How to invest money in coins correctly. How to collect your first coin collection? Which coins to choose? What a novice numismatist needs to know about coins

The word numismatics, which means historical discipline, which studies the history of coinage, has Greek roots. It is based on the word nomos - law, increased to nomism - coin, legal means of payment.

Collecting and the study of coins began during the Italian Renaissance. It was then that scientists wrote their first works, which examined ancient coins and explained the inscriptions and images on them. The person who laid the foundation for the systematization of knowledge about coins is considered to be the Austrian Eckel (1737-1798), who wrote the 8-volume work “The Science of Ancient Coins.” It was published in Vienna at the end of the 18th century and enjoyed success among a wide educated public.

Coins were not always minted only as a means of payment. A special category consists of commemorative metal money, for example:

• Pfenning of the executioner of Hamburg;
• commemorative coin about visiting the minting yard;
• absolution;
• to death;
• for birth.

And many others that were issued as memorial signs for an event or about a person.

In our country, numismatics, like many other European trends, appeared during the reign of Peter I. The Emperor created a personal mintskabinet, and after that the fashion quickly spread among the nobles. At the end of the 19th century, many people in Russia were interested in collecting, as evidenced by the mass catalogs of that time. Today the most famous collection is kept in the Hermitage. It covers the period from the 7th century BC to the present.

For a collection or a briefcase?

Once upon a time gathering metal money was a purely royal hobby, but today it is available to almost everyone. There are two categories of people who collect coins.

1. Those who collect collections to satisfy their own aesthetic needs. They strive to select pieces that have significant historical value and are artistically pleasing.
2. Investors are those who select coins based on their potential to provide significant financial returns in the future.

However, the former have every chance of their collection becoming an excellent investment. Whereas investors usually do not organize their collection, viewing it only as an investment. Practice shows that a competent investment in coins brings greater profit than in gold or precious stones.

Collection of modern commemorative coins

Collecting is good because you create the rules yourself, guided only by your own interests.

Often, a collection is compiled on the basis of the same denomination, banknotes of a particular country or era, and on any other principles, sometimes understandable only to its author. But the collection must have a theme, and this is the first thing a novice collector should think about.

From this point of view it is interesting commemorative coins, which are today released in different countries. Among their topics you can find:

• history of the state;
• animals;
• plants;
• birds;
• historical figures;
• architectural monuments;
• sport.

And this is not a complete list. Copies of commemorative metal money can be found on the official website of the Bank of Russia. There you will find all the commemorative items released since 1992, as well as the release plan for the next year, which is very convenient.

As for foreign commemorative means of payment, there you can find any themes and designs that boggle the imagination: enamel, holography, inserts precious stones and more. Each series is truly unique, and a novice collector has every chance to collect a worthy album.

Quality of coinage

If you decide to collect a collection of modern coins, then you should not delve into the international or other system for assessing the quality of coins. It is enough to understand only two states.

1. Proof - proof, Polierte Platte - the highest quality of embossing, which is only achievable when using special equipment. Such coins are produced individually, with a large share manual labor. The machines can develop pressure of hundreds of tons, and pressing is done several times to achieve a clear relief. The finished products are pulled out of the machine and immediately filled with plastic in which they will be stored. Such metal money is simply beautiful: smooth, mirror-like, with a contrasting matte relief, with details worked out to the smallest detail, without burrs and traces of human hands.
2. Improved quality - Bunc, BU - such coins are produced on conventional machines, but using special blanks and auxiliary tools. Automation also allows you to avoid contact with your hands. However, these coins do not look as shiny as the first ones, and may even have burrs or scratches visible to the naked eye. They are usually packaged in soft plastic flasks or souvenir boxes

Lately, on many forums, websites and even in queries through which people find my blog, I come across the following topic: “Which coins are best to start collecting collections from?” Without hesitation, I decided to write a post on this topic. Surely my advice will be useful to someone, although not an experienced numismatist, but at the same time no longer a beginner.

