Here is a unique website that specializes in PCGS Registry Coins for the PCGS slabbed coin collector. If you are a PCGS Registry Set owner or ever thought of starting one then this is the website that will help you find Registry Quality coins. By the way, it’s a totally free service offered by Registry Collector.

“Registry Collector is a FREE service that enables PCGS Set RegistrySM coin collectors to automatically find the coins on eBay® they need to complete their registry collections. Registry Collector automatically finds just the coins you need for your collection without time consuming searches. Our service not only reduces time but enables collectors to easily review and compare only the auctions that are relevant to the set registry collection needed.”

To check out their service click here Registry Collector

The US Mint reports that 140,000,000 collect the State Quarter series in America, and many of these collectors often wonder if they are worth anything or how much they will be worth in the future. It’s a legitimate line of thought considering the millions upon millions of State Quarters the mint churns out every year. However, there are some ways to consider that could help State Quarter collectors get a return on their investment.

Below I highlight 3 different ways to collect the highly sought after quarters, so the chance for a return on your investment should be greater than just putting a few back out of your pocket change.

1. Buy rolls for face value from your local bank, put them away, and don’t ever touch them again until you ready to sale them. You will get these rolls for face value, and they will be unsearched, and unsearched rolls sale for more of a premium than searched rolls. Just check ebay for unsearched State Quarters rolls to see what I mean.

It’s a win-win situation for the collector because you can always get your money back without a loss, when needed, or wait a few years and make a little return for your “savings”. I just think of this as a savings that I can always tap into at a moment’s notice, or continue to add to it, and make more interest than banks allow me to earn if I just made regular deposits from my pay check.

2. Buy State Quarter Silver Proof Sets (red box) from the mint because these coins are silver, and have a substantially lower mintage than the business strikes quarters mentioned above. It’s usually a good idea to collect silver coins and/or the lowest mintage strikes of any series as they almost always allow for a break- even mark, and a good chance of a future return.

If a collector would have bought as many 1999 Silver Proof Sets they could afford, from the mint in 1999, look at the return they would be realizing today considering these proof sets now sale for $350 and up!

3. Read and learn as much about grading State Quarters, and modern coin grading in general, then buy rolls and bags of State Quarters from the mint and/or at your local bank, search these rolls for coins with the least amount of contact marks, and carefully handle them as you put them away in a safe place. When you are confident that you grading skills have improved enough, then send a few of the coins off to a top tier grading company like PCGS or NGC and see how well you did.

You might first discover your skills lacking, but after a few submissions you will get the hang of the little coin grading nuances, and begin to amass a collection of high grade State Quarters that are valuable and much easier to sale for a premium.

It might prove to be a bit daunting and costly method at first, but before you ride this off as a “too tedious and expensive of a task”, consider this fact: PCGS reports values, for some State Quarters graded MS and Proof in the top two grades of 69 and 70, anywhere from hundreds of dollars and up into the thousands of dollars. It all depends on the population of each grade.

Many State Quarters dates and states have never been graded the perfect grade of 70, and the value of finding one would net the finder many thousands of dollars on a huge auction platform like Heritage Auctions. *This method is the most difficult to master and can get expensive if you don’t learn grading, but many experienced collectors do make money using this method.

In conclusion, although no method of collecting can guarantee a return for your investment, these methods outlined above where written considering a few history lessons, and the study of coins values and why certain rolls and graded coins are most valuable.

Disclaimer: The author does not guarantee that any collector will earn any money from the methods in this article, and is not responsible for any monetary losses if you try them.

Check out our coin guides on ebay Ebay Guides

I have read several stories of people accidentally finding buried or hidden coin stashes in their house walls, cellars, and in their backyards. One story I recall from a friend is he was digging footers for a new barn where an old barn used to sit. As he dug along a corner of where the old barn use to sit, they dug up a mason jar of old silver coins.

Another story is closer to home because it involves my dad and when I was a child. He new an old man and his family, and the old man buried and hid coins in Mason jars all over his property. He made a map of each location and left it for his children when he died.

His children found almost all of the stash, but couldn’t find the jars buried in the backyard. So they called my dad (He is a local coin dealer) to bring his metal detector and try to find it. They said they where selling the house and he could keep anything he found because they new he and their old man has many dealings together.

Dad was allowed a viewing of the map, and the next day commenced detecting. He got several reads, but each time he dug, he kept hitting metal pipes. After an hour or so of futile digging he gave up. Later, a bulldozer uncovered the remaining stash as it went below the pipes to remove the old plumbing. The dover clipped the tops off of several jars filled with silver coins!

If you find this story interesting then you might find this blog post I found in interesting also. Blog

Have you ever wanted to design your own US Coin, or a coin in honor of a special occasion? Well, it’s a fact that you can, thanks to a company called coinable.com, and you don’t need to know how to draw or learn anything about coin designing either!

They provide a Power Point coin template that you can easily download, providing you have Power Point software, and you can choose the size, color (gold or silver finishes) and use your own logo or picture. Of course, they can design the coin for you or help you with a design. All you do is send them an email or call them on the phone with your details.

They have three sizes to chose from: 1 9/16″ (40mm), 1 3/4″ (44mm), 2″ (51mm), and several metal finishes to chose from: Antique Bronze, Antique Copper, Antique Silver, Shiny Silver, Matte Silver, Antique Gold, Shiny Gold, Matte Gold, Matte Nickel, Black Nickel, Rhodium, and Imitation Rhodium.

If that’s not enough already, you can chose several other features from this list:Heat changing paint, Glow in the dark paint, Glitter paint, Transparent paint, Pearlescent paint, Two-Tone Plating, Laser engraving/Edge text, Sequential numbering, Sandblasting, Cut-outs, Diamond cut edge, Twist, Flat or Weave, Reeded edge, Epoxy, Silk-screening, Photographic printing, lithography printing.

I was personally amazed at the different possibilities of coins I could have them make. I could have coins made with my children’s picture on them, my own fantasy, copper, reeded edge coin, or my own version of a US Silver Dollar, or make coins for a special occasion, or even a mood coin.

The only drawback is you must order at least 100 coins, but with an order of 300 coins the die cost drops, also different finishes and features have additional costs. But if one just wanted a simple copper coin, fantasy piece, it wouldn’t break the bank.

Also, Susan Headley, of about.com guide to coins, reports on her blog of an Austalian mint that will mint your coins on demand. Read this

Recently, Heritage Auction Galleries released an interesting top ten list for the highest valued US Coins sold by Heritage with a details grade of AG or lower. (For collectors that don’t know, a coin assigned a grade and details like “AG details”, for example, is a coin that would grade AG but it has been cleaned or has an altered surface.) The ten highest valued US coins sold by Heritage with a details grade of AG3 or lower: 1802 H10C NCS. AG Details, sold for $25,300. 1797 50C Fair 2 PCGS, sold for $20,701. 1794 1C Starred Reverse. S-48, B-28, R.5. AG3 NGC. Good 4 EAC, sold for $20,700. 1794 1C Head of 1794 AG3 PCGS, sold for $19,550. 1796 1/2 C With Pole AG3 PCGS, sold for $16,675. 1849 $5 Oregon Exchange Co. Five Dollar Fair 2 PCGS, sold for $14,950. 1796 1/2 C With Pole NCS. Fair Details, sold for $12,650. 1796 10C Fair Details, NCS. JR-7, R.8, sold for $11,500. 1802 H10C AG3 Details, NCS, sold for $10,350. 1802 H10C Fair Details, Net Poor 1, sold for $10,062. Some photographs are posted under the Fair Use doctrine of Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. ? 107 for the purpose of criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research.