I'm new to world coins but have coins from 19 different countries. I enjoy the variety of designs and subjects, possibly more than U.S. coins. Do you have a favorite coin to share?
@dwhiz would like this one you posted. No photos but one of my very favorites in the Canada large cent, especially pretty coin in high grades.
No single favorite coin, but I like anything from Germany which is over 80 years old. Last I checked I had coins from over 190 countries. I am sure that there are many here with way more than that. @Siberian Man seems to have a coin for every occasion!
I especially like the designs of Italian coins from the early 20th century. The Italian king, Victor Emmanuel III, was an avid numismatist who took an active interest in the circulating coinage. Coins from his reign often have designs inspired by ancient Roman art. Here's a couple of circulated examples from my collection:
This is One of mine. This coin was made in France, Monnaie de Paris. Most were produced at the Heaton Mint, Birmingham, England. https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces4359.html.
Here is my favorite. I have been collecting since 2003, and have 1149 coins from 181 countries currently, and almost as much foreign paper money as well. It's an interesting story as to how i got started, but until a couple years ago, I was just randomly collecting mostly foreign silver of any kind. Now I have gotten mostly into African colonial and "independence crowns" since teaching 3 school years in Togo and Senegal. Someone had pointed out how it is probably the only african coin with latin words.
I've already posted my favourite milled coin - at the other end of the scale is this, my favourite hammered coin - King Athelwulf of Wessex circa 850 AD: I love the economy on the lettering on the reverse: it reads HUNR across the middle, then ED MO up from the bottom, then NETA in the 4 corners. HUNRED MONETA in full - minted by Hunred who worked in Canterbury, Kent.
Love that Crown, such an intricate reverse design. I gotta get me one of those. How many years did they use that Gothic style on the British Crowns
Well the one that @alurid posted is my current pc wallpaper (well, not alurid's, my own ) but this one has been moving up the list the more I look at it,
Glad you like it! The 1847 Gothic Crown was a one off year - only 8000 or so made with some varieties. They made an alternative "young head" crown in the same year for circulation. If you go looking for the Gothic Crown be aware there are a lot of good quality fakes out there! The Young head Crown, made in 1844, 45 and 47, looks like this: