.  Somewhere along the way, a friend asks to see what the collector's been up to and is only mildly enthusiastic about seeing tray after tray of what seem to him identical coins.  In the most pathological cases, the collector abandons his pursuit, only to turn his attention to some even more esoteric series.

Then there's the problem of selling.  Who will pay the huge premium you've shelled out for your Overton 1806 half dollar with three berries beneath the branch, the lowest of which has a very short stem?   Only some other poor unfortunate who's been afflicted with the same malady you have  and who's probably been institutionalized somewhere along the way.

By the way, the concept of horizontal collecting holds true in non-US areas as well.   A few years back, I embarked on my one venture into specialized collecting.  I became totally smitten with the coins of Ancient Sicily, particularly those of Syracuse.  These exquisite dies, arguably some of the finest ever cut, form a wonderful series which runs from roughly 480 to 420 BC.  The entire cavalcade of these little gems is covered in painstaking detail by two reference works, Boehringer's Die Munzen von Syrakus and Tudeer's Die Tetradrachmenpragung von Syrakus.  To the best of my knowledge, neither of these works has been translated into English, or for that matter, any other language.

I had just begun to make a nice dent in the Boehringer series when it became apparent to me that dealers “saw me coming”.  If I showed interest in a particular die, they immediately had three or four other interested parties willing to plunk down heavy cash for the thing.   Scarcer dies of the series began commanding exhorbitant prices – at least from me – and I was soon on every dealer’s want list.  Then I decided to sell.  In order not to glut the meager demand for thise treasures, I resorted to running around at conventions selling them one at a time, often being offered the same piece moments later at twice the price.  It was this harrowing experience that eventually propelled me into becoming a dealer myself.

Were these recommendations intended as investment counseling (they most decidedly are not – I honestly wouldn’t advise investing in rare coins except for the very long haul), I might simply say “buy low, sell high”.  Obvious?  Apparently not if you're a coin collector.   The coin industry is the only place I know where price dips and markdowns drive people away.  

At any given time, certain large-scale trends become apparent in the coin market.  We hear for example that Roman gold is enjoying a rennaiscence or that Greek silver is on the wane.  If you've followed some of our earlier precepts (Buy the book, collect horizontally, establish yourself with a dealer), you'll be in a good position to take advantage of the dips.  

Your best source of information in these matters are your dealer and your auction catalogs with prices realized - not the coin industry periodicals.  In fact, if you collect Walking Liberty half dollars and see an ad proclaiming "Walkers are hot and getting hotter" avoid it as you might a groin injury.  Wait a few weeks until that same dealer, who has probably purchased his bodyweight in Walkers, is trickling them out at half the price, then pounce. 

Keep in mind that this last tidbit of advice - buy when coins have fallen from favor - applies only to classic mainstream areas of collecting, such as those espoused on these pages.  Should modern commems or Olympic coins suddenly fall from favor, they may never recover.