Can’t Decide What to Collect? Start With What’s at Arm’s Reach

As a journalist, it’s often the case that I relate a lot of life’s situations back to my musings — or trials and tribulations — at the keyboard (and I’m not talking about the 88 on my office piano, which is perhaps a story for another day). I hear a lot of buzz from collectors who say they don’t know what to collect. It’s a situation that strikes me much in the same manner as writer’s block sometimes hits a journalist, even yours truly, from time to time.

Some might ponder to themselves, “how can a coin collector not know what to collect? They’ve got so many options…” Sure they do, but sometimes a collector becomes overwhelmed with these myriad options, or perhaps they overthink the whole thing and become frozen in their discernment. Then again, it’s really no different than a writer who simply can’t conjure up even one word to type onto the page. “Gosh, a writer has so many words they can choose from — some 470,000 entries in Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged alone. How can a writer not know what to write?” Believe me, it happens…

So, to this I tell my fellow coin collector not to fret. Don’t think the answer on what to add to your collection next necessarily lay in some discreet section of an obscure numismatic text hidden away on the deepest of recesses in the 737 section of a library far, far away. The path to your next exciting numismatic journey may reside as close by as your pocket, purse, or change jar.

Why not turn to the coins in your own possession for the inspiration on what to collect next? Lincoln Cents, Jefferson Nickels, Roosevelt Dimes, Washington Quarters… These are just four of the many series represented by the coins you might have sitting among the change you carry around every day.

Even if your collecting interests are not geared to the modern coinage of today, these contemporary coins may no less spur you in a direction where you will find your next numismatic love. And, if moderns are your cup of tea, you have no less than several dozen different kinds of PCGS Registry Sets catering to contemporary United States coinage. If you’re not feeling many positive vibes for 1965 Washington Quarters right now, maybe recognizing the fact that a few of them are 90% silver off-metal transitional errors might just nudge you toward building a set of such rare and valuable oddities… Who knows what path those pocket change finds will send you? Well, that’s for you to decide…