Of course, it all depends on what kind of coins you like. I personally have always been attracted to coins modern Russia and foreign countries. If you do too, then I advise you to start with 10 rubles commemorative coins. Currently, the Bank of Russia has issued several series of such coins. But it’s best to start by collecting coins that were dedicated to some events, be it the Population Census (by the way, it’s still not in my collection). Next, I advise you to start collecting coins from the “” and “” series. There are a lot of these coins on hand and, of course, not all of them, but you can get many of them just like that (change in stores or exchange with relatives). By the way, this year it starts new series coins "". And this would also be a great place to start. new collection and coin collecting in general. You can also buy special coin albums to keep track of what you have and what coins you still need to find or purchase. I bought one of these albums the other day and am now waiting for it to be delivered by mail.

The next step, I consider it necessary to start collecting a collection of 2 ruble coins from the “Hero Cities” series and 10 ruble coins from the “” series. Ministries can still be found in circulation, not all are true, but 2-3 out of 7 are accurate. But with Hero Cities it will be a little more complicated. I personally don’t remember the last time I saw a coin from this series. Of course, I saw 1-2, but they were in such bad condition that I didn’t even know what to do with them. I did adapt one, and now I’m conducting my experiments on cleaning coins on it.

Well, that's kind of the main thing. Regarding foreign coins? Here I would advise you to pay attention to US coins, namely 25 cents with the image of states. There seem to be 52 of them in total. There are also albums for such coins. Or you can start collecting one-dollar coins with images of US presidents (I don’t remember how many, but enough).

I don’t forget other coins either. I personally think that it is very good to have 1-2 coins from different countries in your collection. For example, I have the Czech Republic, Latvia, Ukraine and some other countries. Of course, I would like to have coins from other countries, but I don’t have time for them yet.

That's it now. I think I have helped you determine the right direction for your future numismatic life. I wish you success and look forward to your comments on this matter.

The stock market is falling, the ruble is becoming cheaper, and interest on deposits barely reaches the inflation rate. And we all begin to think about other ways to preserve and increase our savings. "RG" found out that in our turbulent times, it turns out that you can combine business with pleasure: collecting antique coins and earn income from it. Here the dollar is successfully replaced by the old kopeck, drachma or Sevsky Czech.

Despite all the apparent secrecy, this business is very democratic. Unlike, say, the painting market. You can start with ten thousand rubles in your pocket. But you need to be prepared that, as in any new business, you will only have to invest two or three years. To later become the owner of the collection mediocre, start earning money.

And finally, turn into a wealthy collector. Whose “capital” can fit into one album, but the cost of these fifty coins will be comparable to an ordinary collection of tens of thousands of items.

Numismatics now is not at all the gold mine it was in the good old nineties. But it is always profitable to invest in antiques, simply because there are no more good antiques. The main thing is to strictly follow several rules. Numismatist and senior researcher at the Tsaritsyno Museum Pavel Ermolov told the RG correspondent about them.

You need to start small and simple in order to gain experience and knowledge. WITH eyes closed You cannot buy anything on the numismatic market. Start with relatively “easy” and “newbie-friendly” coins of the times Russian Empire or USSR.

National coins in “their” country have a significantly higher value than outside of it. Russian coins are relatively more valued in Russia, German coins in Germany, and so on. On the other hand, the more knowledge a particular branch of numismatics requires, the fewer collectors are interested in it. This means that the more difficult it is to sell the coin. Therefore, for example, ancient Arabic-language coins, even rare ones, can cost relatively cheap in Russia, close to the cost precious metal, from which they are minted.

Having chosen a specialization, study history, look at catalogs, look at coins. Communicate with numismatists and acquire reliable dealer-consultants. Preferably not knowing each other. The world of numismatists is not that big, and you will very soon understand which of the dealers are “bullshit” and “tearing the client”, and which is trustworthy.

You can understand this, for example, by comparing reviews of the same coin from different experts. The risk of running into an unscrupulous dealer is quite high, because the market is still in shades of gray and black. This is the legacy Soviet Union, where numismatics as a science was rapidly developing, but the market was underground, and a numismatist could easily go to jail for his collection.

Beware of fakes. There are many of them on the numismatic market. And the more expensive the item, the more likely it is to be a fake. It’s also bad that, unfortunately, in our country the laws do not protect collectors.

An expert can determine the authenticity of a coin, but his services are expensive because they require a lot of experience. Only after looking at several thousand items does a collector begin to identify coins that “fall out” from the usual series. Not necessarily fakes, but also barbaric imitations, products from rare mints, etc. You should definitely look at the coins in person, turning them in your hands.

3 kopecks from the time of Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible. Mid-16th century. Cost 100 rubles. Photo: RG Archive

You need to understand how coin production technology differed in different centuries and in different countries. For example, a 17th century South German or Austrian coin would have been rolled, and because of this all these coins are slightly elongated and curved. If you see cast ancient Russian money, then it is a fake, because in Rus' money was made from wire. It was chopped into equal pieces, flattened, and then an image was applied with a hammer.

Many ordinary people believe that if a coin is old and of excellent quality, then it is definitely a fake. However, there is no connection here, says Pavel Ermolov. A coin can be “killed”, erased, and at the same time counterfeit. Usually, “tourist” coins are made like this, which gullible tourists willingly buy up or “find” with metal detectors at the excavation site. It is enough to simply dump a handful of coins into a concrete mixer, and at the end we get an “antique” coin.

So don't chase "freebies". Of course, rarities bought for next to nothing is a favorite topic of conversation among collectors and the secret dream of every collector of rarities. However, for such a purchase you need to have knowledge, experience and instinct. Often, a beginning numismatist becomes a victim of his own greed, which is skillfully exploited by counterfeit sellers. And then, instead of a rarity, the overheated collector is left with an unnecessary counterfeit coin, for which he paid at least a third of the price of the genuine coin, but his own hard-earned money and, moreover, real money. Here it is important to keep a cool head and navigate the prices on the market.

Experience brings an indefinable flair that a numismatist needs no less than knowledge. Because you can stumble out of the blue. The story of the Sevsk Czech is indicative - a coin minted in Sevsk in 1686-1687 for the Left Bank Ukraine, which was recently annexed to Russia. It imitated the Polish one and a half lorry (in the Ukrainian style - Czech), which it was intended to force out of circulation.

This is a coin made of bad metal (copper with a small amount of silver), the Sevsky Czech looks very inconspicuous, as a result the Cossacks did not recognize it, and the circulation was melted down; very few survived. In 2000, a broken copy was sold for 3.5 thousand dollars, which was a lot of money back then.

A couple of years later they found a huge treasure trove of these coins, and now a decently preserved copy can be bought for $300-400. No one could have predicted that this treasure would be found. And they might not find him for another hundred years. But such risks must be taken into account. And this can only be helped by a good knowledge of the history of monetary circulation.

Sevsky Czech. Photo: RG Archive

There is no need to buy coins, even very ancient ones, in mediocre condition - they hardly increase in price. IN poor quality can only be purchased extremely rare specimens. Only good things and relatively rare things are suitable for investment. Banality, “tops,” as numismatists say, have even been falling in price over the last two or three years.

“If you go to a numismatic fair, you will see literally basins with “royal” copper on the shelves,” says Pavel Ermolov. “I mean coins of the 18th-19th centuries. These are worn or corroded coins, which can sometimes be found when digging up your garden in dacha in the village. Sometimes you can find quite interesting things there, but they cost 100-200 rubles apiece. The same coins, but in “luxury” condition, are placed separately on the display in special packaging. And sometimes they cost much more for beginners. They don’t understand the difference between them, and choose cheaper coins from the basin. But even after ten years, you won’t. best case scenario You will be able to get your own money for them."

You need to buy coins by carefully observing the market, without rushing. Antiques do not tolerate fuss.

From the very beginning, get rid of the stereotype that if a coin is ancient, then it is worth at least as much as a Moscow apartment. Unlike, for example, painting, a coin is a circulation item. For a beginner, it is sometimes a very serious shock to learn that an authentic ancient Roman or ancient Greek coin can cost a thousand or one and a half thousand rubles.

Even ancient and medieval coins can be sold by weight. It happens that a kilogram costs 500 rubles, that is, the coins are almost the price of scrap. And remember: the more ordinary the coin, even if it is very ancient, the harder it is to sell it later.

Ancient Roman coin of Emperor Gordian III. III century. Price: 50 dollars. Photo: RG Archive

The tetradrachm of some Macedonian king Philip II is one thing, and the tetradrachm of his son Alexander the Great is quite another. The price of coins consists of four components: the original circulation, historical existence, safety and popularity of the theme.

If the coin has a small circulation, and its existence was not easy (for example, the usurper ordered the coins with the profile of its predecessor to be melted down, but they managed to dig up a couple of treasures), and the name stamped on it is such that everyone knows it, then it is definitely worth taking, because it will only increase in price. For example, coins from the fleeting reign of Tsar Ivan Antonovich will never become cheaper.

