USEFUL FREE WEBSITES
Very few of us have a complete and unfailing encyclopedic knowledge of the field of numismatics (coin collecting.) As such, it is very helpful to maintain a list of online references to share knowledge. These are some of my favorite (and most useful) FREE coin-related websites.
The titles are links - feel free to check them out and come back!
Note: I am not affiliated with any of these websites, nor am I being compensated for sharing their links. I have just found them useful! If you have a free website that you feel would be helpful to include here, please don’t hesitate to contact me. The WWW is a HUGE place, and I’m sure I’ve missed many corners of it!
Coin Forums
One of the first pieces of advice I will give someone when they are either just starting out (or seeking ways to increase their numismatic knowledge) is to join an online coin community, or coin forum. This was one of the first things I did when I decided to get back into coins (after a short hiatus during my time in the military.)
There are MANY knowledgeable and helpful members of the following forums (including many who are not knowledgeable, not friendly, and not helpful, but that’s what “ignore” buttons are for.) Once you join a forum, you can start out by “lurking” - just scrolling through thousands of threads on any particular subject area, but not commenting. Many forums have users who post digital images of their coins (including myself) - and this can be a very, very useful tool - first of all, just to get an idea of what other people collect, but also to learn more about almost everything related to numismatics - grading, etiquette, pricing, color/toning, die varieties, mint errors, buying/selling, and a LOT more.
TONS of great threads and extremely knowledgeable collectors from around the globe
Includes specific sub-forums by a variety of different categories, countries, and collecting interests
Very well laid out and moderated
Minimal advertising
Strict rules about Buying/Selling/Trading coins make it a lot more difficult to sell coins there (they specifically state they don’t want the focus of the site to be a B/S/T forum, so they are at least up front about it.
LOTS of great threads and extremely knowledgeable collectors
Includes specific sub-forums by a variety of different collecting interests
Very well laid out and usually well-moderated, although over the past few years there have been many users testing the boundaries of currently acceptable behavior. Have also dealt with my fair share of just pretty rude people there - although, frankly, that’s everywhere these days. Definitely a reason I no longer post much there at all.
No ads and daily Buy/Trade/Sell posting privileges for Supporters ($29 USD/year), but highly annoying and intrusive ads without Supporter status
Drag and drop image uploading (a plus)
Lots of great threads and extremely knowledgable collectors
Includes specific sub-forums by a variety of different collecting interests
Moderators do not enforce their own rules and standards equally, frequently allowing pro-conservative (specifically pro-trump) political posts as well as personal attacks to remain active.
Adding links to posts is a PITA and often results in errors.
Lots of great threads and extremely knowledgable collectors
Includes specific sub-forums by a variety of different collecting interests
Can be relatively dead/quiet compared to other forums, but users were overwhelmingly more friendly here
Last time I was a regular user, it was a bit complicated to upload images
Lots of great threads and extremely knowledgable collectors
Includes specific sub-forums by a variety of different collecting interests
Coins And Canada Discussion Forum
Lots of great threads and extremely knowledgeable collectors (primarily Canadian coins)
Coins And Canada Price Guide can be very helpful, especially with die varieties that many books or sites might not have
Have not had great luck getting responses to questions here
Reddit r/Coins and r/CoinClub subs
LOTS of daily users in r/Coins, but most tend to be relative newcomers to coin collecting in general, so a lot of duplicate questions and posts - for example, lots of posts about W-mint quarters and damaged coins purported to be “mint errors”
A few daily users in r/CoinClub (supposed to be for more experienced coin collectors)
Reddit r/Coins4Sale and r/PMSForSale can be good places to sell off excess items from your collection
Ideally, you can ask for help specifically with US die varieties
Can be extremely difficult to get responses a lot of the time
Ideally, you can ask for help specifically with US die varieties
Can be extremely difficult to get responses a lot of the time
General Information
Very useful for up-to-date information on upcoming coin shows
Price Guides
Numismedia FMV (Fair Market Value)
Free online price guide for US coins (including commemoratives and mint / proof sets)
Includes every grade (although sometimes, as with “junk” silver, there is no numismatic premium for certain coins below a certain grade)
Coinflation (Silver Melt Value Calculator)
Free online calculator for US silver coins - just select your coin type and quantity, and it will tell you how much “melt value” is contained in your coins - constantly updated with current spot price.
