Coin/Banknote Collecting

[Toast 15,752]

Way back when I was at primary school, my Granddad dug up a William & Mary penny in his vegetable patch.  It had their two heads on it in overlapping profile.  Not sure if I still have it.

[Cerberus 293]

Pleased to see this here. I was a big collector from around 2008-14, when I had a little extra disposable income, and discovered ebay. Bought hundreds of coins in that time, enough to fill three albums. Mostly milled (post 1660) but a handful of Roman and mediaeval too. A nice cartwheel twopence that's too big to fit in the albums! And yes a load of Royal Mint issues, £5 coins, silver Britannias, one sovereign (2009 I think), some miscellaneous oddments from the now defunct Pobjoy Mint. After that, I dunno, I just lost the bug I think. My main hangover from that time is my monthly Coin News which I never got around to cancelling. Mostly it deals with high-end auction stuff way out of the reach of ordinary collectors. Some nice pictures though. 

[Sod's Law 372]

I inherited an aes grave coin from my granddad. It's a very early Roman coin from the time of the First and Second Punic Wars which was cast rather than struck. It's an absolute chonker and has the head of Mercury on one side and the prow of a trireme on the other. He bought it from an antique shop for £20 back in 2001-ish and later had it looked at by experts at Derby Museum (where he worked) to make sure it was authentic. Looking on eBay and auction sites, these coins tend to seem to go for several hundred quid to over a grand or more. Maybe Antiques Roadshow material one day?  

[The Immortal 601]

I'm more of a general collector than a true coin collector, but my aunt is. She has lived in 3 countries, travelled to several more and in this period of time she's managed to build a pretty vast collection, mostly UK and USA coins but from other countries too. I recall these following mentioned coins being some of her personal favorites.

• 1736 George II Ireland "Hibernia" half penny
• 1757 George II silver 1 penny.
• 1787 George III silver shilling.
• 1845-O "Seated Liberty" U.S Half dollar.
• 1849 King Willem III Netherlands 10 cents - First year.
• 1992 Olympics Commemorative U.S half-dollar - Apparently another collector gave my aunt that commemorative coin after learning she was actually there in Barcelona for the Olympics opening ceremony.
• 2017 Elizabeth II Platinum Wedding £5 silver proof - Max limit of mintage 15,950, don't know the actual number minted. This I think is one of the rarer coins she has.

I'll be visiting her soon to take a proper look at her collection this time around and ask her if she's added anything new.

[ladyfiona 2,436]

Don't know if anyone has mentioned this yet. But where do you store your coins? Is it in a special book? Asking for a friend.

[Master Obit 705]

10 hours ago, The Immortal said:

I'm more of a general collector than a true coin collector, but my aunt is. She has lived in 3 countries, travelled to several more and in this period of time she's managed to build a pretty vast collection, mostly UK and USA coins but from other countries too. I recall these following mentioned coins being some of her personal favorites.

• 1736 George II Ireland "Hibernia" half penny
• 1757 George II silver 1 penny.
• 1787 George III silver shilling.
• 1845-O "Seated Liberty" U.S Half dollar.
• 1849 King Willem III Netherlands 10 cents - First year.
• 1992 Olympics Commemorative U.S half-dollar - Apparently another collector gave my aunt that commemorative coin after learning she was actually there in Barcelona for the Olympics opening ceremony.
• 2017 Elizabeth II Platinum Wedding £5 silver proof - Max limit of mintage 15,950, don't know the actual number minted. This I think is one of the rarer coins she has.

I'll be visiting her soon to take a proper look at her collection this time around and ask her if she's added anything new.

Some very nice coins here! I'd love to see some pictures. I'll upload some of mine soon.

[Master Obit 705]

2 hours ago, ladyfiona said:

Don't know if anyone has mentioned this yet. But where do you store your coins? Is it in a special book? Asking for a friend.

Stay well aware from PVC coin books. They will leave a very nasty coating on your coins as the material degrades over time. 

 

I store my banknotes in chemically inert wallets in folders, coins are stored in trays, or in little labelled bags in boxes. 

[Toast 15,752]

1 hour ago, Master Obit said:

 coins are stored in trays

 

Where do you get the trays?

[Neol Edmunds 61]

22 hours ago, ladyfiona said:

Don't know if anyone has mentioned this yet. But where do you store your coins? Is it in a special book? Asking for a friend.

 

Leuchtturm albums for me.

[Toast 15,752]

Fun fact:  This chap was a numismatist / coin dealer before his current occupation.

 

[Master Obit 705]

23 hours ago, Toast said:

 

Where do you get the trays?

Not quite sure, got them a while back. Plenty are available though, depending on what coins you have.

[Handrejka 1,880]

My dad had a coin collection, not large but not minuscule either . I was always more interested in postcards so I don't remember what was in but I am wondering what happened to it. 

[Master Obit 705]

Here's something to appeal to you collectors. It's a crisp 1998 edition £100 note issued by First Trust Bank, Northern Ireland. They no longer issue, and this particular example was acquired for me a bank worker when it was paid in by a customer. The bank had a strict policy against swapping obsolete currency out, but with sufficient bribing from myself (and the fact the branch was closing anyway), they were quite happy to ignore the rules in order to save some beauties from destruction for me.

[ladyfiona 2,436]

Talking coin collecting with my mum this afternoon. I managed to stop my parents throwing away all the spare Hong Kong dollar coins I have. They were about to go to charity. I kept half that are in good condition.

