I have a small leather bag of coins from my grandfather, who was in the US Air Force and was stationed all over the world. The newest coin is from 1971. I have some questions about these coins. I have coins that say Helvetia with a lady and a shield. I know this is Switzerland, so then what is the Confoederatio Helvetica coin? Also, I have some old New Zealand coins that are very similar to some Australian coins I have, but others look completely different. Any idea as to why this is? Next: Who is the guy with a bandana on the 1963 Mexico coin? When did the Germans convert to Euros? (I have some pfennigs)
experts on here are very helpful, but they won't do it without pictures. Recommend you posting some pics.
the confedoration coin is so called because switzerland is made up from different cantons or states, hence confedoration.
Both terms are Latin, by the way. This way they avoid having all four official languages of the country on the coins. The euro as a currency was introduced in January 1999; the euro coins came in December 2001 and became legal tender in January 2002. Christian
I would recommend getting the coins out of the leather bag. Leather is usually treated with some chemicals that can be very harmful to coins. As for the Australian and New Zealand coins... if I remember correctly, there was a fairly recent switch to the decimal system. Coins from before would have denominations like threepence or shilling (those may be silver and worth something) while newer coins will be in different denominations (ie; 50 cents).
The leather bag should be fine. Although not the preferred storage place, if the coins have been in that leather bag for many years, and nothing bad has happened to them, I'd leave them in the bag. Time tells. Some would remove them from the bag and place them in soft vinyl flips, which is more likely to damage them, with PVC residue and lead. I suppose the best way to store them is in 2x2's, not flips.
