Category
Collecting Tips
13 articles in this category
When the Label Raises the Money: CAC Grading Turns Certification Culture Toward the Numismatic Community
October 9, 2026
Twenty thousand John Albanese-autographed CAC Grading inserts reportedly generated a six-figure charitable fund, and offer a useful lesson about separating the holder from the coin.
The Great American Coin Hunt Goes Literal: Four Cities, 20 Days and $40,000 in Numismatic Prizes
October 7, 2026
Stack's Bowers is taking numismatics outside the display case this October with treasure hunts across four American cities and $40,000 in reported prize value.
How to Start a Coin Collection Without Wasting Money
September 30, 2026
Most people do not decide to become collectors. A cigar box turns up in a parent’s closet, or a cashier hands back a quarter with a worn eagle on the reverse, and a question arrives on its own: is this worth anything, and what am I supposed to do with it? That is a better […]
Is It Worth Getting Your Coins Graded?
September 22, 2026
It usually starts with a drawer. A parent’s old cigar box, a folded envelope of silver dollars, a few gold pieces somebody bought decades ago and never talked about. Somewhere in the sorting, a question arrives: should any of this go off to a grading service and come back sealed in plastic? Put plainly: is […]
How to Sell a Gold and Silver Collection Without Regrets
September 14, 2026
Almost everything written about precious metals is written for buyers. The other side of the counter gets a fraction of the attention, which is odd, because nearly every holding is sold eventually: by the person who built it, by a spouse, or by an adult child working through a safe deposit box on a deadline. […]
How to Clean Coins Without Destroying Their Value
September 7, 2026
Somebody hands you a cigar box of dark silver dollars from a grandparent’s dresser, and the impulse arrives before the thought does: make them look like money again. Every coin shop in America has watched that impulse walk through the door about an hour too late. The blunt version is that most cleaning takes value […]
How to Insure a Gold and Silver Collection
August 31, 2026
The stack in your safe is real money. Your homeowners policy does not see it that way. To most standard policies, a shelf of gold and silver counts as loose change, capped at a figure that would not replace a single ounce. That gap is quiet until the day you file a claim, and by […]
How to Spot Fake Gold and Silver Coins
August 23, 2026
The coin arrived in a plastic flip stamped with a famous mint’s name, and it weighed almost exactly one troy ounce. Almost. By the time the buyer thought to put it on a scale, the online seller had vanished. Versions of this story circulate through every coin club in the country, and they all end […]
How to Pass Your Gold and Silver to Your Heirs
August 13, 2026
Most of what you own leaves a paper trail. A brokerage account has a beneficiary form, a house has a deed, a bank account has a payable-on-death line you can fill in. A tube of gold coins in a closet safe has none of that. It carries no name, files no statement, and answers to […]
How to Store Gold and Silver Safely: Your Options Compared
July 31, 2026
Buying the metal is the easy part. The question that keeps people up at night comes later: where do you actually keep a stack of gold and silver so it is safe, insured, and still yours to reach when you want it? There is no single right answer. A tube of silver rounds and a […]