How Do You Verify Your Coin? ;-)

Since the majority of the coins I come across are of little value, I presume they are real since it makes no sense to go to the effort to counterfeit them as gain would be ridiculously small. Even most error coins have minimal premium value, so I presume they are real. The only time I go to any significant effort to validate would be if they should contain, or might contain, precious metals, or if they should have high value relative to their monetary value. I guess my determination of high relative value in the case of non-precious metal cons would be around $10.00.for denominations up to $5, maybe double face beyond that if buying.

I took it to mean "When you come across a coin for sale somewhere..."

Other interpretations, like "When you come across a coin in pocket change... wouldn't make any sense.

My experience is mostly shaped by buying from reputable sellers, so it's been pretty much a non-issue. Burned twice on ebay as part of my education.

Totally depends on the type of coin. California fractional gold I assume fake. Lincoln Cent I assume real.

Wow, very interesting answers.

I was thinking about this from a risk stand point per se. Like everytime we buy a coin for numismatic purposes, it is a 'potential' investment for we don't know what might aspire in the future for that specific coin.
For example, when we talk about high mintage, it is all relative to the amount in circulation and this depends on how much are melted, lost at sea etc all depending on demand/supply for a specific metal type during a specific time. Since we don't know the future, there is always the probability that an event could cause a certain category of high mintage to be completely depleted to low mitnage (like the mint melting them for example).
So like when one buys a $10 coin, the risk is $10. I was wondering what mindset one should have when buying the coin; should it be one of risk mitigation at all times regardless of the type that you invest thereby creating it into a habit so that when one advances and purchases more expensive coins the habit is already engrained or if this approach should only be applied at certain times like when dealing with more expensive items and whether this would make one slightly vulnerable to error?
Also if one purchases with the mindset of innocent until proven guilty is this a better approach than guilty until proven innocent while studying in this field.

There is a range of collectors here all from amateurs to experienced so I thought it would be interesting to see if the habits are different among different experience levels.

Really interesting answers and I'm learning alot.

Your mileage may vary, but I enjoy the hobby much more knowing my coins are not bought for investment, but enjoyment.

Awesome!

Makes me wonder what my approach will be. I am not entirely decided as yet.

Like jbuck, "numismatic purposes" and "investment" are two different goals (just look at the dictionary definitions). I KNOW that on average I lose money when I re-sell coins in my current collection. But I don't care. Because I am a collector, and I care about the investment value of my investments, not my coin collection.

If you have future re-sale on your mind with every purchase, the simplest advice is to only buy slabbed coins. Someone else gets the responsibility for determining authenticity.