Should I Collect Coins or Paper Money?

If you are thinking about starting a collection of your own you are going to need to think about your theme – coin collecting or paper money collecting? While some will choose both, most are going to try to stay within one specific theme. There are some positives and negatives to sticking with each of these themes.

Take the time to look into the good and bad of collecting both types of currency. You may find that a coin collection is perfect for your needs, or may find that paper currency is perfect for what you want to do. The more thought you put into it, the more you can be sure that you have chosen the right form of collecting.

Coins

One of the most interesting things about coins comes from the amount of times that they are changed. The design for coins will change much more rapidly than the design for paper money. The coins are easier to produce and are easier to change. Some forms of US currency have multiple styles per year. The $.25 pieces changed multiple times per year, with each piece representing a different state with a different design. The $1 Presidential coins feature a different face for every president, changing multiple times per year.

Coins are also easier to find, simply because they are known to last longer than paper money. Individuals can easily dig up old coins that they find in the ground, something that rarely, if ever, happens with paper money. Paper money is going to biodegrade, making older pieces of paper money harder to find.

There are both inexpensive coins to collect and rare, expensive coins to collect. Know that you have a wide variety of options in each country if you are going to collect coins.

Paper Money

While some enjoy coin collecting, others enjoy the thrill that comes from collecting paper money. Individuals find that paper money has more interesting designs, making for a more colorful and vibrant collection than your average coin collection. Paper money has more design interest on it, giving individuals more insight into national moods and time periods when they look into the design.

With that being said, paper money is much harder to find and is often more expensive than regular coins. Paper money collecting will be more time consuming and more expensive than coin collecting. This is the type of collecting that is for more serious collectors. Much like coin collecting, there is enough diversity in the market for there to be both inexpensive and expensive pieces of paper money to collect.

Do you like the idea of collecting smaller pieces of currency? Work on collecting coins. Do you like the idea of colorful money with interesting art pieces? Collect paper money. While you may need to do some research and some inner searching, you will be able to highlight the perfect form of collecting for your personal needs.