 

Apparently there is a coin my mum has from my birth year (1989) and apparently a coin from George IV or George VI? I can't remember which.

[Bibliogryphon 9,307]

Some Ethiopian Birr and a low denomination coin from China both from pre lockdown work trips

[Master Obit 705]

3 hours ago, Bibliogryphon said:

Some Ethiopian Birr and a low denomination coin from China both from pre lockdown work trips

The Ethiopian birr are lovely! I haven't got anything from Ethiopia myself. 

[One shot Paddy 1,181]

Not an avid collector by any means, but I handle cash at work so if I come across something unusual I will hold on to it for OSP jr. That being said I do have a small number of bullion coins that I got years ago and also have these.

 

 

[prussianblue 898]

To combine Ethiopia and numismatics in a different way, here's Italian King Vittorio Emanuele III when he was also briefly Emperor of Ethiopia (1936-1941).

Vittorio Emanuele himself was a passionate collector. His collection eventually numbered around 100,000 coins, and he catalogued them over a 30 year period in the 20 volume 'Corpus Nummorum Italicorum'. He was a founder and honorary president of the Italian Numismatic Society.

[Sir Creep 7,059]

So I have my father’s coin collection and I was really into it til I was about 20.  That’s four decades ago, and I haven’t the time to redbook each coin’s worth.  I know the ones of value in general.  His collection was unique (I think) in that he had each BU coin from the first year it was minted.  Plenty of others too but that was the theme. I know the one he never got was the 1892 Barber Half Dollar (odd, as it isn’t out of reach price wise; was $300 or so 1970, now it’ll set you back $1500 for a ‘very good’ one, which isn’t outrageous.  BU quality could cost as much as a vehicle I suppose.).

I used to collect Mercury dimes and had all but 7 but I was like 19 and needed cash and sold them.  I hate myself every day—just like you guys/gals do! 
SirC

 

 

[Sir Creep 7,059]

On 25/05/2024 at 11:54, Handrejka said:

My dad had a coin collection, not large but not minuscule either . I was always more interested in postcards so I don't remember what was in but I am wondering what happened to it. 

Do you still collect postcards?  What kind?

(as a former librarian and former-but-back-again Michigander) I gathered a bunch of old postcards of Michigan libraries.  Yes I resorted to eBay for some of it, for usually a fiver.  I think I have about 20 postcards or so.  Any theme will do it’s kinda fun the more obtuse the theme. 

[Master Obit 705]

22 hours ago, One shot Paddy said:

Not an avid collector by any means, but I handle cash at work so if I come across something unusual I will hold on to it for OSP jr. That being said I do have a small number of bullion coins that I got years ago and also have these.

 

 

I'm a bit envious as I never got one of these, and I love the NI/Scotland commemorative designs. Are you based in NI?

[The Immortal 601]

On 23/05/2024 at 14:27, The Immortal said:

I'm more of a general collector than a true coin collector, but my aunt is. She has lived in 3 countries, travelled to several more and in this period of time she's managed to build a pretty vast collection, mostly UK and USA coins but from other countries too. I recall these following mentioned coins being some of her personal favorites.

• 1736 George II Ireland "Hibernia" half penny
• 1757 George II silver 1 penny.
• 1787 George III silver shilling.
• 1845-O "Seated Liberty" U.S Half dollar.
• 1849 King Willem III Netherlands 10 cents - First year.
• 1992 Olympics Commemorative U.S half-dollar - Apparently another collector gave my aunt that commemorative coin after learning she was actually there in Barcelona for the Olympics opening ceremony.
• 2017 Elizabeth II Platinum Wedding £5 silver proof - Max limit of mintage 15,950, don't know the actual number minted. This I think is one of the rarer coins she has.

I'll be visiting her soon to take a proper look at her collection this time around and ask her if she's added anything new.

 

I am at her house now. She hasn't added much to her collection unfortunately as coins pre 1850s and especially pre 1800s are getting increasingly harder to acquire as more and more collectors hold onto them, so she's been unable to find much. She did manage to get an 1828 U.S Coronet copper large cent (alas that one has seen better days) and an 1845 Queen Victoria silver shilling but that's really it.

[Handrejka 1,880]

13 hours ago, Sir Creep said:

Do you still collect postcards?  What kind?

(as a former librarian and former-but-back-again Michigander) I gathered a bunch of old postcards of Michigan libraries.  Yes I resorted to eBay for some of it, for usually a fiver.  I think I have about 20 postcards or so.  Any theme will do it’s kinda fun the more obtuse the theme. 

Yes I do. I collect in the general sense and I also have little mini collections within that.  My main interests are geographical renaming and demolished structures. I inherited my dad's collection which means I have a lot of nautical related cards.  

I agree with the bold.

[Master Obit 705]

On 29/05/2024 at 12:23, The Immortal said:

 

I am at her house now. She hasn't added much to her collection unfortunately as coins pre 1850s and especially pre 1800s are getting increasingly harder to acquire as more and more collectors hold onto them, so she's been unable to find much. She did manage to get an 1828 U.S Coronet copper large cent (alas that one has seen better days) and an 1845 Queen Victoria silver shilling but that's really it.

 

I do love the look of 19th century coinage - have you got pictures?

[Master Obit 705]

I decided to stop being so stingy with myself and have gone on a little spree these past few days to get some things I've been wanting for a while. I've had quite a rough week so it felt good to counterbalance the misery a bit.