I have been since the Olympic 50p's recently - I have taken the odd coin out of circulation in the last few years like the VC 50p, any IOM/Gibraltar/Jersey or Guernsey coins, and my D-Day 50p which I can actually remember keeping as a child.
Recently I've been keeping anything cool and since December I've amassed just these £2 coins.
(I had to buy the Bank of England one but the 1996 football one was given to my brother in his change).
Also ignore the top 2 - this is just my English folder and I don't quite have space for them all, so I've put some on top just for photography purposes.
I collect American coins, but only the ones I find from circulation and bank rolls. I don't see myself ever being willing to pay more than face and/or bullion value for a US coin.
I consider my native coin collection a 'side effect' of being a foreign coin collector.
I don't pay more than face value although I've been tempted !
The old £2 coins have never been circulation issues so usually have a set amount. I think the Bank of England one I bought for £2.50 posted. Canada is such a great country for collecting circulation coins. I do feel that you will end up with thousands and thousands when you're old, through just what you have collected in your change though.
I don't think we have any circulating commemmorative coins, there's plenty of sets but they're all so expensive that nobody in their right mind would pull them out of a set to spend them, all the old commemorative coins aren't legal tender since we got the reduced size coins.
Usually that is how a collection starts, by collecting your own country. It is normal as those are the coins you are familiar with, and those you start to collect first.
At least that was with me. I collect Albanian coins by date, and world coins by type. I hope one day I will finish my Albanian coins, not that they are many, like 120 all in all, but some of them cost up to couple thousand EUR or more...
Maybe, I just take it from my own experience which I wanted one from every country since my granda gave me old coins from everywhere I've changed since then and only want colonial and commonwealth stuff but anything that catches my eye in my change is kept lol
I collect Fiji coins because that's where my wife was from and it was the first country other than Australia that I visited. I used to collect NZ coins but I decided that I didn't really like them and concentrated on Pacific and silver coins. I still collect the silver coins from New Zealand and my father gave me one of these for my birthday last year which I'm definitely going to hold onto.
About 5 times every year, the United States Mint pumps out America the Beautiful quarters.
Although these are popular among the kids and friends I know who are trying coin collecting for the first time, I think they're really boring. I think all US coins are boring, with the exception of Walking Liberty halves. To be honest, I don't see much 'Murica in our coins like the royalty in British coins, so I'm not very fond of our coinage.
Kenny
- Verifying your Asian and British-territorial coins everyday with the best quality photos and the best information.
I mainly collect european coins 1910-1950. The two world wars and in between depression and devaluations makes it very interesting from a history point of view. And of course, a lot of countries and city states has come and gone in that period too. Cannot resist european silver coins from 17 to 19 century, so I endulge myself from time to time with those as well
I usually only keep Canadian coins from my change that are over 50 years old. For the most part I only hang onto them because I think someone from Numista might want one someday :P
Sometimes I find some cool ones that I like to hang onto, like the 1967 Confederation series, I really like all the animals on them! A quarter with a lynx on it? Rawwwwr yes I think I'll put that in safe keeping!
I think if I lived in Canada I would only keep the colourised moderns and the rest for swapping simply because the amount of commemorative coins that you guys pump out is bordering on ridiculous.
Finding the 1967 confed stuff must be great. I got an UNC set in its air tight bag off a member on here, brilliant coins the wolf half is the best !
I collect coins from the Netherlands and the UK by date and type. I also 'collect' world coins, but not as active as I used to be.
I think it's a duty for me as a coincollector to collect my country's coins, not that I think that's a problem, but my collectors heart says I've to!
"For by telling them of many things without teaching them you will make them seem to know much, while for the most part they know nothing"
-Plato
Quote: 15turtlesconfed - 1 cents are the most common. I see quite a few per year.
- 5 cents are less common, I see a one every year or two.
silver... only in shops.
I suppose you don't see those 1 cents a lot anymore....
"For by telling them of many things without teaching them you will make them seem to know much, while for the most part they know nothing"
-Plato
Quote: 15turtlesWe do, still in heavy circulation. but less than we used to have. confed issues I am seeing less this year.
