Sticking to a Budget

In August 2019, I spent two and a half days at the World’s Fair of Money^® (WFM) in Rosemont, Illinois, and had a terrific time. My experience was filled with enjoyable conversations, informative seminars, and interesting exhibits. And, of course, I bought some things. In fact, I found so many appealing items that I couldn’t pass up because I may not see them again. Due to this, I depleted most of my numismatic budget for the year. The stretch was worthwhile, but now I must practice numismatic austerity—that is, being more strict with my collecting budget to maximize hobby enjoyment. Fortunately, our hobby offers numerous opportunities for low-cost fun. Here are some of my favorites.

Your hands literally might get dirty going through them, but it’s well worth it.

Items Priced Per Piece

I always find it enjoyable to go through boxes of diverse loose items, with usually low, fixed prices per piece. Examples include common collectibles like Wheat Ears Reverse or Indian Head cents. However, you can also find more specialized items such as tokens, world coins, or bank notes. Your hands literally might get dirty going through them, but it’s well worth it. This kind of rummaging isn’t possible online, but you can find such items in “lot” quantity at relatively low prices. 

Junk Silver

In this case, “junk” is not meant as a derogatory term. It simply refers to common silver coins (dimes, quarters, half dollars) without any numismatic premium and whose value is based on their precious metal content. If you ever have the opportunity to look through a dealer’s accumulation of junk silver, you’ll probably find some nice pieces—mostly in circulated grades and perhaps some approaching uncirculated. With sufficient searching, I bet you could come up with some impressive discoveries. Likely finds might include a nearly complete collection of Roosevelt dimes or Franklin halves, a good start on a set of Washington quarters, and much of the second half of the Winged Liberty Head “Mercury” dime series. There might even be a few Barber coins mixed in. It’s like taking a time machine back to 1964 and cherrypicking coins from circulation.

Books

The standard advice is to “Buy the book before the coin.” My corollary is “Buy the book to appreciate the coin.” Whatever your motivation, buying books is always a good investment. At the WFM, I picked up two recently published works: Girl on the Silver Dollar: The Morgan Dollar Story by Roger Burdette and U.S.P.I.: Philippine Coinage Under American Sovereignty by Eldrich Yap and Janssen Bantugan. I also purchased a choice 50-year-old volume, Swedish Coins: 1521-1968 by Bertel Tingström. Even in today, out-of-print works like this one and many others are still great and relevant references.

Whatever your motivation, buying books is always a good investment.

I got a pretty good workout carrying these books around the convention, which was a bonus. If you want to satisfy your numismatic curiosity without doing any heavy lifting, there are plenty of options for purchasing new and used numismatic texts online.

Get Your Feet Wet

Near the show’s end, I found a dealer with a good inventory of printers’ test notes. These are pieces with designs that resemble bank notes intended to promote a company’s capabilities. Printers’ test notes have been a lingering interest of mine, so I took the opportunity to acquire several relatively inexpensive pieces. It’s a small collection that might become larger one day.

When you’re exploring an unfamiliar hobby pursuit, don’t be afraid to tell a dealer that you’re just beginning and would appreciate some recommendations for an inexpensive start. You’ll probably get some good advice and might even establish an ongoing connection as you continue your new interest. If you don’t have an idea for a collecting area to pursue, keep your eyes open at coin shows or while browsing online listings. I’m sure you’ll find something that appeals to you.

These are just a few examples of how you can pursue numismatic austerity. In our hobby, at every price point, there’s a lot to enjoy.

A version of this article appeared in the November 2019 issue of The Numismatist (money.org).