So I am first and foremost a US Coins guy. However, lately I find myself being drawn to World coins and find them fascinating. I know next to nothing about them but the history behind these pieces is an unmistakable draw...lately I have posted a few nice pieces while not very valuable from a monetary perspective are still full of beauty and intrigue. I have read several comments over the past 9 months referring to the "Dark Side" and World Coins and this seems to apply... So while this one is not that old and from a country only 60 miles from where I live in the Gadsen Purchase, I very much appreciated its look.
I love Mexican coins! Unfortunately, I only have 1 Cap and Ray Peso, I got it from the LCS junk bin for 80 cents. EDIT: Who says you have to say just a US coins guy? I started out a US coins guy, moved to world, and then to ancients. Now I dabble in all of them. Expand your horizons!
It has a nice look, the black highlights some of the devices well. I mainly collect ancients but I pretty much collect modern world coins equally as much. I think it's boring to pigeon hole yourself to just one area of coins. There is so much to learn & if you want, collect. Much of them are very affordable too. Especially if you don't only collect high end/graded stuff.
World Coins can be quite rewarding if you know what to look for. For example a coin dealer I used to frequent sold foreign coins for $4.00 a pound. Moreover, a few silver coins would often be mixed in, but this is by far my best foreign cherrypick.
I have a few Central American coins from my travels as a 10 year old with my grand parents in late 1973 into early 1974. Mainly Guatemala and Panama. But I recently rediscovered these and have posted them on other threads in this forum. Here is one that I personally acquired 45 years ago, likely while in Guatemala City.
One more recent pick up. This one is from the State of Chihuahua and struck around the time that Pancho Villa attacked the US. To think that this coin was possibly there at that time!
This might actually be my first time seeing one of these, and I've seen a LOT of world coins. Very cool
One more from Mexico; only 10 percent silver and under a $1 US in melt but nice MS with a few spots on the reverse.
World coins rule. Variety is endless. Price range cheap to beyond the clouds. Something for everyone. U.S coins are nice, but so limiting in design.
@Razz, I like this post & particularly the 1915 Chihuahua piece. While I don't have many world coins, I do have several from Mexico & Central America. I agree that world coins offer both variety, beauty & value. I do, however want to question your use of the term "Dark Side", as I have never heard it used in relation to world coins. Now, I don't know that I can actually define or explain the term, but I do know it when I see it...& I see it in every "ancients" thread on CoinTalk. JMO. Keep up the posts, this is great!
Maybe it is as @furryfrog02 states in his post as the middle "leg" of the journey over to the dark side, which is ancients. Like I posted above I have read a couple of posts mention World but you are probably correct on the term being most applicable to ancients...
I opened my collecting horizons this way a couple years ago. I still collect US coins, but it's pretty limited to my favorite series or nice type coins. Currently, I focus on foreign cherrypicking and building a nice collection of foreign crown-sized coins. It's fun and, as many said, seemingly limitless.
I started collecting USA coins, dabbled in Canadian coins, went fully into World coins, then into Tokens and finally into Ancients. Now I collect all of the above. Variety is the spice of life!
I have followed a similar path. Couldn't tell you the last time I purchased a US coin. My world coin adventure started off buying anything cheap that caught my eye. I have begun to focus more but it is tough with the variety of distractions in world coins.
You should put together a 20th Century type set of Mexican coins. Then you can see what inflation and political unrest looks like numismatically.
I love world coins as well. I find many of the classic ones have designs that rival ours and modern world commemorative often have innovative and interesting designs.
I also started with US and then added world items. Mexican coins present a variety of beautiful designs and many are affordable. Here is one of my favorites (top 20 overall if I ever get down to a true box of 20).
I collect world coins -- with a limitation. They have to be dated 1941. Probably not hard to guess why.