Ok, perhaps people think the 1 cents are becoming quite special, especially the commems (as they are disappearing from circulation). But I would consider those people to look first at our Dutch numismatic history. Because in 1980 we also realised that 1 cents are worthless and the Dutch thought as well that the 1 cent will become special at one day. Unfortunately every Dutch citizen thought that and EVERYBODY kept their 1 cents. That was great for the government but not so for the citizens. Because if everybody keeps the same coin, it will probably never have a collectable value.
Luckily for us, the 1 cents were made of 95% copper and now, 30 years later they do have value, material value. Unfortunately for us collectors that means we can't buy cheap bulk lots of bronze 1 cents anymore, because everybody brings their copper to the local scrapdealer.
Hopefully that doesn't happen for the Canadians and coinhoarders can still buy cheap pennies in the future, unless copper plated zinc/steel will became extremly rare in the future. (Which is unlikely)
Good luck coinhoarders!
"For by telling them of many things without teaching them you will make them seem to know much, while for the most part they know nothing"
-Plato
Yes, I have more coins from my country than any others, but seeming as we’ve only been minting our own coins since 1910 (excluding older gold coins and some proclamation pennies), there’s not than many I can get
I like all the 1800s European coins, especially German ones
Quote: "Pickelhaube"Yes, I have more coins from my country than any others, but seeming as we’ve only been minting our own coins since 1910 (excluding older gold coins and some proclamation pennies), there’s not than many I can get
I like all the 1800s European coins, especially German ones
just realised how old this thread is... oops
I'm sure most collectors start from home & then branch out to the interesting stuff.
I am so top heavy in Canadian coins my map is not very interesting. I split it into different collections so I could get more colour in my map when I look at my other than Canada collections.
Being from the UK, I have collected our own currency for many years, but using a different set of personal rules.
I collect them by date, whereas my foreign collection is by type.
As with any coin collection, it also teaches the collector a history lesson, as we have coins issued by Kings and Queen throughout the ages.
We also have a great variety of face values. ¼ farthing up to 5 guineas, with many in between. Also, over the last 10 years or so, the UK caught up with many other countries and issued some great commemoratives, many of which entered circulation.
There are of course, many coins issued in silver and gold
From NZ but do not collect NZ coins-but do collect Canada large cents and UK farthings and smaller.
Mainly Victorian.
Why Canada ---I think because I like the large cents and my son is Kiwi/Canadian.
A little bit. I sell more than I collect when it comes to American coins. But I am originally from Poland and I absolutely love Polish coins so I collect them. I am a new collector so I have only a few. I found a trial strike for less than a dollar because coin shops don't know much about foreign coins in America!
I have no choice. They are just easier to collect and buy. And in there are a lot of old coins in our mother Russia's soil, which are bought and sold for like ~100 rubles (like non-rare tsarist ones from 19-20 century), but abroad are sold for 10, 20, or even 30 dollars.
Yes, until the banks stopped the coins from circulating because of the CARONAS, I have been actively bank mining, roll hunt, enforcing Gresham's law, or whatever you choose to call it.
I started coin collecting on the basis of beauty & cost. My first coins were Italian Vittorio Emanuel III. The beauty of these coins is second to none (my opinion). The next set I built was a 20th century set from Greece. Again another beauty. Now you may say that building those sets wasn't cheap, but, they were to me because I did not purchase the Uncirculated/AU70 (except when I could get them at a descent price). Most are in XF state or better. After those sets I got interested in the Polish 2 Zlote coins between 1995-2014. They are really cool for Polish history & they are made of Nordic Gold. They are pretty cheap to by and creative. Other coins I have been collecting are the African country coins where they have eilands (antelopes) on them. Countries like Gabon, Chad, Cameroon, Congo Republic, Central & Equatorial African States, & more. I also have coins from island countries such as Reunion, Comoro, Madagascar,New Hebrides, New caledonia, French Polynesia, & French Oceania. The set I am currently building is 20th century Portugal. It has many great looking coins based on early exploration/discovery. I mostly get the CU-NI coins because they are cheaper than the silver coins. I would suggest to beginners who don't have a lot of money that they can still collect really nice coins at reasonable prices. Don't let that discourage you. Pick a genre that attracts your interest and start collecting. For example you may like animals, ships, birds, FAO, WWII, & etc. Have fun!
Quote: "jelle"Yes except euro coins, really hate them!
Just put them in a bag, I'll pick them up....
