Mint Taylor Made
What Coins Should I Collect?
What Coins Should I Collect?
By Robert L Taylor, JD
You should collect what you like and enjoy. This is Your Dream. Design it any way you want.
Never-the-less, . . . decide on Foreign coins or US Coins; and Proof or Mint State. If US, then decide upon a Denomination: penny, nickel, dime, quarter, half dollar, dollar or other.
Or, decide upon a particular Period in History, e.g.: Morgan Dollars (Lady Liberty, Following Civil War), Peace Dollars (Following WWI), War Time Cents (Steel and Shell Casing - WWII), War Time Nickels (Silver - WWII), Silver quarters and dimes pre 1965; Statehood Quarters; 20th Century; 19th Century.
Or decide upon an Historical Figure; Kennedy Half Dollars (Following his death), Lincoln Cents; Washington Quarters; Franklin Half Dollars; Eisenhower Dollars, Susan B Anthony Dollars, Roosevelt Dimes; Sacagawea Dollars. You can also choose Type Sets, Year Sets, Mint Sets, Proof Sets and Decades.
The Next Step is to decide upon the Quality of coin you want to collect. Your choices are: a) pocket change; b) bank rolls; c) US mint and proof rolls and sets (new and used); d) Buy from Coin Shows and Clubs; e) Buy on the Internet; f) Buy from coin dealer; g) Buy from coin magazine or ad. Each has their benefits and advantages. Pocket Change and Bank Rolls provide Circulated coins. The US Mint provides Uncirculated "Mint State" and "Proof" coins.
The Internet provides the Greatest Selection from private Web Sites, e.g.: www.ThePerfect-Coin.Com to the big Auctions like eBay, Yahoo, Heritage and TeleTrade. And With the advent of PayPal.com (free) it becomes very quick and easy to pay for purchases over the Internet and by Phone.
The one thing that is important in all of the above choices is the Grade of the Coin, which is closely related to Value (a topic for another article). But which leads to the next choice: Buy Slabbed or Raw? Raw coins are what you find in pocket change. Slabbed coins are those that are Professionally Certified and Graded by an Independent Third Party. The coin is then placed in a "slab", made of plastic, identified, labeled and sealed. It actually takes 3 Professionals to decide upon the Grade of a Coin. If Buying Raw Coins, You need to Know How to Grade a Coin. Even then, there will be Disputes about the Grade. When Buying a Slabbed coin, You Know the Grade. The Grade Becomes Virtually Undisputable! All references to Price in any resource are Based on Grading, which follows the Guidelines set by the ANA American Numismatic Association. Currently, there are only Four Companies that are Recognized for Strictly following these Guidelines: PCGS, NGC, ICG and ANACS. It is from these Professionals that one should buy slabbed coins. Buying Slabbed Coins is the First Rule of Serious Coin Collecting.
Obviously, one will be very limited in the years, mints, and varieties available from pocket change and bank rolls - both being local in nature. Even if starting with these means of collecting, always keep an open mind about other resources. So, a little future insight helps to decide that better resources will yield better coin collections. Most collections will span a greater range of years, than either pocket change or bank rolls can possibly produce. It is therefore imperative to investigate other resources.
Your Budget will usually determine the Grade of coin that you can afford to collect. MS63-MS65 is an Ideal range for collecting, not only because of the excellent condition and detail of the coins, greater availability, lower costs, and because coins in this range tend to Appreciate faster than other Grades. There item is very simple, and it has to do with the quality of the coin or how much you want to Spend per Coin - for an average coin, for an exceptional coin, or a perfect coin. Your budget will usually determine this factor, or, how much per month you can spend (per month?) for your new Investment. Never doubt that Coin Collecting is an Investment. Although it is easy to overlook the amount of time spent on this Endeavor because two of the main ingredients are Pleasure and Enjoyment. Confucius Say:
"If you enjoy what you are doing, you will never work another day in your life."
Think of it as a Fund. You are trading Money for . . . Money that Grows and Gives Pleasure! Properly attended, this Fund can quite possibly put someone through college.
Lastly, decide whether to collect all of the coins in your Group including varieties and errors or just the Regular Issue Coins. Errors and Varieties can become extremely expensive and difficult to find. Most people will avoid them.
This Concept of "Trading Money for Money" is critically important because most people shy away from spending a little more, just to get the best. And I am talking about the best in quality of coin, no matter what the Grade or Price. In other words, get a Coin with the Grade it is Supposed to Have. This is the Only way to be sure of the Value of the Coin. Spend your Money Wisely. Get what you pay for. Until you become a Professional at Grading, rely on the Professional Graders. Whether you choose to collect Kennedy Proof Half Dollars, or Jefferson Nickels from pocket change, thanks to the Internet, you will find a huge selection available, on many different web sites, to give your Coin Collecting efforts a boost. Internet Web Sites will Forever Change Coin Collecting! Why? Because Top Quality Coins can be easily Bought and Sold by any body - since they are Slabbed!
