Are you a generalist when you buy foreign coins or do you focus on a country, denomination, theme ?

bidask

Please state your preferences and show us a few coins .

Me...... since I am a coin addict I buy pretty much what I like,

However my tendencies have been toward south of our border in the last couple years specializing in cap& ray 8 reales.

How about you ?

bidask

TwoKopeiki

Every time I buy a coin I like outside of my primary collection, I end up selling or trading it when an opportunity to buy a nice crusty portrait 8 Reales presents itself. So while I appreciate a lot of designs and history associated with different series - I seem to be unable (and unwilling) to shift focus at this time.

bigmarty58

Canada and Great Britain, love the history behind the monarchs and the coins they grace.

bidask

@bigmarty58 said:
Canada and Great Britain, love the history behind the monarchs and the coins they grace.

No doubt...... those british were definitely colonial imperialists!

1960NYGiants

Canadian tokens and decimals - especially coppers.

scubafuel

Outside of US series I just buy what I like. However so far I’ve managed to keep that to Central and South America.

ajaan

These are just my PCGS Aussie proofs. I also have seven NGC graded coins.

bidask

@ajaan said:

These are just my PCGS Aussie proofs. I also have seven NGC graded coins.

Interesting !

jimhopkins1919

I try to stick to larger denominations and I mostly try to stick to German
Thalers and also coins from the Netherlands and a newish interest in the Papal States. I do pickup other European coins and medals I like occasionally but the majority of my collection since I really caught the bug have been Thalers. I included pictures of my 2 newest purchases.

bronzemat

I buy whatever attracts my eye and is affordable. The only coins I tend to not go near are Asian & Chinese cash coins. Many are faked & some of the designs do nothing for me.

Tibor

Out side of my Early Dated collection which gets 98% of my budget, I buy cheap,
<$30 Hungarian coins, pre 1930. Whether or not I have them, I buy them. Mostly
ANA shows and Balt. Whitman shows. Plenty of pics of the Early Dated stuff here
and other forums but no pics of the Magyar coins.

mvs7

I've been collecting world coins minted by the US Mints for about a decade... fun series with a wide variety of almost 1,100 coins in total.

Boosibri

bidask

;> @jimhopkins1919 said:

I try to stick to larger denominations and I mostly try to stick to German
Thalers and also coins from the Netherlands and a newish interest in the Papal States. I do pickup other European coins and medals I like occasionally but the majority of my collection since I really caught the bug have been Thalers. I included pictures of my 2 newest purchases.

Nice coins

@mvs7 said:
I've been collecting world coins minted by the US Mints for about a decade... fun series with a wide variety of almost 1,100 coins in total.

Are all the above minted in the US?

@Boosibri said:

Wowsers!

Here is choice peso I have had awhile .

mvs7

@mvs7 said:
I've been collecting world coins minted by the US Mints for about a decade... fun series with a wide variety of almost 1,100 coins in total.

Are all the above minted in the US?

Yep. 41 different countries are represented. The PCGS Registry has composites for the full set and the type set under the Multi-Country category, if you’d like to check out which coins make up the set.

OriginalDan

Generalist, but only with Chinese chopmarks.

neildrobertson

It's all relative. I know some people that would call me a specialist and others would call me a generalist. But I do have an area, and I tend to stick to it.

GotTheBug

Although I specialize in Canadian coins, I'm slowly working on a collection of world coins, one from every country. I'm trying to acquire pieces with artistic merit, that are also silver or gold, when possible.

I discovered the Numista website a while back and have been using it to track my progress. I like how each country on the world map, that they use to represent my collection, becomes shaded as examples of each country are acquired.

Here's one of my favorite pieces from our southern neighbor, a 1964 Mexican Peso with Father Morelos featured on the obverse. I think that we have forgotten just how intertwined our two nations really are, especially when you consider the history of the U. S. southwest.

Regarding this peso, a .10 silver piece, I was thinking how nice it would be if our country returned to clad silver, even if the percentage of silver was miniscule.

And, representing my Canadian collection, a 1909 Five Cent silver:

bidask

@neildrobertson said:
It's all relative. I know some people that would call me a specialist and others would call me a generalist. But I do have an area, and I tend to stick to it.

What area do you stick with ?

bidask

@GotTheBug said:
Although I specialize in Canadian coins, I'm slowly working on a collection of world coins, one from every country. I'm trying to acquire pieces with artistic merit, that are also silver or gold, when possible.

I discovered the Numista website a while back and have been using it to track my progress. I like how each country on the world map, that they use to represent my collection, becomes shaded as examples of each country are acquired.

Here's one of my favorite pieces from our southern neighbor, a 1964 Mexican Peso with Father Morelos featured on the obverse. I think that we have forgotten just how intertwined our two nations really are, especially when you consider the history of the U. S. southwest.

Regarding this peso, a .10 silver piece, I was thinking how nice it would be if our country returned to clad silver, even if the percentage of silver was miniscule.