I agree, there is nothing attractive to collecting eurocoins, they all look alike, ant the mints are making tons of money by striking special editions ( if I'm correct the Netherlands just started emitting coins with and without mintmarks ?), extremely overpriced commems, low mintages for some denominations, special denominations (2,5 - 5 - 10 - 20... euros). It's taking the fun out of collecting.
On the other hand, being a coin collector, I can't stop myself from checking every coin I get in hand, and trying to keep at least my collection of belgian eurocoins - in normal denominations - complete. This means I'll buy the coin sets and the special 2€ coins for as long as I can afford them, but for the other countries I have to pass...
I do and it is one of my main collections. My Kiwi collection has 5 parts
1. Predecimal coins 1933 - 1965 In a proper album with coins in flips and bags of spares
2. Decimal coins 1967 - 2005 in a push in cardboard, album flips and original cases for sets
3. Modern coins 2006 onwards and 1990 for $1/$2 - in a plastic album with coins rescued from change
4. Tradesmens Tokens and other numismatic stuff - proper album in flips including 1857 -1881 copper tokens, Coronation and event medals and medallets, Scrip tokens etc.
5. Banknotes - Predecimal to modern in proper banknote album.
1 and 2 are the most complete with 3 evolving - 4 and 5 are very much in their “early stages”.
Despite this, my main collections are UK predecimal silver coins, Fiji, Ireland, South African and Australian coins.
Love silver coins of the UK, NZ and Commonwealth, Autism positive
I do because it's one of the ways I can acquire commemorative coins for face value. Plus I do travel so I try to find certain coins whilst there such as France and the UAE in the past few months.
Hi to whoever is reading this. Did you know that TYPEWRITER (on a QWERTY keyboard) is the longest word you can type using only the letters on one row of the keyboard.
I don't actively hunt for U.S. coins anymore, though if an interesting appears in my change or in a CoinStar, then I'll set it aside. The portfolio of U.S. coins is…overwhelming and personally, I like to explore history through the coins of other countries. Also, for some strange reason, a lot of the coin stores in the U.S., in my limited experience, have been unpleasant. Its really really strange, but the hobby can attract some very strange folks.
Coin Roll Hunting (CRH) in the U.S. used to be a lot of fun and would reveal a few (albeit worn) treasures, but overtime, the banks increasingly became difficult to get coins from.
I do have some coins from New Zealand in my collection - but I have been concentrating on collecting from other countries of the British Empire & the British Commonwealth a lot more, as I find the New Zealand series pretty boring - only 2 commemorative 50 Cents released into circulation in 2015 & 2018 so far.
Luckily I am German so there is plethora of coins and banknotes i can collect. From DDR marks, Reichsmarks, Notgelds…..I like silver coins in particular and have at least 10 kg total in german coins only in different conditions lol
From the UK. Started collecting coins when the “round pound” was being withdrawn. Managed to get them all eventually but my 50p and £2 are still missing a fair few. Have also started on my pre decimal collection. Since then I have been collecting world coins basically through swaps on this fine site and have amassed quite a few. I do buy some commemoratives but not many, just normal circulation or whatever is up for swap really (heading for world domination 🤣)
I started collecting in 1963 in the usual way, change checking and then in 1968 the first decimal coins appeared and I vowed to collect at least one example of every circulation decimal coin that was issued now here I am 54 years later and still keeping my collection up to date.
I started collecting like six months ago. coin collectors have it good here in my opinion because we have change machines that dispense rolled coins that you can open and flick through and take out any coins you don't have. Usually, this is like commemoratives and low mintage years but I also find foreign coins too which I think gives it a bit of a feel to it if you find an obscure foreign coin.
Thanks to my extensive “noodling” and coin collecting (which has drawn the ire of my relatives), I have been able to pull up a complete collection of every single five, ten, and twenty-cent coin ever issued for circulation. I also have all the circulating commemorative fifty cents and all non-commemorative two-dollar coins.
I also maintain a large collection of foreign coins, and I especially have a soft spot for the old large crown-sized commemorative one dollar coins from New Zealand with the plastic case and all.
From the UK. Started collecting coins when the “round pound” was being withdrawn. Managed to get them all eventually but my 50p and £2 are still missing a fair few. Have also started on my pre decimal collection. Since then I have been collecting world coins basically through swaps on this fine site and have amassed quite a few. I do buy some commemoratives but not many, just normal circulation or whatever is up for swap really (heading for world domination 🤣)
With that in mind, I saw a nice eBay listing tonight which you may be interested in.