Includes US and Canadian Silver Sets
Includes Canadian and Mexican silver coin ASW (does not have a calculation function, though)
Is missing the 40% silver clad BU/Proof Washington Quarters (I have emailed them about this on 12/28/2020)
Operated by PCGS (use this link to find out about membership and grading services)
Free online price guide for graded US Coins (and some World Coins - I’ve found the World Coin guide to be a bit difficult to search)
Includes helpful pricing info for PCGS recognized die varieties
Has a TON of PCGS TrueView photos (can be partnered with PCGS Photograde to help you judge your own coins’ grade)
Includes auction results for more real-world pricing
Includes population reports for PCGS certs
Operated by NGC (use this link to find out about membership and grading services)
Free online price guide for graded US Coins
Includes helpful pricing info for NGC recognized die varieties (not always the same as PCGS)
I’ve found this website a bit difficult to navigate at times, especially on mobile
Includes population reports for NGC certs
Free online price guide for graded World Coins.
Does not include every grade - for example, usually only MS60/BU or MS60/MS63 for UNC grades - so high-end coins will require some homework on your part.
Usually information comes from Krause guides, so it can be a bit outdated - but is still very useful as a point of reference.
If you have difficulty using their search tool, sometimes typing in LESS information will give you more options in a drag down menu. For example: sometimes typing in Country Date Denomination will not return a result, so only typing Country Date or sometimes only Country will give you a list of coins to choose from.
I have noticed inconsistencies in their naming conventions (which probably contributes to the above issues with their search tool.)
Free online price guide and reference tool for US and World Coins and Exonumia (tokens)
Very basic price info - sometimes (in my experience) very lacking in real world accuracy.
Includes rarity scales, which can be helpful in determining relative value.
Has a lot of esoteric items not found on other sites.
Searchable by country/year/subject, so useful for assembling type sets or setting collection goals.
Searchable database of past completed auctions (with high-resolution images)
Requires an account to view full images and sold prices
Searchable database of past completed auctions as well as current listings
Can often find lots of hard-to-find items in one place
Lots of fakes, counterfeits, terrible pictures, and misinformation - very poorly moderated
I do NOT recommend eBay if you are a small-time seller (due to predatory practices regarding returns, final value fees, and HORRID customer support.)
Reference Pages
Variety Vista (home of CONECA Master Variety Listings)
Operated by Dr. James Wiles
Has TONS of useful images and reference pages for every CONECA recognized US Coin Die Variety
Also has plenty of attributed examples of die varieties for sale by Dr. Wiles
Offers attribution services
John Wexler’s Coins and Die Varieties
Operated by John Wexler
Has TONS of useful images and reference pages for multiple die varieties, including some not yet formally recognized by CONECA
Has very useful reference pages on “worthless” errors (or basically, things people confuse with real die varieties, like strike doubling.)
Offers attribution services
Home of the American Numismatic Association
Tons of useful links, including more general links to numismatic resources
ANA membership qualifies you for a free NGC submitter account (does not need to be maintained to keep your NGC account)
CONECA (The Combined Organization of Numismatic Error Collectors of America)
TONS of great images and descriptions of Lincoln Cent Die Varieties and Mint Errors - VERY useful!
Lincoln Cent Forum as part of the site
Brian Ribar’s Jefferson Nickel Double Die Reference
TONS of great images and descriptions of Jefferson Nickel Die Varieties
Type B Reverse Washington Quarters
TONS of great images and information for Type B and Type C Washington Quarter Die Varieties
Forum can be a little dead from time to time
TONS of images of world coins
Really useful for figuring out the dates on Japanese coins when you have them
LOTS of useful information on Australian coins
LOTS of useful information on UK (Great Britain, Ireland) coins including die varieties
Great information on a variety of subjects including Euro coins and Greek coins