When he started a lifetime journey as a coin collector Jon Minor quickly learned a valuable lesson.
At age 11 he saw an advertisement for coins in a magazine. He sent $5 for an Indian head penny. When the coin arrived “it looked like it had been run over by a truck,” Minor told 40 people hanging on his every word at the Iola Public Library Thursday evening. “I went to the post office to return the coin, but I didn’t have enough money to mail it back by registered mail,” a requirement to ensure its safe return.
“‘You got took,’ my granddad said,” with Minor imitating his gruff tone.
He took the experience to heart, and was helped along when his grandfather sent him to Roscoe Kemerling, a druggist in Humboldt.
“Roscoe dealt in coins on the side and when he found out I was interested in collecting, he taught me a lot,” Minor related. “He told me not to buy culls, buy uncirculated coins.”
In turn, Minor drew on his years of experience to tutor his audience with an hour-long, well-illustrated presentation.
Rarity makes a coin valuable, but a second factor, often overlooked by novices, is just as important. “Condition. That’s what decides what a coin is worth,” he said.
Example: An Indian head in mint condition could fetch $3,000, but one in the poorest condition wouldn’t sell for more than 25 cents, and the seller would be lucky to find anyone interested, Minor said.
Coins are graded by third-party experts — he prefers Professional Coin Grading Service — with their condition assigned numbers, from poor 01 to mint state 70. Mint state means a coin has barely seen the light of day since released from its die. Seldom does a coin grade that high, except for specially prepared proof coins that are minted for sale to collectors.
He shared coins of various grades, including one that had had its surface carefully improved but not good enough to escape notice of a professional grader. Tampering with a coin lessens its value.
A collector with experience — Minor has it in spades – can grade coins, provided he or she has a strong magnifying glass, ample light and experience.
Minor said a new collector — and those familiar with the hobby who want to improve their collections — should arm themselves with several tools.Take advantage of all on the Internet, books and periodicals, and “look at lots of coins, at shows or in dealers’ shops.”
MINOR enlivened his presentation with peculiarities of the hobby and by sharing rare coins and currency that reside in his collection.
A small, octagonal $1 California gold coin, graded at almost uncirculated (AU) 55, is rare and worth $700, he announced. Jewelers and assessors manufactured such coins that were negotiable although not of federal government origin. They have a narrow collector focus, and Minor’s is one of just 79 that PCGS has graded, a numerical aside that demonstrates its rarity.
“Today there are counterfeit coins in counterfeit holders on the market,” Minor said, almost exclusively of Chinese origin. Such coins are easily detected by any grading service. Weight and “feel” often give them away to experienced collectors.
