A coin from every country

My latest coin project (that I decided to start today) has been to try to collect one coin from every country in the world (every country that issued coins of course). I went to the flea market and bought a ton of 2x2's, those plastic pages for a binder to put 2x2s in, and I went through this little bargain chest of random world coins and random tokens (5 for $1 ) and picked out as many different countries as I could find.

Right now I have all the coins in 2x2s with the name of the country, and the name of the currency written on the 2x2 with them all arranged alphbetically by country in those pages.

I was just wondering if there are any countries that do not have coins that I should not waste my time searching for (I printed off a list of all the countries in the world and I'm crossing them off as i get the coin).

I also need to know if there is a certain country whose coins are really expensive and/or really hard to find.

Yeah I really dont know anything at all about world coins and I just randomly decided to jump right in to them but so far its been a really fun and cheap way to collect

 

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ps that last post was my 200th post

 

Congrats Jonathon on the 200 !

The member of WINS I recently had dinner with, Oded Paz, told me of a club, the " one from every country " club or something along those lines. I am thinking of doing it myself.

I'll keep you posted after I email with him and get more information and the clubs website.

 

Woah I've never heard of anything like that, sounds like an awesome club though hehe. Thanks Jack

 

that is really ambitious! i wish you the best.

 

On a quick trip to your local public library you can check the country listings in the front of each Standard Catalog of World Coins century edition. Of course there will be a lot of no longer existing countries listed, and many German, Italian and other states that are not really countries to increase your potential total collection size.

There are probably as many OFEC definitions as there are collectors. For instance, although many people limit their collections to a single coin from an internationally recognized independent country, I look for a coin from each monetary regime a country has had, such as the pound/shilling/pence and decimal coinage of Great Britain, the pre- and post-currency devaluation series of many countries, etc. By my definition there are a couple of thousand "countries" to collect.

Germany is a good example:

• Many, many pre-Bismark unification state issues
• A smaller number of post unification state issues
• Imperial issues
• Weimar Republic issues
• Third Reich issues
• West German issues
• East German issues
• Reunified Germany issues, and
• probably some others.

 

Here is a link to the Every Country group on Yahoo

http://ca.groups.yahoo.com/group/everycountry/

 

yeah I agree it all depends on definition. For example I include Taiwan as a separate country (don't tell the Chinese government ), also Trandsnistria. Neither would count in some people's books.

There are also many cases of countries changing names etc, esp in ex colonial countries. Perhaps best to set up a framework before you start...

 

There is also a club for countries that no longer exist !!

 

Go here.

http://www.travelerscenturyclub.org/

you will find a definitive list of countries and overseas territories as of NOW. You don't really want to get all those defunct places, do you?

 

Okay, here's where to start: The US 56 state/territory quarter program. Then find the Canada 125th anniversery quarter set from 1992, ten provinces and two territories. That's 70 coins right there. Mexico has a similar program, but it's VERY expensive, Russia, too, but not so much. I'm pretty sure that the 2002 euro type sets are redilly available that's 12 more (adding San Marino, the Vatican, Monaco, Malta, Cyprus and Slovenia)

Try to get everything quarter sized, as it'll make it all nice and uniform (Guatamala 1/2 quetzel, for example)

 

All countries have coins, not all have circulating coins, but all do. Sadly, a few just have issued gold commems that are worth an arm and a leg.

 

Basically right of course. But it fortunately is a little easier since there is no difference between "West German" and "Reunified Germany" coinage. The Federal Republic of Germany was founded in 1949. In 1957 Saarland and, in 1990, the five ex-GDR states joined the Federal Republic. When starting an OFEC collection with the aim of being complete one day, it makes sense in my opinion to focus on those countries that currently exist. Expanding is always possible later ...

Christian

 

http://www.travelerscenturyclub.org/TCC_country_status.pdf the definitive list.

 

I am a world coin collector too and my mission is same as Jonathon's and others....I collect current countries and former countries and nations with name changed separately....Although my mission to collect coins of every country is limited to existing countries only....Best of luck to all.....:smile

 

There is a guy on ebay who says his ambition is to collect every coin...ever.
Every single one from every single country that has ever been made.

He's never going to do it.

I have 54 countries represented in my collection. (I also agree with kidromeo...existing countries only)

 

that is my goal as well, to own one of every type of coin ever minted....

I realize it is not possible but it means i will never be lacking in coins to aquire and I will never hit the end and say 'now what?'

 

Question #1: Are you collecting circulating coins only? or will you include non-circulating legal tender (NCLT). The Marshall Islands are a good example of a country that issues coins, but not for circulation.

Question #2: What criteria do you use to define a country? Depending on your definition, Taiwan may or may not "technically" qualify. Cabinda, Transnistra, Nagorno-Karabakh, Hutt River Province, Sealand - the legality of these (and many others) is questionable and really depends on your definition. Where do you want to draw the line?

Question #3: What about overseas territories? St. Pierre and Miquelon issued two coins of their own, and are relatively easy to get without spending a fortune. Technically, they have always been an overseas territory of France. Greenland and the Faroe Islands, too. UK dependencies such as Jersey, Guernsey, Isle of Man, Gibraltar, and the Falkland Islands are in murkier waters, but have all issued their own coins as well. Then we get to some place like Spitzbergen. They never had their own coins, but were issued token coinage by the mining company (I believe). Are those "real" coins then?

Question #4 - what about coins issued during times of civil war (Spain and Mexico are two that come to mind), or what about Chinese cash coins from the different areas? Do you include all of them?

So you see, every person's criteria are going to be different, so first step is figure out what you want to include and what you don't want to include. Then have fun!

 

It's not about getting to the end, as much as it is the journey along the way, or at least, that's my answer!

 

I agree, my collecting is all journey, no end.