 The A&A eLearning Academy is brought to you by CDN Graysheet, a trusted source of rare coin and currency valuations since 1963. I basically titled this topic or this talk rather discovering your coin because what I've found in my conversations with a lot of collectors is they buy pieces for their collection but they really sometimes don't know anything beyond the tip of the iceberg about that piece and there's so much more to learn and it's such a fascinating aspect of the hobby learning about these pieces and kind of that more scholarly side of things. I always try and encourage them to do that deeper research and that's what I'm hoping to help you guys with here today as well. So here's how to truly learn about the objects you're collecting at least in my opinion and from what I've learned in the past. So really the first thing to realize is that they're not just objects and basically all of you guys I hope know this already is that coins are more than just objects when you add a new coin or token or metal or banknotes to your collection you're not just adding like a hunk of metal or a piece of paper there's so much more to it otherwise I don't think many of us will be collecting to be honest with you there's a lot of broad context to this piece that you have in your collection right beyond what you're holding in front of you here this coin one of the things I hear most from non-collectors is when I show them some old piece of my collection they'll be like wow imagine how many hands that's been through and as a collector who's been doing this for like eight years at this point a little bit of that wonder of how many coins or hands this been through has kind of gone from me but I'm still I'm still blown away by how many non-collectors just are blown away by the history of this piece and so that's an important thing to recognize is it's not just in the here now this piece has been going for however many years since it's been made whether that be a 10 or or a thousand and the context of the piece is in my opinion one of the most important things in order to have this full appreciation of your collection understanding how it got to you and what it's all about is so much more than just filling those spots in the Whitman folder putting it in two by twos or putting slabs in a slab box really understanding the full context is really key and appreciation of these pieces makes it more fun for you in terms of understanding how just cool your collection definitely is it makes me at least more passionate about the hobby knowing that there's there's a lot more to it it also builds community I'll get into more that little bit but but really connecting with other people who share these similar interests and who can either you can either tell these stories to or who can tell you these stories and give you this information about these objects in your collection really build quite a sense of community I collect some pretty niche things myself and other cultures I found to share these niche passions within emos Maddox really have formed a tight bond together and that's a great part also makes me more passionate and it also just makes a stronger hobby as a whole when collectors are educated and they're making advancements of the hobby not only for themselves but hopefully you also choose to share the information that you learned and share your collection and exhibiting or whatever else it might be that just makes a strong hobby stronger and that's really important so this appreciation of the context of these pieces is not just a kind of a random project but really a quite an essential part of of emos Maddox so let's talk about the methodology for learning about coins when you look at emos Maddox objects that can be a coin or a paper money or token or metal up to you here's the questions I asked myself and you all have likely heard this before it's who what where when why and how and so most of you probably are familiar with this from like Sherlock Holmes or whatever else it might be but these questions really do get to that foundational part of of your object and figuring out kind of approaches to learning about it so I'll dive into each one of those questions here but but that's kind of the thing that I I first go through as an almost a checklist when I first have a coin so let's start with who there's basically two questions about who that you should be asking yourself anytime you purchase a new piece or have a piece that after this talk you want to go back and look at first one is who owned this who owns this before me unless it's like a very very rare or very very new piece maybe like you buy directly from the mint or whatever else it might be it's pretty likely that someone before owns you owned it and and that can provide some really interesting context to the piece and have some really cool stories similarly now the other question is who collects this not only shouldn't you be looking at who used to own this piece but who collects similar things to what I just purchased if I purchased a let's say a Morgan dollar for for just a general example who else right now is collecting Morgan dollars the answer is going to be a lot of people by understanding who else is collecting this will not only allow you to meet like-minded people who can teach you more but it'll also allow you to maybe buy more Morgan dollars it'll allow you to kind of again build that sense of community meet people with similar passion similar interests and really connect with people in a whole new way so find out who collects this as well is another who question you want to ask in terms of that first two question who owned this the ability to determine the provenance of a coin is kind of dependent on on where that piece is acquired if you're buying it from an auction company and it's a more expensive coin you're probably going to be able to find out the provenance usually in the catalog descriptions they will mention who has previously owned this if you're buying it from a dealer it's kind of hit or miss you might you might get it but you might not but you can definitely ask and they might tell you they might not but it's worth asking if you buy it from a private collection again you can probably get some insights going a little far back so every piece is going to be different but I actually met a guy once a lot of books especially in the early 20th century and mid 20th century about numismatics use plates right auction catalogs as well they'd use like lithographic plates for pictures of coins and sometimes people will come across though they'll be owning a coin and they'll be reading through the book and looking at the plates of these coins and they realize hey my coin's actually on this plate and that kind of helps the provenance as well because they know the author probably owned this coin at some point or at least had access to someone who did so it's always kind of something fun you can stumble across in research and finding current similar collectors can really be achieved a couple different ways and this is getting at that second who question there's a most numismatic niches have a specialist organization that cares to their need if you're into numismatic literature there's a organization for you if you're into Morgan dollars it's an organization for you here to trade tokens same thing so no matter what you're really into there is there's an option paper money to the extreme there's tons of organizations there's really no limits and so if you really reach out to these organizations and most of them have a website or presence it shows you can really connect not only with the collect individual collectors who have a lot of resources for you but also become part of this greater organization that's contributing to numismatics in a really great way also honestly the internet's fantastic for finding other collectors there's a lot of collector presence on social media which is a great way to find a like-minded interest there's forums hosted by pcgs and i know ngc has some as well where you can meet like-minded individuals but even it's a really good way to meet people and it's a whole new way as well also you can just ask if you're at a show and you buy a coin from a dealer or you buy let's say a metal from a dealer and you say hey like metals just fascinate me where can i learn more usually if that dealer is selling metals they'll be able to point you in the direction of some other dealers some organizations or some other collectors like yourself who can actually really get you more information and again introduce you to people who are really quite fascinated by that subject most hobbyists are really inclined to help you find people who share the same interests you do and here's a little example of from a heritage auction actually of a lot description in terms of the provenance that we were just discussing this is from a coin that was actually just auctioned off a couple days ago and it was a pretty rare piece and so you can see they detail out the provenance pretty deeply but you can see all the way back to 1882 where this coin was and what options it was sold in which kind of gives you no idea of which collections it's been in and it's been in some pretty famous collections so auction companies heritage and stacks powers both have great archives online to really reference and understand where your coin might have come from really key let's talk about the what so every numismatic object has a story and i've i've given talks about these stories before so i'm not going to go into a whole thing you guys can find those elsewhere online but the stories are really what's fascinating to me and in my experience talking with non collectors was fascinating to them sometimes i'll go into schools or my own school even now bring like a racketeer nickel nothing super expensive people are fascinated by racketeer nickels and these these kind of fun stories behind objects that that have a true history of them are really quite engaging and so what when you when you're looking at your own personal numismatic object and you're trying to get this what your job or rather your your fund assignments is to find out what that story behind its creation is and and you can kind of take out who what where when why how approach as well as done by that little bit of a acronym there not a great acronym but an acronym nonetheless and really finding out the story behind this creation like what what what is the reason for this existence right and and usually there's some pretty fascinating reasoning behind each and every piece and the process of discovering that story behind these these pieces is one that countless numismatists have really fallen in love with not only finding out but that research process is really a big draw for a lot of collectors and if you try really doing this in-depth research on your pieces I would I would put good money under the fact that you will probably enjoy that process a lot of people end up enjoying it enough that they decide to share their research and either publish it or give talks on it or just share it individually with other collectors who who share again similar interests that they do and is really what draws new collectors in so this what is actually a really essential part of planning about your coin what is the story behind it what were the what were the key events that led to this coin's creation and to learn the story of your coin to learn that what there's a couple different resources you can consult and they include but they're most definitely not limited to the Newman numismatic portal it's a great resource it's an aggregator of content whether that be books periodicals like biographies documents photos everything you can imagine has I think millions of objects of digitized completely free numismatic information it is truly one of the best resources I've ever seen for numismatics I almost guarantee that any piece you're looking at unless it's the most obscure thing ever and even some of the most obscure things ever is going to be on the Newman numismatic portal so simply using that platform I highly recommend and that's a great thing for finding out the story behind your coin maybe you'll find an article from 1968 about about a bank note that you have in your collection and that really gives context that you couldn't find anywhere else physical publications are great too you don't just have to stick to digitized things books and magazines are are well are are are great resources sources of information they tend to be very thoroughly researched the ANA has a lending