Hello people, Have just registered onto this site in the hope of find a reliable source of information for a big box of old/foreign coins that I have been collecting almost subconsciously for several years now, after my grandfather gave me the ones that he had after I took an interest. Many of them are simply old British coins from the times when we had shillings etc. But some are more unusual European, East Asian and African coins, and I would like to find out more about them. This is probably a startlingly easy question, but where can I go to find out what exactly I have acquired? Many thanks, Gemini
A local coin shop would be your best bet, other than that... buying some krause world coin books or something... You might go to e-bay and do some searching for similiar coins that you have... If you have any pre 1950 mexico coinage, i'd be glad to look them up for ya, but, that's about all the referance I have for foreign coins...
Gemini, Welcome to the Forum. 1st I would check out the Information & Helpful Links we have here. Then I would go check out the World coin Section & warm up your camera. Someone there will know what you have.
Welcome aboard Gemini. Well, within reason, posting clear pictures here will usually get you information. Start with the Asian coins and any of the Africans that you can't read the legends on, as those would be the toughest for you to find in the Standard Catalog of World Coins on your own. Then, whip out your library card (you do have one don't you) and head for your local public library. They will either have, or can undoubtedly get on inter-library loan, the SCWC by Krause & Mishler (generally referred to simply as "Krause" in numismatic circles. You definitely need to see the 20/21st Century volume, and very possibly the 19th Century as well. Krause is published in four big city telephone book sized volumes covering 1701-present. There are 10s of thousands of mostly life-size pictures, along with lots of other valuable information both on the coins, and on the issuer's history. Probably you will have to take your coins, or pictures of them, to the library as Krause generally is a non-circulating reference. To find out what country the ones with readable legends are from, if you don't recognize the name in its native language, google the legends. For example, both "Belgique" and "Belgie" will turn up references to Belgium; "Magyar" will bring up Hungary; and so on. (Presumably you'll recognize "Espana", "Francais" and some others.) In your case the bromide "Buy the book before the coin" probably translates to "Check the book before you sell the coin).
