Sub-themes in world coin collecting?

I'm seriously looking to embark on a journey of collecting one good coin from each country the world.

But in addition to this overall concept, it's possible that some good sub-themes could be developed. Perhaps making it one SILVER coin from each country, or a representative of that nation's major currency unit (e.g., in Canada and the US, it's the dollar). Or perhaps a coin of historical interest.

What do you think? any noteworthy ideas for sub-themes in such a collection?

 

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Sub themes: Countries that no longer exist, Smallest/largest denomination actually issued for spending, Obsolete coins of countries that still exist (British Farthing, all the pre-Euro units), Selected dates important to that country's history, All countries issuing coins the year you were born bearing that date

Opinion: Gather what you consider the most significant coin from any particular country. If you feel the most significant accomplishment of the US is the space program then make your US coin one that shows the moon landing. If you feel the biggest contribution Spain has made to the world was Columbus, select a coin of Ferdinand and Isabella. Obviously, two people collecting in this way will have very different collections based on their individual opinions. For example, I will not collect any coin that was never issued at face value because these are, to me, not coins. Others will want all proof commemoratives. My US coin might be a 1964 Kennedy half (last 90% silver) or a Walking Liberty half from my birth year. I wish it could be a 1793 dollar but lets get real.

 

You could do some commonality in design, like collecting coins that depict architecture, animals, or portraits. You could also try to collect the biggest or smallest coin minted in each country in the world. Perhaps you could try to collect coins commemorating the Olympics or other sporting events from every country that made them. You could try to get coins that depict some major historical figure from each country, which would give you a story to tell about each coin. You could also try to get coins made during World War II or some other major event, or perhaps even the year of your birth. You could also try to get all the coins you can find in weird denominations (like 3 or 15 of something). Many of these probably don't apply to every single country in the world (and do you mean all current countries or all countries that have ever existed since a certain date?), but it could be a start.

 

What ever makes you happy. I think its a good idea. happy hunting !

 

The above prompts this: how about a coin from the very first year of the nation's existence, since many came into being after World War II.

 

The only issue here is that I'm pretty sure that some nations didn't produce any coinage in their first year. To solve this, you could include paper money when coins weren't made in their first year but paper was, use whatever coinage was circulating in that first year (as there was probably some sort of coinage circulating before the country finally started making its own currency), or collect coins from the first year that coins were made in each country after it was formed.

In addition, how far back are you looking to go with this? It sounds like you're focusing on the 20th century and onwards. Is that correct? Because this idea could get very awkward if you want your collection to go as far back as possible or something, and you decide that you need a coin from each city-state in ancient Greece.

Edit: And even if you stick with modern countries, getting yourself first year coins from really old countries like England, France, or even worse China (unless you count the founding of the People's Republic the beginning), is going to be really hard, partially because they often didn't date them in obvious ways to specific years back then.

 

I don't know if this qualifies as a "sub" theme - One coin from every monetary regime.

For example, from post-1870 Germany:

• Imperial coinage
• State coinage from those states which retained coinage rights after consolidation
• Weimar Republic
• Third Reich
• German Federal Republic
• German Democratic Republic
• German Euros

or

• Great Britain pound/shilling/pence
• Great Britain decimal

.

 

Hello Siwash,

Ripley is correct. I suspect you are going to have a great time with this. (I say this from personal experience because I am constantly upgrading & adding to my 1-coin from every country collection.

Get a book (or two or three) and then settle on the list of countries & the time period from which you wish to collect. 1900 to date is fun. 1800 to date is fun. It is all good. I guaranty you will find some sub-themes as you start really searching through the inventories of each country.

How about collecting an error coin from each country:smile?

BTW, In the end, you are going to end up with several coins from the same country so plan for storing all the extras.

Very best regards,
collect89

 

I have been, more or less, working on the same collection. I too have identified "all" of the countries for my list by choosing to use K&M's table of contents for 19th and 20th Century coins as my universe. Of course, that still leaves a little bit of haziness when I get an earlier coin (like for Scotland, which had no coinage after the 18th Century), but that is not a big problem.

Through this method, I have a list of 255 countries (like Israel, Malaysia, Germany, Mexico) and 265 sub-"nations" (like Palestine, Sarawak, Wiemar Republic and Chihuaua).

