Help needed - coin collecting

[MagicMan0027 10]

Hi everybody I'm interested in coin collecting. I'm really a beginner. Where do I start ?? Where can I get info on which South African coins are collectable, what the values are, which periods are the most collectable; etc ???

 

All I can see on BoB is "Hern's Handbook on SA Coins & Patterns " Will this book help in any way ?

 

I will appreciate any assistance.

 

Thank you

[jwither 17]

If I were you, i would start with the Hern Guide and Alex's Nomisma Journals. The Hern Guide is useful as a reference for what is available to collect, the specifications of each coin and the mintages. It is NOT useful for valuation purposes for any scarcer coin and many or even most coins in the highest grades. Nomisma is the only research quality publication I have ever seen for Union coins and I have seen nothing equivalent for ZAR or RSA.

 

Depending upon how much time you want to spend, you could also consider these:

 

You can also look at prior posts on coin forums like this one but what I think would be more useful to you is to look at outside sources and numismatic articles in other markets such as the United States. The reason for this is that I consider the information on the BoB coin forum very limited because of the activity level you see here. These sources will not cover South Africa coins but there is still information that anyone can use generically. I do not get the sense that most here have any interest in numismatic thinking that does not directly relate to South African coins but there is a great deal which anyone can learn about collecting practices from other markets.

 

For other sources, I would start with the NGC Message Boards and the PCGS Coin Forum. I would also review the site content which describes Third Party Grading (TPG) in detail which you will need to know if you are going to spend any "real money" on coins because SA coin pricing (unlike most others) is dominated by these practices.

 

You could also buy books from a source like Amazon.com. It will NOT have ANY books having ANYTHING to do with SA coins, but it should have some books about coin collecting generally with principles you can use for your collecting. In my opinion, collectors in SA could learn a lot from these US numismatic authors because the field is more advanced here (I live in the United States myself) than anywhere else. But once again, I see limited to no interest in doing so unless it is related to making money on their "investments".

 

You should also look at historical prices on BoB and other venues such as the Heritage Rare Coin Galleries Archives and Sixbid.com. All are free. This will give you an idea of what coins sell for now and in the past plus what is actually available to be bought. Don't think that just because a coin is listed in Hern for some price in a specific condition that you can just go out and buy it whenever you want. For SA coins it is far more true than when I started in 1998 but far from universally so. I do not subscribe to it but if you are going to spend a lot of money with a focus on SA coins (I buy mostly others), you should also consider the SA Coin Guide. Also, this price information will give you an idea of what you can afford based upon your budget, whatever it may be.

 

Lastly, if you live in SA as I presume you do, you could benefit from contact with other collectors and dealers and from more direct access to the coins. Living in the United States, I have the benefit of neither and those of you who live in SA have a huge advantage over me if you will actually use it. I doubt that most do.

Edited December 19, 2012 by jwither

[geejay50 11]

Hi everybody I'm interested in coin collecting. I'm really a beginner. Where do I start ?? Where can I get info on which South African coins are collectable, what the values are, which periods are the most collectable; etc ???

 

All I can see on BoB is "Hern's Handbook on SA Coins & Patterns " Will this book help in any way ?

 

I will appreciate any assistance.

 

Thank you

 

Hi MagicMan,

 

Warm welcome to our coin world.

 

The best overview of our coin collecting history is to my mind "Money in South Africa" by C.L.Engelbrecht. Published in the 1980s it gives a wealth of information and pictures of coins bank notes and tokens used on South Africa in the world context.It was compiled when Grading of coins was still largely unknown for us in South Africa and it was still possible to get together collections of some choice rare SA coins.These days these coins have vanished into private collections out of sight of beginner collectors.

 

It is not often available and goes for around R600 in either English or Afrikaans. There is one book for sale at the moment on Bid or buy Catalogues, References & Guides - MONEY IN SOUTH AFRICA, Engelbrecht, C.L. for sale in Cape Town (ID:84812904)

 

This book is a good place to start to give you background as to where our coins fit into the overall picture of SA History.

 

If you want to know what is a market related price to pay for graded coins then you can join up with http://www.coinguidesa.com/t then you wont pay too much for the coins you buy once you have decided how far and where in the coin area you want to be. That is for you to decide. We have had coins around in South Africa from even before van Riebeeck's time.

 

This scarce coin watch slot on Bob has tried in a fragmentary way to give info on our coin history and other parts to this forum have also contributed to knowledge of the various aspects.

 

Best of luck with this absorbing passtime.

 

Geejay

[MagicMan0027 10]

Thank you for all the info Jwither and Geejay I will check out all the links and info.

[MagicMan0027 10]

Another beginners question - when I now start with my collection surely I have to get it insured - how and where can it be valuated for insurance purposes ? Thank you in advance for the replies