Here are a few random coins I picked up at the local coin shop. Nothing extremely rare, but not bad for 20 cents a piece. Any of these catch anyone's eye in particular? Im still fairly new at this, so I like to learn as much as I like to collect and share. 1945 1 French franc 1945 5 French francs 1919 Canadian large penny 1924 farthing 1915 50 centimes The franc coins are aluminum, and are for my French occupation era set. For some reason, they appeal to me. Anyway, here's today's catch.
Yep, 20 cents each. I have 2 coin dealers in town here. The one I got these from has a world coin grab box, and sells 5 for a buck. He would rather not deal in foreign coinage, so he puts them out for people to dig through. Question... in your experienced opinion, should I just go buy up the whole box? Probably 200-300 coins from everywhere around the world. He even puts buffalo nickels in there that have the dates illegible. Im at the mercy of the Coin Talk advice givers here. Don't wanna strike out, but there are some nice ones in there, Im sure.
If you can get the entire box for a sweet price, then go for it...but why pay money for coins that you don't want or need? I say spend some time and pick out the best. Chances are the rejects will still be there...and if you buy some, the dealer might put more in. Another thought - if this dealer is one who can't be bothered with foreign coins, I'd start digging for silver...
buy the whole box you have a silver coin in your lot http://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces691.html 1.86 USD melt value http://www.coinfactswiki.com/wiki/France_1915_50_centimes "This date is not the highest mintage but is the most common, the result of hoarding after World War I (1916-20)."
Thanks for the advice, stldanceartist. In order to not spend an entire day in the place, would you recommend any specific countries I should seek out? I mean, I love em all, but I do want to create higher valued collections, so do you have any ideas for a newer than most coin picker? And yes, after finding that 1915 50 centime, Im going back in the morning to dig for silver.
Enochian, that was basically my thought on it too. If I can find one silver coin for every 20 or so, and the rest bring absolutely nil (impossible) then I will at least break even and have a bunch of cool coins.
http://wedighistory.blogspot.com/2010/08/guide-to-foreign-silver-coins.html here you go its a lot to study
buy what you LIKE. buy a Krause world coin catalog $50-80.00 do the research on your new coins for dates, metal content, and mintages.
If it's like the typical dealer's 5 for a dollar box I would not recommend buying the whole thing. First off, what you should do depends on what your goals are. Do you want to resell them for a profit? Do you want to build a collection of a lot of different coins from different countries? Do you just want to find some deals and worry about what you'll do with them later? What I generally do is buy everything from before the World War II era that is in decent shape. Don't buy coins with corrosion or big dents unless they're really old or unusual. If you find an older coin in really good shape, buy that too. Coins from after World War II mostly aren't worth anything so I wouldn't buy them unless you are interested in the design or want to collect that country. Most world coin value bins are full of these coins, which is why I wouldn't recommend buying the whole thing. You're likely to get a ton of 1980s Mexican coins and 1950s German 10 pfennigs. Of course you should buy any silver you see no matter what shape it is in because you won't lose money on it. The coins you bought are all coins I would have bought at one time, but none is really worth a premium except the silver coin. The World War II era French coins are very common and I have trouble selling them on eBay for a dollar. Older British coins are always popular and I like the design personally. The older Canadian large cents are always worth investing a quarter. Once you dig through these value bins for awhile you'll get a feel for what is common and what is unusual. Once you kind of know what's what, I'd say buy anything you haven't seen before because it's more than likely to be special.
Thank you for the pointers, hiddendragon. The box has alot of worn down buffalo nickels in it, but the dates are illegible. Yep, some 10 pfennigs in there, and very few Mexican coins. I am making an aluminum occupation era set from France, which is why I even took a second look at them. I just like em. And as for the others, I am pretty much going off of what little i know, along with some knowledge of certain key dates. I am pretty darn good at spotting errors. After i got back and did a bit of research following another CT members advice, I realized I had a pretty nice piece from Costa Rica in my maybe pile and opted against it. Stupid. It was a keeper. Live and learn.
When you are looking at the French aluminum coins, be aware of mint marks. In general, anything with a B or C mintmark is harder to find than those without mintmarks. There is a wide variety of French coins from these years. You'll notice differences in the design of the 1 and 2 francs depending on whether they were made by the German occupation (Vichy) government or the exiled free government. On some, the mintmark is below the date. On others it is on the other side to the left of the ax. Buffalos with illegible dates aren't worth it. I just sold a bunch of buffalos with dates that I could read for 20 cents each. There were millions made, and most are still in existence somewhere. The exception is if you can make out a rare date. Sometimes when you turn them to the side the light hits them right and you can see it. Another suggestion: Coins from Africa are always popular. I'd buy any African coin that I could find. Older coins from anywhere that was a colony are good. British India, French Africa, North Africa and the Middle East, French Indochina, Netherlands East Indies and so on. Also, most people can't identify Middle Eastern and Asian coins if they don't have Western-style writing on them, so watch for coins from those places that just look old. You can usually tell. And unless money is really tight for you, if it's only 20 cents apiece I'd say if you're up in the air about something it's usually just better to buy. You're going to regret it if you later found out it was a good coin that you didn't buy, but if you buy something that turns out to be junk, you're not out much.