I think that if you go for error coins, first year issues or silver coins, that would certainly give you more focus, but it would also make your collection much more challenging. With just the minimal parameters that I am following, I have only managed to gather coins from 191 nations and an additional 58 subnations (a total of 1917 unique modern coins).

But any way that you go about it, I am sure that you will have a lot of fun so you can certainly not lose.

-Daniel

 

To me that is impressive and you say "only"

How long has it taken you to collection 191+58

 

Well, I got my first foreign coin when I was 7, so "only" 46 years. Of course, I have not been actively collecting all of those years.

-Daniel

 

My collections are "Theme" collecting. I collect world coins with Lions, cars and bare breasted ladies on coins and medals. You will find theme collecting very interesting and varied if you pick the right ones.

 

Some of my Lions. :bow:

 

Lions make a great theme because there are many of them. A few more:
http://dougsmith.ancients.info/lion.html

You'll have to understand I don't have cars (chariots, maybe).

When it comes to animals a fun theme can be mythological beasts. Since the premise here is sub-themes, consider coins showing the animal associated with the country (US eagle, British dragon).

 

Ripley: I love the lions! What a great idea---I wouldn't have thought of that!

 

Siwash, many countries are relatively recent, but others are very old. Trying to find a portuguese (for example) coin with 700 or 800 years will not be easy, and if you want the very first, then virtually impossible.

Collecting the world may seem like an insurmountable task if you don't find a relatively narrow focus (I'm still working on that, myself). On the other hand, you can have more than one collection going on. For example, if you're very excited about the lions idea, that could be one collection. Another could be one silver coin from every existing country. That doesn't sound as hard. If eventually you achieve this goal, you can extend it a bit further to 20th century countries and states that no longer exist, and so on.

 

Doug you did it again 6th century BC Lion...My Bactrian i thought was old. You rule. ) Traci

 

The best thing about this kind of collection is the fact that the possibilities are literally endless.

I have been collecting coins for about a year; I have almost 400 different designs from 67 different countries (the majority of which are US and Canada). The most I have spent on a world coin is $10. That was a Canadian half. After that the most I have spent for a single coin is $5! The most on a US is $25. 90% of the coins in my world coin collection are from the 1900s.

I'm going a little broader in scope then you are: I want it all :bigeyes: No, I'm not as greedy as that may make me sound. I have set such lofty goals for a handfull of reasons. #1. I am 24 years old. I plan to be collecting coins for the rest of my life. I want a goal that is going to take me that long :smile #2. I love it all. I have not found a coin yet I don't like. This allows me ultimate freedom, because when I have some spare funds I can ALWAYS find something I want and would enjoy adding to my collection. Weather I have a dollar or 100 dollars, and I feel like buying a coin, I can.

I know my collection will never be complete. I don't expect it to be. Ever. I like it like that.

I am working on some sub-themes myself. Or at least, I am talking about working on themes, I have not actually started them yet for the most part.

One theme I am working on is cars. I've been a car guy forever, my entire life, and being car guys runs in my family, so it is destiny There are not a lot of issues in the car theme, it should not be too hard to accomplish. There are far more tokens and medals with cars then coin issues.

Another theme I am going to work on is coins with rodents on them. I think the majority I will find are mice, but I know there is at least one issue with a squirrel, and one with a weasel. (I think a weasel is a rodent, anyway....)

Yet another theme I wish to start is coins depicting monkeys. There are actually quite a few monkey coins, with gorillas leading the way. One African country has a current coin with monkeys playing instruments. That is a must have.

If you really want a lot of work, you could work on a collection of birds on coins. There are LOTS of designs featuring birds, and it seems like most countries have at least one.

How about coins depicting swords? Again, lots of options!

To get a little more off-beat, how about coins depicting various nuts? Or a set of coins where teeth are visible?

How about a set of coins where the denomination is the SOLE design theme? Think about that one, there are not as many as it may seem. Even if you go for coins where only one side is denomination only, that is still not a lot.

Like I said before, the possibilities are endless....and all should result in a fun collection!

 

Here are some of my Lions.

http://www.cflcoins.com/index.php?cat=6

 

Gorgeous! Absolutely! Everyone take a look at this super pride of lions.