Hello Folks, I am thinking about starting a collection of the Euro coins. But I don't know how or where to start, also my finances are rather low. Does anyone have any advise for me? MagneticM
Welcome to the forum. Euros are a great little place to start. Most of the coins can be readily found and pretty inexpensively. I know that many will tell you to shop Ebay, but don't forget to check with a few dealers.
Welcome magneticM, Sure glad you found us. Good luck with your Euro collecting. Oh yeah, after you have made 10 posts, be sure to check out the "Open" forum.
My advise, check out the American Numismatic Association's (ANA) website at http://www.money.org, and take a look at the lists of clubs in your area and the ANA MarketPlace listings. Here are the direct links... Club Listings - http://www.money.org/clublist.html ANA MarketPlace - http://anamarket.money.org/ Using these pages you should be able to locate some dealers in your area that specialize in foreign coins and can help you to build your collection.
Thanks for the welcome. Nearest dealer (and club) listed is over an hour away. Question!...Is it possible to trade U.S. coins to someone in Europe for euros? If so, How do I make contact with such a person? Or is this just wishful thinking? MagneticM
Not really. But just like American collectors mostly visit English language forums, a European collector will use only those forums where his or her language is spoken. I know of three different German language web-based coin forums, others in French, Dutch, Italian, Portuguese, etc. Only very few places such as www.euroswapper.com are multinational with English being the mostly used language. Pretty much every of these forums has its own swappers section. Guess that most members there collect euros and not necessarily non-European coins, but some are after US coins as well ... Christian
One caveat, by the way - if your budget is a little tight, stay away from those "collectors coins" that the euro countries make, even if some of them look very attractive and tempting. Unlike the euro circulation coins and the circulating commemoratives, those pieces (mostly silver and gold coins) are legal tender in the issuing country only. Also, focus on the 12 euro countries that are European Union members. There are 15 countries that issue euro coins, but the pieces from the three "non-EU-but-euro" countries (Monaco, San Marino, Vatican) are virtually impossible to find in circulation. Maybe you should limit your collection to the 96 different circulation coins (12 countries, 8 coins each). You could add the circulating €2 commems, but forget about different years and, in some cases, different mint marks first. Even for us European collectors it is quite frustrating to learn that certain year/MM combinations are made for (relatively expensive) mint sets only ... Christian
Christian, Thank you for the link. I've been checking it out and I like what I saw. And, Thank You for the advise, it will be well considered. magneticM
