Foreign Coin Collecting

Maybe you've had a dream of travel to exotic places around the world, but for some reason you have not been able to. Well, you can build your knowledge of the world by collecting coins of the world. By studying the world's coinage, you can learn the different designs and denominations and how much each is worth in comparison to our own coinage. Some people specialize in specific groups of coins. Such as;

• Commemorative coins; Many countries minted beautiful coins commemorating their Olympic games, and many more coins commemorating days of independence, or the birth or death of a patriot or great leader, or a famous inventor, such as the Italian coin commemorating Marconi, the inventor of the radio. Perhaps a commemorative coin honoring a despotic dictator who we would rather not remember.
• Another intriguing area are coins that have no inscription that we can understand, not even a date. This requires some detective work to find the country and denomination, and an approximate date. These are usually from Asia, and after investigating several, you learn to associate specific designs or figures with a particular country.
• Yet another specialized area are coins from countries which have disappeared, this includes the former colonial empires which finally disappeared in the mid twentieth century. Also, others which changed names in the late twentieth century, such as German East Africa, British West Africa, British Malaya, Hong Kong, East Germany, Yugoslavia, Netherland East Indies, and Newfoundland among others.
• Silver coins are another specialty, as they were discontinued during the sixties just like in the United States. These may be hoarded by people just for the silver content, hoping the value of the metal will increase over time.
• Even more specialized is collecting the rare coins from the 1800s or before World War One, such as the coins of Tsarist Russia which are hard to find.

You can buy an album and sets of coin holders in different sizes at coin shops or online. They are usually a clear cellophane covering the coin, set within a cardboard frame. Make your very own world with the world's coinage, where the term "they don't make them like they used to" certainly applies.