About Dan and Rare Coins 101, LLC
Hi there! I’m Dan Goevert, webmaster of Rare Coins 101, LLC.
It didn’t take much to get me hooked on studying United States coins as a youngster. When I was an 8-year old back in 1967, I naturally idolized my older brother. He and his buddies spent countless hours with their Lincoln Cent coin albums, as was the rage back then. That was all it took to ignite my life-long passion for U.S. coins.
As a 20-something young adult, my mathematical mind and love of coins led me on a deep-dive quest: to record and analyze long-term coin price trends to determine if they foretell future performance…
…which eventually led me to develop this website.
I’m pretty much just like many of you – I've always wanted to know what a coin is worth and, more importantly, why. At the same time, I've maintained a natural curiosity in how strongly it might rise in value in the years ahead.
Now I’m sharing with you the information I’ve gathered through painstaking research over the past 30-plus years that has made coin collecting a thrilling and fulfilling pursuit for me. Here is the ultimate takeaway, in the form of this Rare Coins 101 Axiom:
The long-term price trend history of a coin IS INDEED a fairly reliable indicator of how well it will perform in the future. That is, those coins that have enjoyed the steepest value appreciation in the past are most likely the same coins that will do so in the future.** Not coincidentally, these coins are viewed as key date rare coins greatly prized by collectors for generations.
**Disclaimer: There is no ABSOLUTE guarantee of the future price performance of a given coin, but its long-term history sure is a good indicator of what is to come!
Simple as that. But there is a big BUT… You have to study price trends to know which coins are the blue chippers with glorious pasts (and hence, a similar fate in the years ahead). That’s what this site does for you.
Experienced numismatists who have been in the trenches for years already know what to look for. I’m here to help others who are interested in rare coins but may not have a clue where to start.
So, if your goal is to confidently select coins with a good chance of increasing nicely in price, the Key Date Coin List section is the meat-and-potatoes of my site. You have full access to the recommendations and supporting data at no charge (i.e. it’s free!). You may access the section anywhere on this site via the horizontal Nav Bars at top and bottom of every page.
Since this is the “About” page, suppose I should mention a bit more about myself:
-- One of my earliest memories in life was receiving coins and candy from my grandma on the way home from church every Sunday (but only if I was good in church!). Even as a 4-year-old, I noticed the Mercury dimes were different than most other dimes and felt an urge to save them.
-- After being introduced into coin collecting with the Lincoln cents as a young kid, I soon branched off into Indian Head cents and Buffalo nickels, eventually completing a full set of all three. Many of my album fillers were in BU condition. My BU was not the numismatic abbreviation for Brilliant Uncirculated, but rather for Been Used... a lot!.
-- In high school, I got hooked on early U.S. history, especially the War of 1812. This led me to seek out coins from that era for my collection. Still looking for an affordable (to me!) 1815 Capped Head half eagle.
-- I first joined the American Numismatic Association circa 1984 and quickly dug into their vast numismatic archives and commenced publishing coin trend data in 1987. My very first publication, Value Trends of United States Coins, is still available on Amazon.
-- For 11 years from 1989-2000, I was Coin Editor for Edmunds. They’re well known for automobile pricing guides, but once upon a time they were into U.S. coin periodicals.
-- Since 2003, I've been online documenting coin value trends for key date U.S. coins.
-- I've ghostwritten many value trend coin-related articles that are still all over the Internet. Here is one example.
-- I’ve been a loyal subscriber to Coin World for decades. There are several very fine coin magazines to choose from, and Coin World ranks near the top.
-- I worked as an Industrial Engineer in aircraft for nearly 30 years, retiring in December 2019.
-- After retirement and with more time on my hands, I started up this new and improved site: Rare Coins 101.
-- At some point, I’d like to do more research and write numismatic articles. Watch out ANA Library, here I come!
-- I enjoy landscaping and cooking outdoors. My favorite is pork ribs. Yummy!
Thank you for visiting my website! If you have questions or comments, please use the Contact Dan form to reach me. I promise not to sell your email to spammers!
As I mentioned above, all the information on this site is free. Why am I doing this? What’s in it for me? Fair questions. In the interest of full disclosure, I AM trying to earn a few extra bucks. Nothing wrong with that, as long as it’s done honestly.
I earn money several ways:
- Advertising sales – As you can see, there are ads running on this site and these ads generate revenue for me. Like most people, I am annoyed by tons of in-your-face banner ads and pop ups, so I promise not to do that. Obviously, my ads are not invisible, but they are easily ignorable if that’s what you prefer to do.
- Commission sales – If you hop to another site (for example, eBay or Amazon) via a link on Rare Coins 101, I may earn a small commission if you buy something there.
- PDF reports – I will soon prepare the Key Date Coin List of recommendations and supporting data presented on Rare Coins 101 into PDF packages, available for easy download at a modest cost. It’s the exact same information offered for free on this site, just conveniently summarized in PDF format that you can store on your device or print.
- Solo Build It! (aka SBI!) – Anyone who aspires to start up their own website business should carefully consider SBI!. Not an IT wiz? No problem, SBI! handles all the technical stuff. All you have to supply is the dream, a topic you’re passionate about, and some elbow grease. I’ve been affiliated with SBI! for over 20 years and can vouch for their program of success. SBI! pays me a fee when you begin building an online business on their platform after a referral from me. It doesn’t cost nearly as much as you might think to create a functional business website. To learn more about SBI, check out these videos.
Rare Coins 101 is a registered Limited Liability Corporation (LLC) in good standing. Verifiable.
