How to Make a coin wish list

Every coin collector should have one of these. A coin wish list is exactly what it sounds like: a list of the coins you want, to make of a particular set or variety of coins. Every coin collector should have one of these. A coin wish list is exactly what it sounds like: a list of the coins you want, to make of a particular set or variety of coins. You won’t have that much to base a good coin wish list on in the beginning, but you can still make one comprising of the easier to get modern coins.


Perhaps a set of the nickels minted for the twentieth century, or a set of the Lincoln cents for every year and mintmark. These might not be spectacular but they are easier to compile than some others and it’s a good starting point.

Compiling this coin wish list will also give you good practice for getting your ideas in order and will it make it that much easier for you to keep track of the coins you’ve already found.

With something as easy as a coin wish list to start with, you can also easily find a set of the coins shiniest and closest to their original mint state as possible.

A coin wish list isn’t as hard as you might think. Just the other day as I was rifling through the coins in my pocket I came across a shiny 1972 Lincoln cent piece. And as you go through your coin wish list you can also find and replace your first finds with ones more suitable for your collection.

You can choose from amongst the best of the coins and add them to your collection. Be careful though when you’re discarding any coins as you might find some interesting errors which will be an advantage to your collection instead of detracting from it.

When you get further on in your coin collecting efforts and you find you need more from your collection than just the easily obtainable coins, you can make yourself another coin wish list.

This one will of course benefit from your experience and you can get your teeth into something meatier than what you’ve been doing so far.

I’ve made dozens of coin wish lists over the years, and as I keep closing one I go in for another one, and look for a different angle each time. Of course some of them are easier to close than others, and some of them are just for the pure fun of it.

This is especially true of when I’m in the last stages of a particularly difficult collection. I only have a few more pieces left to complete the set and they’re usually not as easy to find or get to as the others.

Naturally there’s only so much that I can do to finish it, and I’ve taken the necessary steps to do so, but I still have time on my hands. In which case, I can go looking for something else to capture my attention.

Whichever way you look at it though, a coin wish list is an essential part of your coin collecting efforts and something which you really should do, even if it is only for a fun set in the beginning.