Can you recommend a video for a crash course in world coins and or types?

Aspie_Rocco

I am looking to quickly improve my general knowledge of world coins with a good video or few and would appreciate any recommendations. Do you know of one or more that can familiarize me with general types and eras of world coinage. I fairly proficient in US coins, however, my world coin info is lacking. Thanks for reading

jt88

This is not a crash course but if you want to collect world coin I strongly suggest you check out Chinese coin. Chinese coin increase from 2 to 10 times in price since 2018. I believe this is just the beginning, as more funds are getting into Chinese coins. One day Chinese coins might be the most expensive coins in the world. Silver and gold price Chinese coins are increase a lot in price but not so much for copper coin yet. Copper coin price is on the way up. Lots of coins price mentioned in this video sounds high at the time but now it looks like a great bargain.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTPeWos4h6c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYxIELZpPRM

bidask

Buy yourself a subscription to world coin news, follow numismaster pricing thru NGC

You certainly should look at all major world coin auctions beginning with stacks and heritage to get a sense of pricing higher priced coins worthy of auctions

Assuming you have some proficiency in US coinage apply basically the same grading standards you learned towards world coinage

Decide what countries you would like to collect and/or what series as well

For example, I prefer to collect crowns
( silver dollar size coins)

That’s a good beginning 😄

bidask

Oh and you can learn a lot on this forum too …😊

jt88

I would not collect coins that is dead in the money meaning it will not increase in price over years. One thing to check is to look at the modern gold coin price for the country if the coin is only sold for melt price then that's the indication of dead money.

jt88

It takes many people to flip the coins to move up the price. Chinese coins has more than tons of people to flip the coins. That's why the price move up very fast.

Aspie_Rocco

Excellent information, thank you all. I am working on getting a position with a grading or auction company, and want to increase my world coin knowledge to be a better asset.

John Conduitt

You could browse a few auctions from different countries. They're usually arranged in relevant eras. DNW and Spink for British coins. Stephen Album for Islamic/Oriental coins. Katz for Eastern European/Russian coins.

A lot depends on what you mean by 'World Coins'. There are ancients, which have a whole categorisation structure of their own, and medievals, which are different again. Milled coinage is mainly by country.

jt88

Maybe Great Britain worth a look. It seems to me that modern Britain sold out pretty fast and some of them sold pretty high price in auction. Basically you need to buy world coin that has lots of local people support it or flip it.

jdmern

I would not collect coins that is dead in the money meaning it will not increase in price over years. One thing to check is to look at the modern gold coin price for the country if the coin is only sold for melt price then that's the indication of dead money.>

Many people collect for reasons other than making a profit, such as general interest in the country, appreciation of history or art and design. One of the great things about collecting world is pretty much no matter where your interests lie, there is something for out there to collect.

quickly improve my general knowledge of world coins>

Quickly improving knowledge on world coins is not an easy task. Many dealers who have spend decades specializing in world coins are constantly gradually learning all of the time. It's not an area where you can watch a Youtube video and be competent. That being the said, the previous comments of about viewing auctions are useful, my suggestion would be to travel to a national show and look at as much world material in hand as you can, and find out what specifically appeals to you. Once you figure that out, you can begin the process of actually learning about the area that speaks to you.

amwldcoin

The 1st thing I would do is find some used KM catalogues. I consider them kindda like buying a Red Book for US coins. This way you can become familiar with pretty much everything from the 1600's up. Just don't get caught up in the pricing.

Maxfli

@Aspie_Rocco said:
I am looking to quickly improve my general knowledge of world coins with a good video

I don't think there's a video out there that will do what you're asking. I'd suggest spending several days clicking through the Numista web site to get a baseline understanding of what exists in the world of world coins.

But that's only a starting point. What makes the world coin category so interesting (vs. U.S.) is also what makes it so challenging — the almost infinite variety. I've been collecting world coins for 40+ years and still hardly a day goes by when I don't discover something new.

bidask

worldwide numismatics llc has a few videos on their site

WillieBoyd2

I have been taking a crash course in world numismatics since 1964.

South Africa 50 Cents 1964
Silver, 39.0 mm, 28.14 gm
Purchased by mail from the South African Mint in 1964

It has been a long dark path.

neildrobertson

@Aspie_Rocco said:
I am looking to quickly improve my general knowledge of world coins with a good video or few and would appreciate any recommendations. Do you know of one or more that can familiarize me with general types and eras of world coinage. I fairly proficient in US coins, however, my world coin info is lacking. Thanks for reading

Two of the things I've done that have increased my knowledge quickly are: 1) Buy 10-20 lbs of bulk world and go through it, identifying everything 2) Buying old dealer stock and identifying and liquidating it.

Key skills you can focus on: 1) Learning to identify ancients 2) Learning to identify Japanese coins/dates 3) Learning to identify Chinese coins 4) Learning to identify middle eastern coins 5) Learning to identify Russian coins

Anything that has anything other than the arabic script that English uses needs special study. There are many books and websites that help with reading coins.

The "western" world, "eastern" world, and ancient world are, for the most part, their own separate ecosystems. You could hypothetically function fairly well with only having knowledge in one of those three areas. There are tons of dealers and auction houses that only deal in one of those 3 subjects.

