One could also say on the other side of the coin a person who spends their time collecting coins could or could not be a numismatist. The hobby of coin collecting can be traced back to the fourteenth century and some have even said the Roman emperors were known to have coin collections but it really is not known if it was a genuine hobby or if they may just have been hoarding the coins!
The hoarding of coins goes back to the very beginning of coinage where people kept them for the coin’s value and coin collecting later developed and is known as the “Hobby of Kings” as well.
Because of the number of coins that have been minted throughout history are so vast no coin collector could ever hope to collect a sample of every coin produced. Probably King Farouk of Egypt, with the vast resources he had access to may have had the largest and most spectacular general collection in the world during the mid twentieth century.
Also because of the vast range of coins on this planet two types of coin collecting have emerged – the generalist who collects a bit of everything in the way of coins and the completists, who wants to have an example of everything within a certain range of coins. The only collector known thus far to have assembled the complete set of known US coins is Louis Eliasberg.
Coin collecting could be divided into the following specialty areas or collections:
Country Collections are where coin collectors obtain examples from every country that issues coins but these could also be collectors who try collecting every coin from a certain country – normally their own
Year Collections is coin collecting of certain type of coin from a certain year or trying to collect a certain type of coin from all the years that coin was minted.
Mintmark Collections apply to coin collecting of coins produced by different mints that carry their distinct mark on their coins. Some mintmarks are rarer than others and this is what makes collecting different mintmarks exciting for collectors.
Variety Collections are coin collecting of the same coin produced from different dies and these collections are commoner among old coins that could come from hand carved dies.
Error Collections are collecting of coins with errors in them but since the 19th century when production methods were refined, this has become rarer today. Even in this day and age errors such as over-dates, re-punched mint marks, double strikes and off center coins do happen. Coins that carry different denominations on their two sides are known as mules.
Coin collecting under certain Subjects and only of a certain Period in history are also very popular themes as well as coins making up Composition Collections. These are collections of coins made from certain materials like gold, silver and platinum but not only limited the precious metals.
Coin collecting may be taken up for investment purposes too but again be warned in that certain coins could lose their value over time. As already stated you don’t have to be a numismatist to undertake coin collecting but it wouldn’t hurt and you defiantly must be passionate about this form of collecting.
Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Coin Collecting
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