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Anyone still doing the "One per Country" collection?

I started one many years ago and it has been sitting waiting for me to return to it. I am thinking about picking it up and getting back in the adventure.

Just wondering if anyone is still doing it and had a few questions.

1) How do you chose which coin to represent that country.

2) How do you store/display them?

Comments

  • rawmorganrawmorgan Posts: 618 ✭✭✭
    I have thought of this, and backed away very slowly.

    The only example I saw was in the form of an alphabetized binder, not very flashy but it did the job.

    The collector who made it chose coins that he just liked.

    I just saw a documentay on the elements. A hobbiest had a table made in the shape of the periodic table where the element plate (the symbol, atomic number, etc)
    was the top of a recessed box which had examples of the element in raw or industrial form. It was very cool.

    Something like that with a map and the countries with their coins would be very neat. Although I don't know how you would handle non-existent countries.
    Or deal with the amount of space the things would take up.



  • DoubleDimeDoubleDime Posts: 619 ✭✭✭
    I got serious with this type of collection in 1984 with the goal of a coin from each country. At first any date and denomination would due and I collected the countries as I found them. This didn't last very long as I discovered that within certain countries cities, states and provinces issued coins of their own so started adding these as well. I have coins from 460 places around the world.

    Most countries I have more than one coin. With all the neat coins there are sometimes its hard to choose just one. If I liked it I added it. Some countries I've even done a type set of different denominations. No rule says just one coin, whatever catches my fancy.

    I have my coins in 2X2 holders in 3 large 3 ring binders. At first I had them alphabetical but this became a problem when a country changed name. I now have them by continents so when theres a name change I can keep them together in orderly fashion.

    This has been fun, interesting, challenging, and educational. Some places I never would have known existed if wasn't for coin collecting. When my girls where young in grade school I would give talks about world coins to their classes. I of course would have coins to give away. I would give each student a coin and then they would have to point out on the wall map the country it was from.

    This collection has no end as theres always something new to added or look for which I enjoy very much.
  • SapyxSapyx Posts: 1,977 ✭✭✭✭✭
    "One from every country" is still a very popular theme amongst world coin collectors, though very few of us have the discipline to literally stick to "just one coin". It has the advantage of being relatively easy and cheap - you don't need to pursue the high-end rarities to "complete a set" - just one coin from each country will suffice. Yet it is still challenging, as many countries did not issue very many types of coins at all.

    As for your questions.

    1. As implied earlier, I don't literally have "just one" coin from each country, so if I were assembling my OFEC collection into some sort of display and forced to choose just one coin to represent that country, I'll usually have a least a few to choose from. When given a choice, I would try to choose the one that has the most interesting story.

    2. For storage, I just use alphabetized 2x2s in binders. Countries changing names isn't a problem for me, as I simply consider the newly renamed country a "new" coin-issuing entity. It makes following the coinage history of any one country that has changed names a lot a little challenging (Russia, for example, starts off as "Russia", then "RFSFR", then "USSR", then back to "Russia" again), but filing the coin under the name that actually appears on that coin seems to me to be the only logical way to go about things. This does tend to inflate the "number of countries" count; I'm up to 715 coin-issuing entities right now.

    For displaying, I must say I've never tried assembling my OFEC collection into an OFEC display. With some 200-plus coins required for a complete "modern map of the world", that would be quite a sizeable display - too big to conveniently bring to my coin club or local coin show. I have displayed minor subsets of it in map form - the Pacific Islands, for example, or the Mediterrranean.
    Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one.
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    Apparently I have been awarded one DPOTD. B)
  • mrpaseomrpaseo Posts: 4,753 ✭✭✭
    I could not stick to 1 per country and decided on 4 per country. I have four 3 ring binders set up with pages and lords to cover each country/ providence etc.

    I'm trying to decide if I should start it up again. Maybe a winter project.

    Thanks for your responses.
  • DoubleDimeDoubleDime Posts: 619 ✭✭✭
    ttt


  • << <i>Just wondering if anyone is still doing it >>



    My "thing" is one from each monetary regime. That means lots of coins from countries like Germany with the many pre-empire States, the various governments between WW I & WW II, the short-lived German Democratic Republic, etc.; several from countries like Mexico which have re-valued their currency periodically;and just one from countries like the US which has been a republic for more than two centuries with no re-valuation of currency. After a few decades the total is somewhere in the 500s.



    << <i>1) How do you chose which coin to represent that country. >>



    I very subjectively pick the "nicest" coin I have from a specific regime to go into the album notebooks.



    << <i>2) How do you store/display them? >>



    The notebooks are 1/2" 3-ring binders with 10 20-pocket plastic sheets holding 2x2s. The sheets are backed up with printed pages having the vital statistics of each coin in alphabetical order, each letter starting a new page. When a letter picks up several additions, I reprint and rearrange.

    Roy


    image


  • << <i>I could not stick to 1 per country and decided on 4 per country. >>



    Wow, most impressive.
    I have a OFEC collection on the permanent back-burner. I find it a very fun set.
    1 coin per country, all inexpensive. All countries in existence post-1900. No German states (too expensive for this collection).

    I just alphabetize under the name of the country as coined, in 2x2s.
    It's a fun collection, and it's nice not to have to worry about coin values/prices.
    I have no criteria for inclusion - just any coin that strikes my fancy, 1 per country.

    Even though this collection has little financial value, I've noticed that the few times I've shown non-collectors my coins, this *totally* random set tends to get the most attention. Apparently variety trumps a date run of Canadian large cents image
  • I don't really focus on this, but I have a silver crown for each country in South America.
  • LochNESSLochNESS Posts: 4,829 ✭✭✭


    << <i>Just wondering if anyone is still doing it and had a few questions. >>


    Yes, this is my primary collection.


    << <i>1) How do you chose which coin to represent that country. >>


    Definitely a personal choice, so only you can answer for your own OFEC. For me, it's actually a bunch of parameters. Depending on how many rules the coin satisfies (and how well) dictates whether it's a NEWP. But instead of listing my rules, here's what you might find most useful: I began with countries from my century (the 20th). For example, Biafra only issued coins dated 1969. Likewise, many of the island territories such as American Samoa were not issuing coinage before 1901. Once I got the ball rolling I started expanding to areas that only existed in, or as a direct result of, wartime (like East and West Germany instead of simply one Germany coin) ... then I expanded into prior centuries because let's face it, some nations issued their most significant coinage a looong time ago. For example, the 8 Reales is much more significant IMO than the modern issues from Spain, Bolivia, Mexico, etc. but you don't want more than one 8 Reales do you? so you must choose which nation your 8 Reales will represent image that's how I approach it. I look for significant coins, from across the history of Time, with no bias to century or size. Africa tends to be the most controversial because there were SO many name changes. Again, it's a personal choice. I have chosen to include all the variations of each name. You may decide to simply pick one, once you realize each country has had a half dozen incarnations (or more!) image



    << <i>2) How do you store/display them? >>


    Lighthouse binders with slab-holder pages. 99% are slabbed, the rest are on my TBS list ("to-be-slabbed"). The non-slabbed are in Saflip holders, which fit just fine inside the slab-holder page compartments image
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  • DBSTrader2DBSTrader2 Posts: 3,444 ✭✭✭✭
    Yes. But so as not to bore anyone twice, see my post in the other OPC thread.

    - - Daveimage
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