library if you're an ANA member it's the only cost you postage to borrow these books similarly if you want to purchase books or periodicals or wherever else it might be there's numismatic booksellers you can point you in the right direction or say hey have you thought of this reference and they can acquire that piece for you or whether that be a snipping from a newbies mags scrapbook in 1943 to a modern day Whitman book they can help you track that down so physical publications are great as well and then there's other websites I previously mentioned heritage auctions and and stacks bowers they have a great archives on there forums are a great place not only to learn about information it's already been posted but you can even send an inquiry and say hey I have this piece here's a photo can anyone tell me about this chances are someone can social media is great Facebook especially for identifying things Instagram has a lot of collectors on there tens of thousands many of whom are passionate young collectors who know how to use the internet to find information about your object so inevitably that's a great resource as well there's also a lot of other scholarly sites so the numismatic the American numismatic society association and other various specialty sites really have decent resources that can help you find information you're looking for so it might just be a matter of typing your your piece into a search engine and I'm really finding the results that follow here's a little picture of the newman portal logo at the top there so let's get into the where and the when part of building a broader context for this numismatic object right it is appreciation for it is the understanding of the world into which your object was created right your object wasn't created in a vacuum there was things happening in the country and or company that created the object and so it's important to have that that context even beyond how this coin was struck but what was going on in the world at the time right that heavily influences not only having that broader historical knowledge which is just kind of fun on its own but also having a true understanding of your object not only from a scholarly perspective and just a genuine interest perspective but also from a market-oriented perspective you're trying to buy or sell a coin it's really good to know that in so-and-so state it's so-and-so time this coin is going to be like generally coins are going to be more weakly struck because there was some kind of war going on and so as you approach buying a coin you're knowing that most of them are going to be more weakly struck because there was a war happening so having some context on the environment having some context on how current events were progressing in let's say 1864 really is helpful for you not only out of knowledge and appreciation but also as a buyer and a seller and most of this information is really available for free on the web or actually a great place is your local library this broader historical context does not have to come from newsmatic literature it can just come from broad history books and magazines there's there it's really quite easily accessible information and quite fasting information so it's quick and free to really access you can get it locally but it will pay dividends and your collection building efforts it will really help you become a better collector overall understanding the context of the world into which this coin was created how about the why so now that you know the context behind the coins creation from the what you know the stories and you know the context of the world of the time from the one of the where now it's worth examining the object itself look at look at this piece let's say for example it is a double eagle that's just off the top of my head let's look at the exact coin itself this is one of the courses always stuck with me a very famous collector said this in the late 20th century he said why this design with these devices and inscriptions and this denomination in this metal at this weight at this time and not others this is kind of a very multifaceted why question but it's an important one and it kind of ties a little bit into the way in the where a lot of the reasons that your coin is going to be the way that it is is because of what was going on the world at the time US coin collectors will know that some of the silver coins has been debased over the years and that has to do with external factors it wasn't new mismatches usually pushing for this it was economic forces etc so why this design right why are we seeing lady liberty on this coin well that's a really good question there's actually a lot of really fascinating answers to it that are important to know why these devices and inscriptions like right in god we trust very famous in US coins why is that there and what are the implications and ramifications of having that model on our coinage and this denomination right why don't we still have 20 cent coins in the US good question it's something you should probably research in this metal why is it 90% silver 70% silver or pewter or copper or a copper nickel clad why is it that way again you're going to find answers and you're going to be probably find yourself in a bit of a rabbit hole as you explore these why's at this weight especially and at this time which is also super key and then of course not others so why is really quite an essential thing let's talk about how obviously the internet is a really great resource as we kind of discussed with numismatic portal already very fantastic as a social media forums and option websites specialty organizations like I previously mentioned and also miscellaneous strongly websites I'd like to share with you all actually really briefly speaking of auction websites the heritage auctions website which actually I pulled up an example from one of their recent options and you kind of get an insight into really what the who what where when why and how is right so this was one that sold yesterday actually it was from Columbia University before this Columbia University it was a literary prize medal and I was down in Dallas recently and I got a chance to hold this one and take a look at it just before it was sold and and as you go into the law description you get quite