Trying to complete a World coin collection
Phil1959
Posts: 2 ✭
Hi, My name is Phil, retired/disabled school teacher. I am attempting to collect a coin from every country. I sure could use everybody 's assistance. I would gladly return and postage to you. Please email me at prymanphil@gmail.com for my mailing address. Hope to hear from you. Thanks,
Phil
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I would suggest crowns of the world
I give away money. I collect money.
I don’t love money . I do love the Lord God.
I'd suggest putting this in the Buy, Sell, Trade Forum.
Are you asking for freebies or are you willing to pay for the coins?
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
Try Karl Stephens. Huge selection and great prices.
https://karlstephensinc.com/
Some things you need to consider before assembling a "one from every country" (OFEC) collection.
Are you interested only in coins of countries that currently exist, or do you wish to include "extinct" countries that don't exist any more (like the Soviet Union, East Germany or South Vietnam)? If you wish to include extinct countries, how far back in time do you wish to go? 20th century? 19th? First century AD?
Then there's the question of diplomatic recognition: there are "countries" that have declared independence and issued their own coinage, but which for whatever reason have never been granted international recognition. Somaliland, Transnistria and Taiwan are perhaps the most commonly-encountered examples.
At the opposite end of the spectrum, we have "colonies" that are administratively part of another country, but which have their own separate coinages (Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Cook Islands, Hong Kong, etc). Would you wish to include these as "separate countries"?
Some countries do not issue their own coins for circulation. The member-states of the East Caribbean States, West African States and Central African States monetary unions, for example, issue common coins with no mark of country of origin. Some of these countries have issued non-circulating coins for sale to collectors; these are the only coins to be legitimately issued by those countries. Some of those are quite expensive, and hard to find.
Finally, some countries have simply never issued coins, at all. Nauru, Burkina Faso and the Palestinian Authority come to mind. Of course, OFEC colelctors still want coins from these countries, and this demand has led to the creation of "unofficial" coins that can fill these gaps. These coins are issued and sold by coin dealers, without the permission or knowledge of the government of the country named on the coin.
Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, "Meditations"
Apparently I have been awarded one DPOTD.
Shoot just defining 'country' is a problem. This is why so many OFECs are abandoned. How far back do you go, what exactly defines the country, what about all those German States and Indian Princely States. IIRC when I started with this idea I went with what was in the then Krause 1901-present (before the 2000-date one came along). Neat idea, but one needs to set parameters!
There are also transnational coins not identified by specific country like the Western and Central African CFA Francs.
Edit: Already covered. NM.
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution
@MrEureka , with one single post, one single visit when he posted the question and having not appeared since, or read the replies, I believe the answer is clear.
To longtime members, posting or not anymore: we used to spot stuff like that quicker....
myEbay
DPOTD 3
It also looked pretty obvious to me that it was a "gimme, gimme, gimme..." post.
In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson
I wasn't really expecting much else, but it gets to be a fun exercise in defining OFEC. Plus calling people out sideways. Throwing out the 'retired/disabled' tag is fun. All that is missing is the Disabled Veteran (notice the capitals) and perhaps throwing in the religious affiliation. Often the behavior is just the opposite. If the dude(?) had come back even once I'm guessing that was when the 'fun' would start.
Which reminds me I need to find some YA groups to disperse some stuff to.
We sure are cynical as a group, aren't we? So quick on the attack that the fact that he mentioned sending back (aka, trading) was ignored. If I knew where my duplicate stash was I'd reach out to him and see what he has to trade.
I love doing the One From Every Country project. Before my medically induced break from the hobby, it had become my favorite thing to do. I went wide with it... anything I could get my hands on counted. Obviously 20th and 21st century focused because of easy availability, but I have things as far back as the Roman Empire represented.
I went by names. If the name changed, it counted separately. So for example Czechoslovakia, Czech-Slovak Federal Republic and Czech Republic are all counted as separate entities. France and Spain only have one entry currently, although if I could get back far enough they would be broken out before they were unified under one name, although I doubt I'll ever be able to afford to do that.
Here's my collection: https://public.fotki.com/ElCaminoBilly/other_hobbies/numismatics/one-from-every-country/
Very true, I do get cynical. Perhaps if he had come back with another good post after the first I wouldn't leap to conclusions. A real conversation has certainly gotten me to send stuff...like I said, I am in need of a YN group to make a donation to (lmk if you know any!). 5 days on the internet is an eternity without a response.
IIRC your idea is how I went with it. If it was a new name in Krause it counted. Then I started overthinking too much and started considering what would happen when I went further back. Or, like France, when it was 3rd, 4th, 5th republic. Not a name change but some changes in organization. Part of the appeal and part of the downside is the ability to define how you wish.
That said, I gave up (for now). I ended up finding it difficult to limit to just one coin when there were so many cool choices (hence my now extensive Albanian collection, being early in the alphabet), plus I struggled with defining that list. Shoot I've got dupes there and for Japan coming out my ears.
Funny, I wasn’t thinking in terms of the OP being a ploy to pick up valuable coins for the cost of postage. I was thinking the OP kinda assumed that the coins he would get had zero value, and that we might be happy to help. Of course, most of us know that almost everything has some sort of value.
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
I think for me the ability to define it any way I wished was the best thing about it. The good thing too is that there isn't any time limits, this will be a lifetime project for me. For my collection the government style didn't matter, only the name.
For countries where I had more than one I picked the one I liked best (or scanned best) but I certainly didn't limit myself to just one.. just chose a representative example for this project, which is documented solely on my website.
I don't store them as a cohesive OFEC collection. For countries where I only had one or two coins it was easy, but when you get to the US or Canada where I have hundreds it was much harder.
Glad to see you back here Phil!
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
I'm looking for some Mexican coins. My collection has stalled and I could sure use your assistance to get it going again.
Can someone please help me and send me some coins?
I will gladly pay postage, but only 55c as I will have to pay another 55c to send it to you.
……
My One-Per-Country attempt took on a life of its own maybe a decade or 2 ago, following much of the same parameters as Billy Kingsley's collection (although I have never photographed them like he has).
It started out as a 1-per-country, and evolved into a "1-per-KM#/denomination-per-phase/name-per-country" collection with approx. 200 different "countries" filling 8 oversized 3" binders full of 2x2's in plastic pocket pages.
I'll have to dig out my list of countries represented & remaining "needs", although I'm sure there's been new ones added since I last worked on it..................
Limit the collection to those countries that were/are in existence during your lifetime (whatever timeframe that may be).