Always Know Your Grade!
Robert L Taylor, JD
Copyright 2006, Robert L Taylor, JD
About the Author
Robert Taylor is a 59 year old retired Lawyer, from Denver, CO, who spent most of his career representing people who could not afford an attorney, and who has had a passion for collecting US coins. Wanting to share his Passion, he created http://www.ThePerfect-Coin.Com which features US Rare and Modern Dollars (from 1878) and Coins (from 1960), all Certified and Graded by NGC or PCGS.
For Beginning Coin Collectors, he then created http://www.Beginning-Coin-Collecting.Com
Marketing Consultant
As unemployment rates increase across the US and the globe, it is obvious that marketing professionals are being engaged as a marketing consultant. As a newly minted marketing consultant, what are the services that can be provided and to whom does it make sense to offer your services?
The initial conversation a marketing consultant will have with himself or herself is whether they will offer their services to small, medium, or large businesses. Many will answer that they will offer their services to anyone that is willing to pay for services rendered. We have to keep in mind that these are professional marketers and that they have the knowledge that being everything to everyone is a losing strategy. Marketers understand the need to segment their prospect list and will establish where they have the greatest probability of winning paying clients.
As unorthodox as it sounds, the marketer must now determine how they will market themselves! Being an employee at a large company is in sharp contrast to being an independent marketing consultant that is only paid when they are performing billable services. Once it's established who the target will be, it is now time to devise a strategy to attack that focus market. The marketing professional will typically create a strategy that attacks using multiple weapons. They can include on-line marketing, off-line marketing, guerilla public relations methods, trade shows, telemarketing, and many others.
With online marketing, there are numerous options that a marketing consultant can direct his campaign. He can use tools such as email marketing, search engine optimization, social media like facebook, twitter, yelp, and multiple other resources. Email marketing will require a database of emails to send to. This may take time to procure or the marketer may choose to purchase a list of emails. Search engine optimization will have the greatest return, but is never quick or easy to accomplish. It is not uncommon to put 6 months of effort in to search engine optimization exercises until your website becomes relevant and recognized by search engines. That generally means that your keyword search terms will appear on the first or second page results.
A marketing consultant will never discount the effectiveness of an off-line campaign. This can include postcard or letter mailing campaigns. As companies are deluged with more and more online campaigns and emails, the results of offline mailers may show better results. A postcard will be most effective in that it does need to be taken out of an envelope in order to get your message to its recipient. If the postcard is effective in holding the attention of the intended recipient, it can be a very effective marketing tool. The other point of importance with postcards is that they must have a call to action. That means that the recipient should feel compelled to pick up the phone or visit your website as a next step. Finally, it should be noted that a postcard campaign would not yield great results on the initial mailings. Most studies show that you should expect to have low results until your recipient has repeatedly seen your postcard and gains awareness of whom you are. Solid results will typically not be seen until after the fourth or fifth mailing.
About the Author
 Wilson Staff 8883 35 inch Golf Putter Steel Shaft  US $29.99
|
 TaylorMade Tour Preferred MC 3 PW Left Hand LH Mint US $350.00
|
 3 DZ 36 TaylorMade Penta TP Golf Balls Mint AAAAA US $37.00
|
 48 Taylor Made TP BLACK LDP Golf Balls TRUE MINT US $52.99
|
 48 Taylor Made PENTA TP Golf Balls TRUE MINT US $79.99
|
 48 Taylor Made BURNER TOUR TOUR XP XD LDP Golf Balls TRUE MINT US $29.99
|
 TaylorMade Golf Ghost TM 340 Putter 35 Right Hand US $18.16
|
 TaylorMade Golf Classic 79 TM 110 Blade Putter 34 Right Hand US $17.38
|
 3 Dozen 36 TaylorMade TP BLACK Golf Balls NEAR MINT AAAA US $5.24
|
 LH TaylorMade Golf Burner Superfast 20 Rescue 18° 3H Ladies Left Hand US $9.99
|
 2 DZ TAYLOR MADE XD LDP GOLF BALLS AAAA US $7.30
|
 8 DZ TAYLOR MADE PENTA GOLF BALLS AAAAA MINT US $125.50
|
 3 Dozen 36 TaylorMade TP RED Golf Balls NEAR MINT AAAA US $.01
|
 TAYLORMADE S300 SW SAND WEDGE SWEET CLUB US $54.99
|
 TaylorMade TP XFT 64 Lob Wedge GREAT DEAL US $41.99
|
 Taylormade Rossa Daytona 1 Ghost 35 White Putter w Headcover Mint US $59.99
|
 Mint Taylor Made Rocketballz RBZ Hybrid 4 215 RH Stiff US $149.05
|
 TaylorMade Rocket Ballz 12 Balls Mint Condition US $5.99
|
