I've been collecting world coins and currency with the goal of collecting from as many countrys as I possibly can. If there are others who also are trying to collect this way, I'd like to compare notes and see what each other has Inappropriate comment deleted Thanks, JonySky
How many countries there are depends on your personal definition of the "countries" you want to collect. There are a couple of hundred independent nations in the world, most of which belong to the United Nations. However, there are probably more than 500 "countries" listed in the Standard Catalog of World Coins, counting all Century editions; including German States, Italian States, North and South American, Asian and African colonies of European nations which existed at different times. A modern example is the former Yugoslavia, which united multiple pre-World War II countries and subsequently broke apart. There's also places like East Germany which came into existence for several decades, and then disappeared. OFEC collecting can be relatively inexpensive, but very challenging. For any definition except "UN Member nations as of a specific date", it's probably incapable of being completed - at least in one lifetime.
Most probably, you should try to stick to the modern current circulating coinages. Some older coinages might prove to be a real challenge, i.e. the Hawaiian coinages, or various protectrate era coinages and various others. But current coinages are not a serious challenge and perhaps you might be able to trade in other forums.
World collecting One of the hardest things is deciding what qualifies as a country, after considerable deliberation, I decided the old coins from Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island qualify. Germany has given me 6 distinctive groups, and I don't even go back past 1800. Lundy is still a maybe. One of things I'm trying to find out is how other people handle the "maybes". I'm also trying to find out where people find some of the countries I have not been able to find. But my message seems to be a solicitation to the powers that rule the board. I'm not trying to buy or sell, just communicate to others that collect ordinary world coins. JonySky
Hello JonySky The way to go is maybe to proceed step by step (just an idea) : try to complete a set of one coin of every actual UN member. Then develop the coinage of the countries that "inspire" you more, i.e. German states, or Italian states, or the whole coinage of a country at a certain time. (just a thought) Hope it helps Cucumbor
One way, which might be expensive is to go to a money exchange center and then your cost would be the fee. Large banks and airports provide this. It would not cover every nation but you might be able to knock off large sections at a time. Then there is the internet where many sites offer modern coins of various contintents or individual nations. Do a google search. Your task is a mighty one and I would follow the recommendations of picking a modern time era and sticking with just circulated currency and coinage to keep the costs down.
One not so minor problem with this approach is that generally banks and money changers like Deak-Perera, whose booths I have personally seen at airports in at least seven different countries in Europe, Asia and Central America, buy and sell paper currency only - no coins. In fact, in Japan where coins are used up to 500 yen (~USD4.25), the smallest Japanese unit available from a money changer at Narita (Tokyo International) is the 1,000 yen note. Sometimes they will give change in the local currency only, but accept only bills in the foreign currency.
You right Roy, I was just thinking about the currency aspect with that one and should have made it clear. I would hate to think that someone would make a special trip and leave with half of what they expected. Thanks for catching that.
The country method is a problemmatic way to collect, consider places like Burgundy and Brittany. The geographical landscape has been changing for millenia and civilisations have come and gone and places have changed hands/names/size many times. Byzantium, Constantinople or Istanbul?
Seems it depends on which bank you go to. GWK in the Netherlands and ReiseBank in Germany, for example, do buy coins from various countries. However, they charge hefty fees, probably because of storage and transportation cost. And the even bigger problem is that, as you wrote, such services do not sell coins ... So if one wants a "mixed bag" of coins, a good idea (at least for a beginner) would be to buy exactly that - a bag of mixed world coins. Christian
The "country approach" is relatively (!) easy if one follows Roy's advice and collects a coin or set from each existing country. Thus, the UN members plus Taiwan and Vatican maybe. Such a collection would be limited to about 200 places. But yes, if you add countries that no longer exist, you'll be in trouble soon. Christian
Not new at this I must have given the impression that I was just begining this quest. I started buying world coins by the pound for my grandkids a couple of years ago, and got hooked. I now have 316 countries, for most I have both coins and currency. Some only coins, some only bills. Some countries I have only 1 coin or bill, because of the cost, or I can't find more. The oldest I have got into (so far) are East India Company, some of my India States are probably older, but I can't find them in my books. I really wanted to see if anyone else on this board was collecting this way, and get new leads like the ones for Burgundy and Brittany. I'll start researching them right away. I do appreciate all the input. I went to the Portland Airport a couple of times last year to the currency exchange and got Bills from quite a few countries. This collection has taken on a life of its' own, and continues to evolve. I sure that someday my grandchildren will wonder if the obsessive collecting gene is hereditary. JonySky
JonySky,the Indian Princely States coins are listed in Krause.Some countries have issued neither coins nor banknotes,but they did issue their own postal orders.The South African Bantustans (Bophuthatswana,Ciskei,Transkei,& Venda) all issued their own postal orders.However,Bophuthatswana did have 2 bullion medal-coins. We can say that there is a choice of around 2,000 countries to collect,as there were around 632 Indian Princely States,& around 1,800 German states.Most issued their own coins. Aidan.
