Just bought a copy of the Pittman Foreign coin catalog . . .

ColonialCoinUnion

. . . and its amazing to me on several levels:

1) That the catalog cost me $83

2) That a collector of not unlimited means could assemble a collection of that magnitude, value, rarity, etc.

3) That anyone, even the most ardent student of numistmatics, would embark on the seemingly limitless collection of world coins (not to mention the gazillion US coins he also owned).

Is there some equivalent of a type set that world coin collectors gravitate toward? Or do you buy one from each country? Or do you just try to buy every coin ever minted, everywhere, by anyone?

These are actually serious questions.

1jester

Hi CCU!

There are one coin per country collectors, and there are those who try to pick a small collecting direction, and others who just seem to buy what seems interesting at the time, and these interests do tend to change over time, depending on the collector. Seriously, it's an immense playing field, so there's something for everyone. It is amazing that any particular person is able to collect many coins from many places.

tbirde56

I've been trying to collect an affordable type set of modern coins from each country for about 35 years now with over 15,000 world coins and counting. I go by the Krause numbers that define different types and have tried to aim mostly for circulation coins from 1800+. Obviously being so spread out reduces the amount I can spend on any particular coin(s) so most more expensive coins or high grade older coins are not my goal unless I can get an exceptional deal. I have assembled many date runs though and try to find lower mintage dates of particular types. All in all, I don't have to worry about what to collect next when I'm done with this direction of collecting.