Build your own complete collection. Subsequently, it can be sold as a whole for much more than in parts. If, of course, you can part with your brainchild. By the way, each collection bears the imprint of the personality of its owner and can tell a lot about him.

Investments in Russian numismatics for beginners

• How I started investing in numismatics;
• Strategy for increasing the collection;
• Principles of numismatics.

Grandma's piggy bank

I've been running this blog for over 6 years. All this time, I regularly publish reports on the results of my investments. Now the public investment portfolio is more than 1,000,000 rubles.

Especially for readers, I developed the Lazy Investor Course, in which I showed step by step how to establish order in personal finances and effectively invest your savings in dozens of assets. I recommend that every reader complete at least the first week of training (it's free).

It all started with a banal piggy bank. I don’t even remember how it appeared in our house, maybe it was a gift from someone, or maybe it was left from my grandmother. This is an ordinary Soviet piggy bank made of strong ceramics, in the form of a well-fed cat in a kitchen apron. Various little things were thrown at her with or without reason. Somehow, on New Year’s Eve (I think) 2009, at the family council a unanimous decision was made to open the piggy bank, because it was full, and for the sake of satisfying everyone’s curiosity. We opened it carefully by cutting off the thick cardboard covering the bottom. An autopsy and a lengthy recount showed that the cat’s budget was: about three and a half thousand in ten-ruble anniversary bimetallic coins and bills, two thousand in five-ruble coins and somewhere a little less than a thousand in rubles/kopeck piece. In general, it’s a small thing, but nice.

Several anniversary coins (Soviet rubles with Lenin and the anniversary of the Victory, two-ruble Gagarin, Murmansk, ruble Pushkin from 1999 and something else like that) have been gathering dust in a glass mayonnaise jar since time immemorial. “Anniversary” from Kote in a small number of non-repeating coins joined their ranks, and the rest of the savings migrated to the SberBank card, and then, soon, were mercilessly spent. From this event, one might say, my collection began.

And the piggy bank serves us to this day. It has become a family tradition, a modest annual investment with a one-year horizon. At the beginning of January the piggy bank begins and at the end of December we collect it. If once a month (for example, from your salary) you throw 1000 rubles into the piggy bank and daily dump the “ten coins” and “nickels” lying around in your pockets, then by the end of the year the “contribution” is 12,000 (in bills) + 6-7,000 (in iron), sometimes and more. Iron is only 10 and 5 ruble coins, as the largest representatives of their class. Agree, 20,000 rubles is a good bonus for the end of the year, during a period of acute shortage of gifts. And it turned out that the piggy bank has absolutely no effect on your overall financial condition, but it always makes you happy in December.

If the monthly contribution amount is increased to 2,000 rubles, then the final amount of savings will be different, but it will still be limited by the size of the piggy bank. As Anton rightly noted, in one of his articles, investing should have a goal. Likewise, we always have a “piggy bank goal”: gifts for children, vacations together, buying a computer, etc. The last December opening allowed us as a family to travel from St. Petersburg to Belarus for four days and go skiing during the New Year holidays. “Kopiloshnye” 22,000 rubles covered the costs of gasoline, accommodation and ski accessories.

In the office of our company, probably like everywhere else now, coffee machines are installed. Many of my colleagues apply them daily, at least once, but often more. The price of a glass of coffee is 35 rubles. Let's do some simple arithmetic: 35*5-6 (working days) = 190 rubles. – this is the average price of weekly coffee cups. 190*4=760 – monthly amount. And to calculate the annual amount, let’s take 10 working months, excluding vacations, holidays and additional days off as much as possible. 760*10=7600 additional rubles. The victims of coffee machines, of course, are our dear, jingling and always interfering pennies. In my opinion, the effect of such coffee is doubtful, although, to be honest, I try to hide it myself. But this, as they say, is a personal matter for everyone. Someone might add the cost of a daily pack of cigarettes to coffee, for example.

