I know my grandmother has a lot of Swiss coin folders filled with CHF. Plus a lot of their franc(CHF) pieces were silver until the late 60's. Their design however has stayed the same for a while. Also Canadian coins are popular. Hopefully someone will have some more information on the subject though.
Depends on who the collector is and what country they live in. My top five (in terms of number of coins owned and in collecting interests) are: 1. Canada 2. UK / England 3. Germany 4. France 5. Old African Colonies
For me #1 Canada (easy to get in USA) #2 UK (Silver only) #3 Ireland Japan and Singapore coins I have and I did like those places. Middle East coins I have, but I am not sure I really like it there? Still undecided on 4 & 5? I did not know if the large coin trade magazines publish articles on what is the most traded and most sought after Nation coins?
I don't collect coins, but I do "accumulate" world coins from certain eras: UK (1688-1837, the Glorious Revolution to Queen Vic.) Italian Unification (il Risorgimento) (1796-1870) Ancient Rome and its enemies (Parthian and Sassanian Empire) during the Third Century Crisis (AD 200-300) U.S. : None guy
Hmm, I see this list pretty US centric. Worldwide, (not just in the US), I would say China would have to be tops, followed by Spain, UK, Germany, and India. That would be an estimate based upon coin populations. If including ancients, I would say substitute ancient Rome for Germany. In the US, even in foreign coins we are English-centric. I would say world coins are UK, Canada, Mexico, France and Germany. Maybe Spain or Australia instead of Germany. American collectors, like many Americans, don't speak foreign languages and appear to wish to read their coins.
I agree and stated not USA. That being said! The top 5 World’s Largest Economies most likely have the most coins by size: #1 USA #2 China #3 Japan #4 India #5 Germany http://www.economywatch.com/economies-in-top/
Here is a list of countries I believe are the top 4 because of volume or impact on the world. The fifth county I'll leave up to personal choice. Modern NCLTs excluded. 1) Germany (Federal Rep., Democratic Rep., Imperial Emp., Weimar Rep., Third Reich, German States) 2) Great Britain (Global political & economic power for several hundred years) 3) Mexico (500 years of numismatic history, first global currency: 8 reales excepted for trade in Asia, North America, South America, Middle East, Europe, Africa) 4) China (Imperial system for 2000 years, huge volume, 50+ years of random short lived, low mintage & multiple variety issues) 5) You choose (France+colonial, Italy+states, Denmark, Russia+Soviet Union, India+states+British Colony, Peru-colonial, Canada, Switzerland, Ancient Greece & Rome, Austria, Iran).
Good point about Americans being English-centric. The top 5 "Foreign" countries to collect probably depends on what country the person answering the question is from. Canada and Australia seem to be fairly popular among some American collectors I know. I also know people who collect coins from Mexico and other of our neighbors to the south. So language and geography both seem to play a role.
I thought Mexico was only its own country since the early 1800's. That is why i included Spain in my list.
I mostly collect French and Italian, but I have tons of UK (most bought thus "collected") and Canadian (all found from circ). I've got them from tons of countries though.