a bit of context many of you have likely not seen this medal before but you can but using the resources that heritage auctions makes available for free in perpetuity you're able to really get insight into this medal right there's only three in existence in what I'm proud of hands kind of gives you some context on it and the context continues actually for quite a while this is a fairly expensive coin so obviously they're going to put a little bit more work into describing this than maybe any typical coin a typical collector buys but really it gives you all this insight of who what where when why and how and speaking of who here's a little bit of your provenance for you so really there's a lot of really good resources and what I'll share real quick with you also is the numismatic portal hopefully this pops up on your screen right here this is the homepage it was founded by airp Newman who's a very famous collector who passed away a few years ago but this can use to live on it's a great resource based out of the Washington University in St. Louis and you can see they're constantly updating things they have image collections auction catalogs going back for decades and centuries even and even if you're looking for again that who you have people on the left hand side here there are tons and tons of resources if you look at the bottom there's 42,000 books 10,000 auction lots 5,000 people and 25,000 encyclopedia records so really this is a beyond fantastic website let's get back into the how so you have the internet but you also have in person tangible sources of information right coin shows coin conventions are have been for me one of the best sources of information not only from the individual collectors but also from the dealers who are there who have a generally wealth of knowledge especially in some specialty areas token dealers you'll find no way too much about their about their subject but shows are really great resource for finding people for finding your community and I really have for a lot of my niche areas as well as previously mentioned books and periodicals from the A&E Library are super super helpful and very inexpensive and they have some really rare pieces that have great information that haven't been digitized yet and that will really help you in understanding your pieces books and periodicals from elsewhere like I said you can purchase them yourself or borrow them yourself from elsewhere and Numismatic booksellers like Colby and Fanning are really great resource and and as are from a bunch of other places as well if you remember the American Numismatic Society you have access to their resources a lot of the specialty clubs have resources if you remember these clubs they often issue periodicals so those of you who are members of clubs like the early American Copper Society and the Numismatic Bibliomania Society will get quarterly periodicals with great original research and that can really help you gain not only the appreciation for the piece you have in your hands but also for the broader series or the broader niche as a whole and again your local library as you're building this local context or this broader context of the world local library is a great access point as is honestly the internet but when in doubt really just ask another Numismatist if you haven't really got a chance to interact in person with the Numismatist as most of us haven't due to COVID but if you hadn't before that really take advantage as quickly as you can to create an interaction whether that be in person or online if you ideally in person though so if you get a chance after COVID to go to a show or come to summer seminar for the ANA that is really going to further your appreciation for the hobby and I really do recommend that if you're going to online routes you could start in the forums that's a great place to kind of start having discussions with the collectors and sharing your knowledge and hearing from them but also social media is a great place and if you have interest in pursuing kind of a social media aspect there's lots of resources available for Numismatist to get involved a lot of honestly young collectors have created so that you can actually get more knowledgeable about getting started online but with that said that's the main bulk of the presentation here basically it's intentionally short because it really is not that much of a complex process you just go through that who, what, where, when, why, how and it'll be basically enough for you you can kind of take that rabbit hole as far as you want I've spent two minutes researching a piece and I've spent days researching a piece so it's really up to you up to the piece and kind of how you want to approach that either way is beyond rewarding that's about all I'll say Logan all right well we do have one question so far and again if you have any questions please put them in the chat we're in the Q&A and I will read them can anyone buy from Heritage or do you need to be a dealer yes you can buy from Heritage let me actually show you this real quickly so anyone can buy from Heritage if they want to via their online options or they often actually host them at shows I know Logan you're involved with shows so you probably have some maybe overlap with that here but if you just create a Heritage account in effect you will can then basically go into their auction platform like you see here and basically choose any of their departments they have a bunch of different stuff they sell if we go to their main page here here's an auction that's happening in 22 hours and anyone can bid just with that account and then they register your credit card information so it really does work out quite nicely anyone can be involved with that cool next one have you ever used internet image searches yes yes internet image searches can be useful I there's different a couple different ones so I I don't know which one you're exactly referring to but in terms of like the images that piece just an NGC use like the true view those are actually very useful as are the Heritage Auctions and Stacks Bowers ones a lot of organizations will take really nice high quality photos that will allow you to kind of back search those coins and find more information so if that works for you 100% that's a great way to find information