Options
Collecting World Coins
Tyrock
Posts: 311 ✭✭✭
I've been collecting US coins since 1978. I've bought some foreign coins over the years and lately I've been thinking of becoming more involved as my US collecting interest has started to decline. What are the top foreign countries in terms of collcetor interest? I assume that Canada and England would be on the list. I have some nice Canadian halves (including a 1948 PCGS 62 half). And I have some nice English coinage. Any thoughts?
0
Comments
Canada
Gr. Britain
Germany and German States
DPOTD-3
'Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery'
CU #3245 B.N.A. #428
Don
Gary
Steve
There is a rich history, as well as abundant challenges, without any one coin being completely out of reach for a person of average income, save for perhaps the 1906-S Peso (recalled when silver prices rose dramatically) and 1918-S Mule Five Centavo (which is exceptionally rare as an unintended Mule pairing with the 20 Centavos Reverse die). You could form collections without each of these two coins and justify calling the collection complete, or you could buy them each in Good condition for relatively modest, though still substantial, sums.
Because of the way I collect I will never have a great specialized collection of anything. That is OK with me.
Welcome to the darkside! I am sure you will find something in world coins to delight you.
World Collection
British Collection
German States Collection
<< <i>With my wife's tie to the Philippines, I have restricted myself to one very small area of obscure US Coinage, so obscure that I find myself more welcome on the darkside than the lightside, and that is US-Philippines coinage 1903-1945. If you choose to go that route, you should be aware that conditional rarities abound due to most coins having been cleaned somewhere along the way, and due also to the habit of Filipinos actually using the coins to buy food for survival, rather than saving them in pristine condition in personal collections.
There is a rich history, as well as abundant challenges, without any one coin being completely out of reach for a person of average income, save for perhaps the 1906-S Peso (recalled when silver prices rose dramatically) and 1918-S Mule Five Centavo (which is exceptionally rare as an unintended Mule pairing with the 20 Centavos Reverse die). You could form collections without each of these two coins and justify calling the collection complete, or you could buy them each in Good condition for relatively modest, though still substantial, sums. >>
I have not collected Philippines coinage, only some banknotes from the territorial era. But the designs on the early coins are awesome, and really given the scarcity of the coinage from that era vs. USA coinage - very affordable. I do wonder that when you find really really nice coins that perhaps they could have been saved by Americans that were there during that era though, lots of soldiers were stationed there especially early on in that time.
<< <i>I have not collected Philippines coinage, only some banknotes from the territorial era. But the designs on the early coins are awesome, and really given the scarcity of the coinage from that era vs. USA coinage - very affordable. I do wonder that when you find really really nice coins that perhaps they could have been saved by Americans that were there during that era though, lots of soldiers were stationed there especially early on in that time. >>
I suppose that's a possibility, but I don't think it accounts for most of the nice coins that are found, as a fair number of such coins are even today being purchased directly from Filipino sellers located in the Philippines. Until the past couple years, I often went directly to the Philippines eBay site, before most of the reputable sellers realized they could a better price by listing directly on the US or UK eBay sites. Now, many Filipino sellers have managed to partner with state-side colleagues, delivering their merchandise to them in advance, in order gain bids from those who don't like to risk sending payment to a foreign country.
It wasn't simply the poverty, which lead to a lack of a collector base, which created conditional rarities among practically all dates and denominations. It was also the rampant cleaning, even polishing, by virtually all the coin dealers, as well as a high percentage of collectors in Manila and other metropolitan areas.
When I visited Iloilo City several years ago, I met one collector who actually used a fine felt tip pen to write how much he paid for each coin in his collection, directly on one side of the coin. And I'm convinced he wasn't the only one, since I've seen coins that are toned everywhere except for the area that was marked with a number, where someone apparently later cleaned off the black to reveal the original luster underneath. And it still looked like crap.
It is really hard to find MS65 coins prior to the Commonwealth era which began in 1936, and One Centavos are especially difficult to find in full red.
Quoting from the PCGS One Centavo Registry Set description, which is where I've decide to focus my interest…
<< <i>The One Centavo was the coin used in almost all day-to-day transactions and a true challenge to find in full Red because of the hot and humid climate of the Philippines. This set will pose a serious challenge to even the advanced collector. The series also has many different varieties, some dates not found in Gem Red. An interesting fact to underscore the challenge of this set, there are more than four times the number of 1909-S VDB Lincoln cents graded Red than the entire US-Philippines One Centavo series! >>
Themes can be far ranging and some quite rare. I have collections of Coins and Medals with Lions on them, I have a collection of coins with Cars, and one with Bare Breasted Ladies on world coins. Theme collecting can be fun and add beauty and a VARIETY of countries to your collections.
FOR SALE Items
The collection which is virtually all British ideally will contain an example of - each denomination produced, an example of each person in whose name it was struck including the episcopal issues, an example of each metal used including the varying degrees of fineness for Au & Ag, an example of all metal provenance marks, an example of each attributed designer's work, an example from each minting location, an example of all the privy or initial marks used, and finally a miscellaneous section covering mistrikes, unifaces etc.
This should keep me occupied for the next 30 years. There are some unavoidable, but unaffordable pieces in there such as a Henry VII sovereign for the Dragon mark, or the Cromwell 50/-, but it should provide me with years of fun as there is no restriction on the period covered and there is always likely to be something to go for. I'm half way there, but still can't wean myself off the George III pattern halfpennies, which would free up some much wanted capital. I also can't resist keeping the occasional really nice type example which I don't need to fill a gap, but can't bear to sell on. I am my own worst enemy.
<< <i>
When I visited Iloilo City several years ago, I met one collector who actually used a fine felt tip pen to write how much he paid for each coin in his collection, directly on one side of the coin. And I'm convinced he wasn't the only one, since I've seen coins that are toned everywhere except for the area that was marked with a number, where someone apparently later cleaned off the black to reveal the original luster underneath. And it still looked like crap.
It is really hard to find MS65 coins prior to the Commonwealth era which began in 1936, and One Centavos are especially difficult to find in full red.
>>
It is a cultural experience, having lived in Ukraine, how collectors in Ukraine treat their coins. I believe as a generalisation that Europeans tend to think cleaning is at least tolerable. PVC damage is commonplace, which probably leads to a lot of the cleaning effort. One area that is distinctly different in Europe though as opposed to the Philippines, is that prices for European coins are higher in Europe than they are in the USA. It is better to buy Ukrainian coins from sellers in the USA than in Ukraine most of the time.
That's how I've gotten 80% of my collection, more if you don't count Canada.
Another popular way is one from every country. There's a lot more coin issuing countries than I ever expected. And that's just my lifetime, going back in to the past there's even more.
The greatest thing about this hobby is that you can do pretty much anything, there is no wrong way to collect...except for say polishing or drilling holes into the coins.
For expensive fun try MS examples of these ideas - you can stick to gold examples or dated...say the year your favorite country became a nation, birth year or your mother in laws birth year.
I mean like Poker says have a looong look at Krause and you'll get lost besides getting many ideas.
Good luck!
GrandAm