Collection strategy

When transferring the money earned from the piggy bank to card accounts, I still left some of the new anniversary ten-ruble coins in a long drawer, gradually replenishing the collection. I kept 2-3 copies of some coins in good condition, so that later I could exchange them for the missing coin in the set. For accounting and sorting, I bought a cardboard album with two spreads. This is how collecting grew into my hobby. Initially, I kept a collection of only bimetallic tens - the current Russian anniversary, that is, from what was most accessible. I currently have 4 parallel collections. I’ll talk about them another time, but for now I’ll focus on bimetallic tens and give several examples of collectible investing.

I think many people remember the series of “ten-ruble notes” dedicated to ministries Russian Federation. The coins were not particularly different, they were in free circulation and were generously given as change. Now the price of such a coin is about 140 rubles. That is, if I had left at least 10 sets of “ministries” back in 2001, I would now be able to enrich myself with an extra 7-8 thousand rubles. And this comes from the sale of coins whose face value is only 70 rubles. As the classic said: “Alice, give me the melaphone!”

As a second collecting strategy, I can give the following example. The plan for the annual issue of all coins is approved by the Central Bank in advance and, in principle, anyone can find out in what month and in what circulations certain coins will be issued. My point is that you can generalize the annual issue, put together a collection consisting of coins of different denominations, but of the same year: 1 kopeck, 5 kopecks, 10 kopecks, 50 kopecks, 1 ruble, 2 rubles, 5 rubles and 10 rubles.

The greatest interest today is the annual set of coins of 2010. Its cost, according to various estimates, ranges from 20 to 35 thousand rubles. This price is formed due to the very limited editions of the three anniversary tens released this year: 10 rubles “ Perm region"- circulation of 200,000 coins (approximate price ~3400-4000 rubles, depending on the condition of the coin), 10 rubles "Chechen Republic" - circulation of 100,000 coins (~8000 rubles), 10 rubles "Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug"—circulation of 100,000 coins (~12-13,000 rubles).

The limited circulation, and indeed the existence of such coins, tells me that this situation was the result of politics and some kind of government speculation - firstly, and secondly, a kind of artificial boost to the numismatic market. There can be many examples of choosing a strategy; it depends only on the depth of your imagination, desire and ability to invest money in coins.

Numismatics in Russia for beginners

I will highlight the main aspects that need to be taken into account when:

1. First of all, it is necessary to “get over” the desire, characteristic of all beginning numismatists, to buy everything in a row that is at least somehow similar to coins. It is not possible to collect everything.
2. Determine for yourself the purpose and area of ​​numismatics for collecting. Still, the main purpose of collecting coins is not speculative, but aesthetic and educational. If you want to collect a collection in order to sell it profitably after some time, then you need to remember that “some time” is a period of 5, or maybe 10-15 years. A short-term perspective is possible only with the resale of rare collectible coins, purchased obviously cheaper than their current price.
3. You need to know which coins are most in demand now. Predict market changes, predict which coins will increase in price in the coming years. In short, you need.
4. Where to start? I recommend starting with the two most affordable collections. The first is the current collection of current Russian commemorative coins. Such coins are always in use; you can get them for change in a store or public transport. In 10-15 years, such a collection will increase the price by 2-3 times. Price complete collection, already mentioned by me, bimetallic ten-ruble coins, and these are 111 pieces (including varieties) today, vary from 7 to 35-37 thousand rubles. However, it is.

The second collection is ordinary change coins: kopecks, 1, 2, 5, 10 rubles. This is surprising, of course, but ordinary is not anniversary ruble, some year 1986 may cost 1000 rubles, and the anniversary one of the same year 100-150 rubles. Such collections are very popular and are called “weather collections”.

1. To be an active participant in the collectible coins market, you need to know the current prices, as they say, be aware of the quotes. How do I do this? I am conducting an analysis of the market state in relation to the coin I am interested in at the moment on 3-4 sites: Avito, Meshok, Coins of Russia, Coin Archive, etc. There are plenty of options online.

Practice shows that for the same coin the price range can vary and vary by several times or even tens of times. On Avito you can buy a coin in your own city, look and feel it while buying it in person, and verify its authenticity. And from an auction site, most likely, you will buy the same one a little cheaper, but immediately add the cost of postal services to the price of the coin (these are usually paid by the buyer) and take into account the existing risks: the seller may not be reliable, the post office may lose the letter, the coin may turn out to be fake or simply not of the declared quality. Honestly, I have never encountered deception; sellers on auction sites value their reputation.