As a Beginning Collector, What Coins Do You Recommend?

Those are some awesome looking coins, spirityoda. Is the Alhambra coin part of a Monnaie de Paris series or something? I know they do the UNESCO coins in euros now...

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

These two coins were also issued during the reign of Vittorio Emanuele III. The 1927 10 Lire coin depicts a biga (2-horse chariot) driven by a nice lady holding a fasces. The 1936 5 Lire depicts another nice lady with four children. This seated woman is an allegorical representation of Italy, with her sons. This coin in Italy is known as 5 lire "Fertility".

One of my favorites is this Italy 500 Lire coin. This design was minted from 1957 to about 2000 (after Victor Emmanuel’s reign).

Beauty and kitsch are in the eye of the beholder. I find the designs on all these Italy coins attractive.

The horse drawn chariot designs have their roots in antiquity. Here is a coin from Messana Sicily (Italy) ca. 480 B.C. There are much better ancient chariot examples but this is the only chariot coin in my ancient collection. My ancient coin actually depicts a Biga of mules (an apene) rather than two horses (a biga).

 

I tend to agree with you about those Italian coins. They look great. Not kitschy at all.

 

That coin was issued as part of a series that featured important buildings in Europe. Started in 1993, ended in 1997. And yes, the Monnaie de Paris has a Unesco World Heritage series - first with various sites all over the world (since the Unesco HQ is in Paris), now with "local" sites such as Notre-Dame.

Spain has its own Unesco World Heritage series, with sites from the country. So do Germany, Netherlands, Portugal ...

Christian

 

... huh, I kinda like the new guy ...

=> welcome W.Mart!!

 

While picking the Italy coin photos, I ran across these beauties.

An 1859 Tuscany 5 Centesimi:



A grosso minted in Venice between 1275 and 1280:

This grosso coin originates from 1275-1280 under the reign of the Doge Jacopo Contarini. The reverse depicts Jesus Christ on a throne. The obverse depicts Doge Jacopo Contarini together with the Venetian city’s Saint Mark. The Doge is on the left receiving a tall flag from St. Mark on the right. Jacopo Contarini was the 47th Doge of Venice, from 1275 until his abdication in 1280.

This last Italy coin was made more recently in 1957:


I do not specialize in Italian coins. I just think that many of them are attractive. If you want to see a super-nice ancient coin (from what is now called Italy) depicting a chariot, check-out this thread: https://www.cointalk.com/threads/dolphin-depicted-on-this-coin-post-all-your-dolphin-porpoise-coins.242986/#post-1869343
Post #11 of this thread depicts a silver dekadrachm from Syrakuse of Dionysios I, 400-390BC signed by Euanietos. Also, TIF's avatar depicts an ancient chariot & it is a Sweet coin (notice the capital S in Sweet).

 

Same here. I specialize in german coins (because my ancenstors are from germany), but I like some of the early 1900 coins from Italy. Here is my 1914 2 Lire Quadriga (AU53):

 

By the way, in case you feel like getting your Pope on, here are a couple of 50 cent pieces from the Vatican (ungraded, but obviously AU).

 

Do you happen to have any photos of your German coins, Hotpocket? My family is German as well and German history has been a big interest of mine.

 

Here is a Germany coin & a German East Africa (Tanganyika) coin:

 

That top one is awesome. Great condition too.

 

Oh, boy. Where do I begin? I have literally hundreds of German coins (Empire, German States, Weimar Rep , and modern, including a handful of Nazi). I'll have to be selective, and pick a few of my favorites to post.

In the meantime, I agree w Spirit Yoda when he said to pick up a Krause book. The Krause book of German coins is huge, and costs about $75, but if you are serious about German coins, its a good investment (IMO).

Here is one of my all-time favorites - it is technically a medal vs. a coin, but I love the reverse, I think it is beautiful (i actually own 3 of them):




The obverse is not so great. I will take a few more pics of my coins tonight (I happened to have posted this one before so I had the pic on my laptop).

 

Christian explained it good. I did not know that information. thanks. I mainly bought it because I liked how far the design went back inward depth wise.. and had fun with the lighting on the photography. the interesting story behind buying this coin is... I had hunted for it for 10 very long years and finally saw it on Ebay and bought it super fast. lol the very next day after buying it 2 more came on the market on Ebay from 2 other different sellers. I was like... what ! I still like it. getting a coin you have been hunting for... for 10-15 years is the greatest feeling ever. If you are serious about collect world coins buying the Krause world catalogs it is a great investment. you can buy used Krause catalogs on Ebay or even cheaper the CD computer versions on Ebay as well. I went a step further and bought the 17th, 18th , 19th and 20th century Krause world coin catalogs. yes they are expensive but guess what these are my coin bibles. I love them. would not collect world coins without them.

 

that 10 lire is an awesome coin. I like the design. the 500 lire has gorgeous toning.

 

now I am confused ;-)

 

coinception

 

I think I am inspired to collect world coins, those Italian coins are beautiful

 

smaller coin designs on the coin itself. see this coin.

 

Two things. First, I vehemently disagree with Kaparthy throwing away Nazi coins, or anything similar. History is just that, history. You cannot change the past by ignoring it. It is not the coin's fault it was created by idiots. Those who wish to throw away history and ignore it are doomed to never learn from it. Like I believe Mark Twain said, "history may not repeat, but it sure does rhyme.". So, I am not a neo-Nazi, neo-fascist, or closet communist, as I believe all of these are seriously defective forms of government, but I would never, ever destroy a coin from such an era. They should remain as silent vigils of proof of these eras. If they bother you that badly, donate them to collectors here who will not worship them, but rather keep them safe for future generations to know these eras in their history books were REAL, and we should learn from these mistakes as human beings.

Second, for Doug's trivia question, I would doubt its the Columbian, (btw which was sold at the world's fair for $1, but so many were made that later they were released into circulation to pay the organization's bils). Lots of world coins, and ancients, were struck only for very special times, for very special events. I would say those are "commemoratives" too, and never really meant to circulate as money. Look at the Festival of Isis coins in late Rome as one example.

 

Ahaha => yah sadly, good ol' kaparthy has caused more than enough damage during his few, but very noticed posts ... he knows it, yet he continues to spout it ...

*whatever*

=> I guess we all can't be as cool as Doug