And, representing my Canadian collection, a 1909 Five Cent silver:

Nice original toning on those !

amwldcoin

I collected avidly for around 40 years. I had the wild idea of putting together the largest privately owned collection of coins. I was trying to collect everything by date and MM listed in Krause. When I stopped I had completed several countries. To give a perspective, I was down to needing between 10 + 20 coins from completing Canada. The only coin I didn't have from Ireland was the 1943 florin.

I burned myself out after a few years of being a full time dealer. What dropped the hammer on me was when I decided to inventory my collection on an Excell spreadsheet. I worked pretty hard on it for about a year and was only 1/2 finished. That just took the fun out of it for me...I guess you could call it a labor of love or not!

bidask

@amwldcoin said:
I collected avidly for around 40 years. I had the wild idea of putting together the largest privately owned collection of coins. I was trying to collect everything by date and MM listed in Krause. When I stopped I had completed several countries. To give a perspective, I was down to needing between 10 + 20 coins from completing Canada. The only coin I didn't have from Ireland was the 1943 florin.

I burned myself out after a few years of being a full time dealer. What dropped the hammer on me was when I decided to inventory my collection on an Excell spreadsheet. I worked pretty hard on it for about a year and was only 1/2 finished. That just took the fun out of it for me...I guess you could call it a labor of love or not!

I hope you called it a labor of love !

syl

I started out 40 years ago as a generalist, especially German States but, for the last 30, almost exclusively Canada ... specifically large cent varieties.

Abuelo

Mexico, Central American Republic, South Peru, and any other I like. But, while these are general interest, my specific interest are coins and medals from Emperor Agustin in Mexico. So I guess I am both a generalist and a specialist.

MrEureka

As a dealer, I cover as much ground as possible. As a collector, I’ve narrowed it down to three things.

Hardcore: Central America Republic, 1823 to roughly the 1850’s, including Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua. To this collection I add an occasional Latin American piece from other countries, of the same era.

Casual: Spanish and Spanish Colonial gold, up to the 1850’s.

Ridiculous: Swedish patterns. It just sort of happened.

YQQ

Since 1967 (and a bit further back in Europe) Canadian coins. then realized that this field is simply much too large and money intense.
so settled some years ago on QV -Canada, mainly 1 cent, 5 cent and 10 cent... also some quarters and halfs.
just recently have started to divest the lower grades from the collection in favor of better, or even much better types. and rare types.Whenever the opportunity presents itself, I pick up Canadian errors or scarce Varieties.

Senator32

I find that focus helps drive quality so I try and stay focused on Mo mint coins for now....though I have allowed myself a box of about 30 world coins from other countries that were just too pretty to pass up for one reason or another.

neildrobertson

@bidask said:

@neildrobertson said:
It's all relative. I know some people that would call me a specialist and others would call me a generalist. But I do have an area, and I tend to stick to it.

What area do you stick with ?

German coins between 1871-2001, with a bias towards minor coins since they are more affordable. I Branch out to some older German, modern world mint sets, and US type here and there.

Bob13

I think I’ve tried to narrow it down to “Europe”, and I like earlier coins up until about 1800.

It’s very hard to be patient in between big purchases - often times the in -between purchases are more general.

WildIdea

Generalist
I can be all over the map. If the piece speaks to me and the mood strikes me I’ll pull the trigger. It may spark a intense interest and develop into a run or small group of something but not usually a date run or exclusive buying strategy.



I’m online at some point everyday looking at coins. On here, eBay, dealer sites, you name it. I see new coin and medal designs for the first time every day. Even coins I’ve seen before or I’m quite familiar with can still come with a new look or a fantastic level of preservation I haven’t seen yet. The endless variety keeps me interested. For this reason I stay open to any possibility and welcome and long for something new to come along and blow me away.

Sapyx

Totally generalist. From Australia, but I collect both Australian and foreign coins. Ancient, mediaeval and modern, no limits.

I have some series that I am pursuing more than others:

• Roman coins, one from each emperor
• Late Roman, one from each mintmark
• English hammered, one from each monarch
• Canadian and provincial, by type.

WCC

@TwoKopeiki said:
Every time I buy a coin I like outside of my primary collection, I end up selling or trading it when an opportunity to buy a nice crusty portrait 8 Reales presents itself. So while I appreciate a lot of designs and history associated with different series - I seem to be unable (and unwilling) to shift focus at this time.

Same philosophy here. In addition to the coins I have stated as mostly buying, I will also buy Bolivian Republic decimals dated 1864-1909. But unlike before, it has to be a really nice example and preferably one of the rarer dates. I am no longer trying to complete the series which numbers about 180 across all denominations, excluding patterns which I never bought.

I don't have any other "sideline" collections and am looking to sell some of the coins I previously bought since I don't plan on adding to it any more.

It's a trade off between increased variety (which is available at any time) but an overall collection with lower distinction.

Elmhurst

Mine is:

1) Canada, almost all Victoria and George VI.
2) Finland under Russian rule.
3) Uruguay, 19th Century

I have other nice world coins which I intend to keep, but have decided to continue with only the above. Even within those parameters, that's still a lot to choose from.

Be careful with your wallet out there !

ShadyDave

I'm a generalist but I enjoy collecting the following countries:

Cuba
Peru
Ireland
Central American Republic