There must not be many British coin collectors.

I am often offended by the attitude that we each are supposed to be interested only in the country of our current residence. I have ancestors from a dozen countries and have just as many great (insert a lot of greats here) grandparents from Europe as anyone living there now. When my forefathers arrived from Germany in the 1700's and married into British, Scot, Irish, French and other families who had already been here a century, they did not forfeit the right to be interested in what their great (insert a lot of greats here) grandparents did wherever they were a few thousand years earlier. What I find particularly offensive is the attitude that it is OK for my cousins 'over there' to study 10,000 years of history but, since I live in the capital of the Confederate States, I have to be interested in the War Between the States. The chance that one or more of my ancestors was a Roman citizen during the time these coins were being spent approaches 100% . We have to go back further if you require me to explain why I am interested in ancient India or China. I am. By this theory I shouldn't have any UK coins after 1900 but I do. Quirky nuts? Been called worse.

 

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Ugly? I hope not.

 

The reason I collect commonwealth coins is that US coins are just too common for me.

Walk into any antique shop or pawn shop and they most likely they will have US coins, and maybe a small selection of world coins.

There is no fun in it. Millions of Morgan dollars, millions of Indian Head Cents, there is plenty to go around.

Not only that, but the demand has placed them higher in price than most world coins.

I have many pieces from the 1830s that I paid no more than $10 each for. Try buying silver capped bust coinage for that cheap. Heck even culls sell for that much.

Also many Britain coins have much lower mintages than US coins.

I guess if I had a lot of money I would not mind it.

I buy pieces that might have a tenth of the mintage of a similar us coin, are a tenth the price, and isn't something you won't find in every coin shop or antique dealer.

Sure US coins are in higher demand, but I can't see spending $40 for a G4 capped bust dime, when I can buy silver British coins in much higher detail from the 1830s for the same price.

That's what I like most about it. The search.

....and maybe the fact I'm such a tightwad, I like collecting them more because I get a nicer coin for the money.

 

If you want a collect a series that is (mostly) easy to do, and very uncommon, have you looked into the Newfoundland coinage at all?? It is surprising how cheap you can pick up some very low mintage pieces - the price is cheap, simply because the demand is not there... Coin dealers in Canada often joke, "The only thing scarcer than a Newfoundland coin, is a Newfoundland coin collector..."

 

I've looked into Newfoundland stuff and like it, but I usually don't see any high quality stuff. Usually cleaned worn stuff.

I also like a lot of pre-confed tokens, but again, don't see nice stuff usually it's worn, green, cleaned, etc.

Oddly enough, most of the Newfoundland stuff looks cleaned.

 

Dang, I wish I had said that.

 

I'm an American and the first two foreign countries I decided to focus on were Britain and Mexico. I have a more extensive collection of those two than any others. I fell in love with the big British pennies and I guess I like all the history that the nation has. It makes me think of this huge, globe-striding empire, and it's also neat to get coins from British colonies all over the globe.

 

Outside of US coins I have a decent example of some Icelandic coins. Will have coins from the UK shortly...very excited.

 

We all have different reasons for collecting the coins we collect. Some focus on pieces from their own country only (and that seems to be common in the US), others collect coins from the countries that their ancestors were from - and by going back several centuries or millennia, that conveniently covers almost every coin ever minted - and others find certain shapes, themes, etc. interesting. What could be wrong with any of these approaches?

Christian

 

Population of UK 63.23 million (2012)
Population of USA 313.9 million (2012)

A little less than a third I think.

Lots of collectors and plenty of upto date books and catalogs.

I recently ran an ad in my local paper "Wanted Coins" it was surprising how many folks have old coins and foreign coin hoards in their homes and they don`t even collect

I now have a very large coin collection, more than the whole of the US collectors put together.

 

Both terms (Quirky/nuts ) not intended to be critical of offensive...certainly not my intention anyhow, and not directed at anyone in particular, but you take it as you like Doug......If you were less abrasive I'd worry that you werent well
I suppose when you live where the Romans did as opposed to having ancestors who were Roman..........there could be just another reason to be more interested in who walked on the same ground as you. I live on a Roman settlement site.....springs everywhere and pottery in my garden. Does that make me any more likely to collect Roman coins or have an interest in the History...no probably not, but maybe.
We are all coin nuts, I know I am....quirky? yes.
so in short..........................if you live in America or Canada, and a Roman has never set foot on your soil, dont collect their coins, you have no right to.! none at all

 

But then they'll be cheaper.

Oh...

 

oh yes....good point Vlaha! present on its way btw.

 

Here is my favorite Newfoundland coin. The mintage of the 1885 10-cent coin is 8,000 pieces. It is a nice XF coin.

 

I used to collect more modern British coins, mainly commemoratives, several years ago. But with all the other non US coins I'm now purchasing plus the high prices of British modern coins I've had to restrict myself to the Britannia bullion coins.

 

That kind of attitude would strike a nerve with me also, if I encountered someone with that line of thought (in person or online), and they told me I had to only collect US coins (where I live). I don't collect coins from here. I just don't find them appealing at all (besides some of the history). That's just my opinion. Some designs are nice aesthetically, but I just can't see myself returning to them. Neither am I into any modern world coins. But I do respect every collector's choice as to what they are into.

 

Hey! I just joined here and subsequently searched for other UK collectors.
Go to 'Introductions' and see my posts. Maybe send me a message? Thanks. Neil

 

Nice! => man, that's a very sweet lookin' Newf, C89