I started collecting USA coins from circulation. When I was young my brother was in the Navy and sent me some European coins. I found Canadian coins through circulation also. When my Dad died I inherited his coin collection, USA and foreign, lots of old coins. I have since added to both and I am now just going over the foreign coin collection and putting them on here. Looks like it will be over 70 countries.
Being an Aussie, I concentrate mostly on pre-decimal (1910-1964) Australian. The RAM has flooded the market with painted $1 and $2 coins and I find no interest in them.
Of the circulating coins, I noodle occasionally for errors.
Mostly incidental but yes. My sister finds me £2s and 50ps from her shop. A lot of the Victorian+ farthings/hpennies/pennies i have just got from various bulk lots i have bought and the silver i have is mostly given to me by relatives. I also have some metal detecting finds, e.g. hammered silver and pre Victorian copper.
I've only actually bought like 5 coins for the UK.
Whenever I travel through the Eurozone, I will always buy rolls of €2 commemorative coins (at face value) in one country to spend them in another country. The reactions from those receiving those coins are very different. Most of them don't care, but there are still people checking out the new shiny coin(s) in their hand. The funniest is to spend shiny new coins from the small countries in the Eurozone - Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Slovenia, Slovakia and even San Marino once with only a 10% premium.
I always keep one of the coins for my own little travel collection. 😊
Being an Aussie, I concentrate mostly on pre-decimal (1910-1964) Australian. The RAM has flooded the market with painted $1 and $2 coins and I find no interest in them.
Of the circulating coins, I noodle occasionally for errors.
Are you ttkoo from CCF. Its me Princetane, who got the perma boot from there for messing with St. Dorado.
Do you like this predecimal Florin I got?
Its an upgrade for 1911 to VF - only cost $50
And reasons why I collect my own country's coins, but prefer my neighbours coins more.
Love silver coins of the UK, NZ and Commonwealth, Autism positive
Yes, I started collecting coins from my own country (Canada) at first. My first sets were the Canadian 1999 and 2000 commemoration 25 cents sets. Years later, I started getting many Royal Canadian Mint colored coins, then circulated coins, and only some years ago I started collecting coins for other countries + now branching to banknotes and tokens.
I feel RCM no longer create variety in colored coins. Many years ago, there were coins in many price ranges and now, except for a very few themed coins, you must pay a fortune to get them.
I love collecting my country's currency. It's what I know the most about and what I'm most familiar with, so it's generally the “easiest” for me to collect. I started collecting coins by collecting wheat cents and buffalo nickels and such from pocket change. I still always check any change I'm given for anything worth keeping and at work I'm able to sort through the cash at work so that's always something I look forward to. I've given the “I'm not stealing, I just collect coins” bit to people quite a handful of times but usually it starts a conversation about coins which I'm always happy to engage in.
I would be amazed not so many of us do. I am sure many of us when first getting into coins, do with anything interesting that appears in change. For me it was local 50 cent pieces when I was 5 or 6, not for any collecting sense, but because I knew they were huge and worth a lot of money (Well in my opinion).
Whereas the 20 cents only marginally smaller, was worth much less (Going on the size of lolly mixtures!). Having 50 cent coins made you feel rich as most kids got smaller coins and the 20c was the biggest you usually saw.
Much later when I was 8 or 9, someone gave me an old Halfcrown from 1933 and I was fascinated with it, as it was a NZ coin but you couldn't spend it and it felt different. I knew it was an interesting coin so kept it. A few years later I learned it contained silver, which was a precious metal and the value was the old fashioned £/s/d system. By this stage I was 12 and wanted more or them.
The first halfcrown I had was this year, but MUCH more worn.
My collection started with NZ classic coins in less than classic condition, but studying them and learning about them, helped me expand my mind to other places and given our coin heritage only went back to 1933 (If you exclude the 1857 -1882 tokens), it meant gaining 99% of all the dates and type of Kiwi coins was quite easy (I purposely exclude the Waitangi crown and 1935 3d) in marginal condition. That was the base I have built on.
I can imagine this is the case in many countries outside Eurasia, where I know you guys have coin heritage going back 2000+ years, but usually the past 100 years is doable and interesting.
Love silver coins of the UK, NZ and Commonwealth, Autism positive
(as I only collect French €uros...) 
The year and Numista number. 