especially if it's a piece that you really have no good starting points on that happens with a lot of tokens I don't really click tokens myself but I know a lot of token collectors who use like a token catalog.org and they'll back search their tokens via image especially if it's like a very unidentifiable token all right next one maybe I should say who this is because it is a personal question so my name Ross Johnson I don't know if you're friends does Kellan get teased for having a numismatic last name does he refer to his collection as the Kellan Horde? I don't refer to it as the Kellan Horde that's an excellent idea I don't get teased for it I actually get a lot of like appreciation for it actually people like that just works out very nicely and it does part of the one problem I've run into is my my numismatic oriented Instagram account which is on social media the username is KellanCoin and I've had people meet me in real life and think my last name is and they'll be like that's like what a cool coincidence I'm like sorry it's not my last name is Horde and like oh that still works out and it does so I don't get teased for it I actually get I get praised for it and I'm happy about that good good Kellan what do you feel the future of the hobby will fair with younger how or I think it's how do you feel the future would of the hobby will fair with younger persons who are more used to high energy high speed entertainment yeah that's an excellent question that's kind of the question to everyone's minds all the time I think it will fair well to be honest with you young people who are interested in coins are going to be interested in coins regardless of the internet it's mostly up to individual hobbyists and organizations to figure out how to meet young collectors where they're at in my opinion earlier today so I don't know how many of you are familiar with TikTok it's a video app that like 500 million young people use and not even just young people like of all ages and and I across my page as I was scrolling came a coin TikTok which I actually hadn't seen before I'm surprised by that and the coin account the account had 1.3 million followers and they just talk about coins and so you're meeting these young people where they're at and and every every video gets tens if not hundreds of thousands of views people are when there's live streams people are engaged and interested so I really think when you meet young people where they're at they are genuinely curious everyone passed through coins I recently looked at it and the 2008 state quarters had 147 billion Americans collecting them mostly younger people and so as long as we're translating those younger people and bringing them more into the full of the hobby I really don't think you're going to have an issue people touch coins very frequently and and and once you show that connection there's also been a lot of news and headlines recently about really high expensive coins selling that tends to bring attention to the hobby as well I'm not sure if it's positive or negative if people are like drawn away but like go on multimillion dollar prices but either way just bring attention so I'm really not worried about young people joining the the key for me I'm also not worried about young people leaving the hobby I think once you get that initial engagement and hopefully it's somewhat a level engagement my ideal marker is you get them to come to December seminar I think once you get that you're pretty much hooked for life but even if they leave basically data seems to show that they come back in like their 30s they'll like they'll kind of quit for college and starting a family but their 30s or 40s or especially when their kids move out of the house in like 40s or 50s and they have some disposable income going on that is when collectors really seem to come back in so getting that initial hook in collectors is key and Abby Zekman who I think her talk was on that so you guys can go watch that but really I'm not I'm not too concerned about it I don't and there's been concerns for decades about getting young collectors involved so far they have not borne free okay next one what is your favorite coin? don't have a favorite coin I that'd be like picking a favorite child but I'd probably be more inclined to pick a favorite child I don't I don't have a favorite coin I do kind of like one up there is the 43 steel scent just because it's a very unique piece and I love the story behind it all right does early American Copper Society deal with metals such as Libertas, Americana I don't know if you know the answer to that I don't know yeah so early American Copper Society deals with half sense large sense in some colonial pieces they don't overlap with metals but if you are interested in metals join the Metal Collectors Association the MCA and then so the Token and Metal Society as well yes yes so those both work Token Metal Society is a little bit more token oriented but they do have both Metal Collectors Association really is has basically the top scholars in the entire hobby what tends to happen with Numismatists as they go up in years especially Numismatists who started like collecting U.S. federal coinage they shift to like kind of the weird stuff they get bored with the date mid-mart collection they shift kind of the weird stuff and that tends to be metals because that has a lot of the cool history and stories and crazy context and so you basically have about 20 of the top minds of the hobby leading the MCA who publish a really fantastic quarterly publication and who are weirdly accepting of the of questions and inquiries that you send to them so the MCA for a young Numismatist is like $5 a year for an adult like $35 a year been totally worth it and you'll find just such fantastic information awesome is there a way to search for a particular currency notes sales history by using its serial number there is I believe you can do that on the option on both the option websites by serial number I'm like 90% sure don't get upset at me if it can't because I don't know as much about paper money but there's really quite a lot of different ways both online just with search engines with Google and with auction company websites to search up paper money and I imagine serial numbers probably one of them