Like a lot of world coin collectors, I collect all kinds of coins - from different countries, time periods, metal content, etc. Besides the US Mint, what world Mint do you favor? Since I'm most interested in coins from last century to now, Mints that i admire are Mexico's, Canada's, Britain's, Germany's, Switzerland's, Scandanavian countries', etc. I guess I like a lot. I was just looking at some recent bi-metallic, niobium coins from Austria and they were amazing! Really great work there
That's a really challenging question there. When it comes to creativity, I think Canadian Mint comes up as the top but sometimes I really hate how much novel products they create. A really underrated mint in my opinion is Kazakhstan Mint. Perhaps to compete against the Austrian silver-niobium coins is the silver-tantalum coins. I believe that there are some mints that are quite old such as France, Germany, Mexico, Turkey - I'm certain there are a lot old mints in Europe, just cannot remember them all.
Interesting, I never considered the age of mints when i started this thread. I would guess Mexico and a lot of continental europe to have old mints. I wonder if there's a book on world mints. Probably not, considering countries like ours that speak primarily english have parochial collecting habits overall and books by our experts like bowers cover mainly the nation's coinage. I agree with you on Canada's mint. Theyre great in some respects, but take it too far in others
The French mint (Monnaie de Paris) was founded in 864. It is the oldest continuously operating business in France. Today the administration, design dept., the museum etc. are in Paris, but the coins are minted in Pessac near Bordeaux. Germany does not have one mint but five. They are operated by states, not the feds. The oldest is the Hamburg Mint; coins were first struck in Hamburg in 834. The Austrian Mint is pretty old too. First records of a mint in Vienna go back to 1397, but the minting of coins began shortly after the ransom payment (lots of silver) for Richard Lionheart in or around 1194. Keep in mind however that some mints around here do not operate any more. The Royal Mint of Belgium for example does the design of newly issued pieces, but the coins are minted in Utrecht, NL - by the Royal Dutch Mint which is part of Heylen group, a Belgian company. Denmark and Sweden do not have mints any more either. Their coins are produced by the Mint of Finland in Vantaa near Helsinki ... Christian
Let us not forget the British Royal Mint, most likely the world's largest and most prolific coin factory. They claim 1100 years in business.
I like the quality and creative designs of the Austrian, German and Australian mints. Although GB has a lot of history, I feel the quality of some of the coins (particularly sovereigns) minted at the Royal Mint were of very average strike and quality. I mean as recently as the '80s and '90s they were just producing MS67 stuff at best I am partial to After Eights though
Not sure what After Eights are. I like Britain's older sovereigns, like early 1900s and before. Their classic design is world renowned and enjoyed, but im not familiar with their modern version and strike. I like Germany's various regime coinage, particularly the nazi regime and up to now. The commems are great, and i like that 1-5 marks still circulate. When you mentioned the designs of those three mints, are you talking about pre-decimal coinage or that and recent stuff? I like Australia's pre-decimal stuff, not too familiar with after
After Eight (Mint Chocolates ) But on a serious note, most Austrian and German Thalers had a lot of character and effort put into their design and manufacture. The sovereign design is loved the world over and I'm an avid collector of sovereigns. However, their strike quality until recently, was nothing special. Even the more recent proofs seldom got to more than a 67 grade. Only in the last 2-3 decades have they started to hit MS or PF 70. 1937 Proof, haven't come across anything higher than PF67 1989 500th Anniversary sets were struck in PF70UC quality with a beautiful orange tone. One of my favourite sovereign designs with the Tudor Rose reverse. Australian coinage was heavily influenced by GB but their recent coins (post '90s) have been focusing on being more Australian and are of very high quality in my opinion
Umm, we have had the euro for almost 20 years. The DM coins ceased to circulate 16 years ago. Thin Mints are delicious, though maybe the limited availability and the way they are sold adds to the "special" status. The original After Eight pieces with the semi-liquid center are not my piece of cake, but AE has turned into an entire product line. Another old mint with pretty high quality products is the one in Kremnica, Slovakia. The mint was established in 1328/29, in the "Hungarian part" (mint mark KB for Körmöczbánya) of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. After WW1, most of the equipment was moved to Budapest, but Kremnica - then in Czechoslovakia - almost immediately got new machinery ... Christian
Not familiar with Slovakia, but i have a few of their coins from recent decades. Actaully the Marks have resurfaced in circulation since the Euro took over. Just google "Marks still being used in Germany." I saw 2012 articles talking about stores accepting them, and a 2017 article or two mention that Mark notes and coins are redeemable indefinitely by the big bank (forgot its name). I always count up my Marks and get about half or a little more in US dollars for them, so if i had 30 Marks in coins, id usually get 15-20 dollars US
You are free to believe what you want to believe. But I don't really need to search the web in this case; I live here and am fairly familiar with the use of old money. Right, the Bundesbank - not exactly a big bank but the central bank - will, with the exception of the first 2 DM issue, always redeem all coins and notes ever issued by this country (Federal Republic of Germany). And once in a while some store will make use of that, and offer its customers in some advertising campaign that they can pay with DM cash too (which the store will then take to the Bundesbank). But of course the DM coins that you mentioned are not legal tender and do not "circulate" here ... Christian
That may be true today, but i read several news articles reporting in 2012 that billions of marks were circulating and happily accepted as payment at shops in Germany, which goes against you saying that they merely stopped circulating when he Euro came along. That simply isn't true according to news reports. Below is just one report, but you can hold on to your anecdote if you want to edited
Right, those billions of DM cash are still around in a way, but they do not circulate. That amount is simply what people have not redeemed yet. These days it is 12.6 billion DM by the way (about 6.7 bn in coins, the rest in paper money), and that money just "sits" somewhere, in collections maybe, under mattresses, in safes here in Germany or some other countries. Oh well, any visitor to Germany can easily find out whether the pre-euro cash is used "in circulation" here. Just come and try it out. Anyway, around here many collectors like the Austrian Mint products in terms of production quality. Design wise, some (myself included) say they tend to be a little too busy. The Mint of Finland is also good, as far as the quality of the produced coins is concerned. Design wise, some say they tend to be (too) sober ... Christian
