Gift Ideas for Coin Collectors

Gifting a coin collector can be equal parts easy and difficult. On one hand, we know what they want: coins! On the other, collectors have pickiness built in as a personality trait. The wrong coin might make them frown, disappoint, or even... offend.

To avoid invoking any of these emotions, we've compiled a go-to guide with coins for every occasion, grouped into three categories we find most relevant. Let's start with the one probably most important to each of us.

Birthday coins

Birthday coins are obviously all about the date of mintage. But the farther back we go, the more difficult a coin can be to get your hands on. After all, if this year's coins are already running out of quite a few stocks...

Your coin collector probably has a few decades behind them, so your search would be excessive and perhaps needless. Instead, why not start a tradition by giving them a gold or silver American Eagle minted this year and following up each subsequent year? No coin collector is going to frown over an Eagle, that's for sure.

Besides Lunar New Year coins that likewise sport an annual theme, you can just skip the hinting and pick a real birthday coin. That's right: we have a 1oz silver coin that states "Happy Birthday", along with some even nicer wishes. How's that for a custom pick?

Holiday coins

Overspending is definitely a theme during the holiday season, which is why every retailer is clamoring to get their radio airtime during the last few months of the year. But going in the opposite direction can be just as satisfying, both to you and a coin collector that's used to seeing shiny and expensive things.

Incremental gold coins fit this bill perfectly. This 1/10 oz Year of the Rabbit gold coin is an example. Its lower weight ensures you're getting a marquee coin far below the spot price of gold. Furthermore, it's in proof condition. Being a kind of "special" alternative to the regular old bullion coin, collectors love everything proof, and they're sure to take to any proof coin regardless of weight.

We'd give you more examples, but we're trying to keep a lid on our holiday stock until the start of the season. Things have been pretty hectic on the demand side, and we don't want to find ourselves empty-handed as the U.S. Mint did this year.

Other occasion coins

Less specific occasions can obviously make finding a gift more difficult, so we'd suggest going for something you can't go wrong with. While it's not a coin per se, coin collectors probably love the idea of gold notes, such as the Goldback or the Valaurum note. These precious metal money notes represent a return to sound money and everything else coin enthusiasts feverishly dream of.

When it comes to silver, you don't need to have a massive budget to get something great. The Canadian Kermode Spirit Bear 1.5 oz silver coin and the Australian Platypus 1/2 oz silver coin are both exotic examples of affordable recent mintages.

Though a bit expensive for a silver coin, limited series coins are probably the perfect gift for a coin collector on any occasion. Take the 2oz Games Through the Ages Antiqued silver coin or the 1oz Year of the Tiger Rotating Charm silver coin as examples. Both of these have been adorned with unique details that even a complete novice to numismatics can probably appreciate to some degree.

Anyone with experience is likely to spend hours going over the coin's intricacies, making them well-worth the slight extra buck you've spent on a gift that will be well-remembered.