PillarDollarCollector

@Aspie_Rocco said:
Excellent information, thank you all. I am working on getting a position with a grading or auction company, and want to increase my world coin knowledge to be a better asset.

What countries it is impossible to know it all even say Mexico & South America can take you years upon years upon years to learn. Some countries around the globe simply don't have any books on their coinage (many do not).

PillarDollarCollector

Great Britain has many books on their coinage and history. So does Canada. Some places like Mexico can take you years to locate some of the much rarer books. Some are expensive and most don't have a large print run either.

I have been studying Mexico and South America for over a year and purchased over 20 books I would still not rate anywhere near an expert maybe a 3 to 4 out of 10. Better than the 0 I use to be.

Aspie_Rocco

@KingOfMorganDollar
Nothing too specific, but after looking deeper I see there is a near endless sea of coinage. I suppose I should focus on learning the most popular series of the last few years. I see Chinese and Japanese coins have blown up a lot.

I have a good bit of raw world coinage collected from deployments overseas, and some PCGS graded coins for a type set I have all but forgotten. I definitely favor Japanese coins and bars for a non-US “world coin”

Having read the responses I feel a LOT more comfortable with my basic world coin knowledge. Unless specializing in an area, it seems unlikely for there to be an expectation of a lot of world knowledge in my situation.

Again, thank you everyone for the input and advice.

PillarDollarCollector

@Aspie_Rocco said:
@KingOfMorganDollar
Nothing too specific, but after looking deeper I see there is a near endless sea of coinage. I suppose I should focus on learning the most popular series of the last few years. I see Chinese and Japanese coins have blown up a lot.

I have a good bit of raw world coinage collected from deployments overseas, and some PCGS graded coins for a type set I have all but forgotten. I definitely favor Japanese coins and bars for a non-US “world coin”

Having read the responses I feel a LOT more comfortable with my basic world coin knowledge. Unless specializing in an area, it seems unlikely for there to be an expectation of a lot of world knowledge in my situation.

Again, thank you everyone for the input and advice.

Find out what the biggest seller is at the place you will be working for and do your best to become an expert in that area. No point wasting time aka years for a country that will not affect you.

PillarDollarCollector

Experts in my opinion are better than been all over the place and knowing a bit of a lot.

PillarDollarCollector

I think you best avenues are China & Great Britain. Those are in very high demand. Find the series that are best for that auction house. Again you will not know it all it is almost impossible to achieve that level of knowledge. The more we learn the more we realize how much we don't know.

PillarDollarCollector

You may not want to hear this but it is not just learning about the coins. The flip side is learning the history of that nation in dept as much as you can as well. I have about 25 books on Mexican coins & South American coins but also just as many history books I purchased as well. It is not cheap to learn but well worth it in the end.

So if you chose China be ready for a massive learning curve same as Great Britain. Don't quit you will want to we have all been there but keep pushing. Like they say 1 in 10 000 students achieve a black belt in any martial arts. And even less in the higher ranks. Some have been at it 50-60 years.

Same can be said about education 3% achieve a master's degree and about 1% a PHD or MD out of the entire population.

jt88

I started collecting Chinese in 2009. Started collecting Japanese in 2016. Started collecting Great Britain in 2021. All of these three countries have lots of nice looking coins to collect.

jt88

Both china and Great Britain has lots of nice modern coins

Aspie_Rocco

@jt88 said:
I started collecting Chinese in 2009. Started collecting Japanese in 2016. Started collecting Great Britain in 2021. All of these three countries have lots of nice looking coins to collect.

Have any photos?

jt88

China 2005 200 Yuan. Famous classical literature, Journey to the west.

jt88

jt88

I like high grade copper.

jt88

jt88

That’s enough from me. I will let others to post their coin photo.

Aspie_Rocco

I like the Chinese ones, Journey to the west is an amazing story. The movie was cool too. All the coins you posted are nice.

jt88

This is the coin I like. I don’t have the big size. The first photo is 5 oz. I only have the small size 1/16 oz

PillarDollarCollector

Maybe start with focusing on Chinese dollars and those of Great Britain as well. The dollars are always popular with collectors. Learn about the earliest series of each country first. Then go from there.

Pretty easy to locate a book on British coins. As for China I have no idea at all.

I own this one it is a great book.

PillarDollarCollector

I would suggest also buying a general history book of China and England as well to better know each country. Coins are one thing and history is another both together are what is best.

jt88

Coin with a story or history with it always worth a lot.

Boosibri

If you are looking to get a job at a grading company, aside from the basic ability to grade a coin, I would suggest focusing on counterfeit identification vs an in depth knowledge of a countless number of series. Just like grading world coins is similar to grading US coins, counterfeit detection I would imagine is also similar with some important nuances to spend time learning and appreciating.

amwldcoin

Just build you a worldwide Type Set!

@Boosibri said:
If you are looking to get a job at a grading company, aside from the basic ability to grade a coin, I would suggest focusing on counterfeit identification vs an in depth knowledge of a countless number of series. Just like grading world coins is similar to grading US coins, counterfeit detection I would imagine is also similar with some important nuances to spend time learning and appreciating.

PillarDollarCollector

@jt88 said:
Coin with a story or history with it always worth a lot.

And most customers like to learn from their dealers makes for a great coin shop or auction house.