What to collect

[weebo]

So what coins does everyone collect? and do you just start from when you get change? i going to do the 50p i have about 8 already :-) and brougt a little album to put htem in to, but i also like the old coins to like i got a half penny that i really like that was in my change, i love some of the 2 pound coins but think that might me a lot of momeny to keep for a collection lol i might just get one or 2 of them i love the darwen one and the chimp

[Peckris]

So what coins does everyone collect? and do you just start from when you get change? i going to do the 50p i have about 8 already :-) and brougt a little album to put htem in to, but i also like the old coins to like i got a half penny that i really like that was in my change, i love some of the 2 pound coins but think that might me a lot of momeny to keep for a collection lol i might just get one or 2 of them i love the darwen one and the chimp

I started from change, but that was the late 60s as a schoolkid! There was much more to look through back then. As time went on, post-decimalisation, I just started to buy coins I could never have hoped to find in my change - e.g. 20th Century coins in BU condition, plus a few older coins in less good condition. Then when I became a small-time dealer in the 90s, I would go to auctions to buy stock, but often keep the best stuff for myself.

I've mostly concentrated on British, but I also have a small collection of ancients (Roman, mostly) and a few 18th Century trade tokens.

The best advice is to spend time deciding what interests you the most, and meanwhile collect widely. Buy the best examples you can afford, but if you are collecting from your change, that will only cost you face value! Read some books on the subject, and maybe get hold of Rotographic's 'Check Your Change' (see banner advert above).

[SEnumis]

I have some coins 50p and £2 removed from change but these are only specimens in order to look at the designs until I can obtain the proof sets. I always try to buy the best coins I can afford and that means proof sets for decimal coins as these are the best although the BU sets are also very good, although there can be errors in these as the QC is not always good.

Coins from circulation can be very bashed about.

I agree with you about Darwin and the Chimp though. I picked that one up in change from the Wellcome Institute which I thought was quite appropriate.

[weebo]

thank you for your advice :-)

[TomGoodheart]

I suspect all of us here started picking coins out of change and keeping the more interesting or nicer ones. I had a variety, including pre-decimal coins I got from my Dad. Later I was looking in the library and found a book on shillings, which were used before the 1970s and which I remembered fondly from my childhood. An ice lolly cost a shilling and for two you could get a paperback book.

I decided to collect shillings, just like the ones in the book I'd read. Of course, I soon found out that some of the ones I wanted were really expensive and I decided to just collect one sort of shilling. That way I hoped to be able to afford more coins for my money!

But you don't have to spend much (or anything!) Get different design Euro coins from holiday or friends and family that have travelled abroad. 50ps (especially with the ones for the olympics) come in dozens of different designs. Or charity or junk shops often have a box or bowl of old (pre-decimal) money, most coins going for under 50p.

In the end, you have to find something you like. We all collect different things in different ways. It's your choice!

[Rob]

I suspect all of us here started picking coins out of change and keeping the more interesting or nicer ones. I had a variety, including pre-decimal coins I got from my Dad. Later I was looking in the library and found a book on shillings, which were used before the 1970s and which I remembered fondly from my childhood. An ice lolly cost a shilling and for two you could get a paperback book.

I decided to collect shillings, just like the ones in the book I'd read. Of course, I soon found out that some of the ones I wanted were really expensive and I decided to just collect one sort of shilling. That way I hoped to be able to afford more coins for my money!

But you don't have to spend much (or anything!) Get different design Euro coins from holiday or friends and family that have travelled abroad. 50ps (especially with the ones for the olympics) come in dozens of different designs. Or charity or junk shops often have a box or bowl of old (pre-decimal) money, most coins going for under 50p.

In the end, you have to find something you like. We all collect different things in different ways. It's your choice!

That is the crucial bit. The only person you have to please is yourself. A 1p coin can give as much pleasure as a £1m coin because beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Edited September 7, 2012 by Rob

[weebo]

i also have almost a full set of USA quarters to they are very pretty coins

[weebo]

ok bring on the 2 pound coins i love them soooo much not all but most lol

i guess its a good way to save to lol

[Peckris]

ok bring on the 2 pound coins i love them soooo much not all but most lol

i guess its a good way to save to lol

Not such a good way if you can't bear to part with them!

[weebo]

ok bring on the 2 pound coins i love them soooo much not all but most lol

i guess its a good way to save to lol

Not such a good way if you can't bear to part with them!

yes now that might be a proplem iam not very good at parting with anything lol

[Peter]

Mrs Peter has now gone to bed without my roast....how dare she,A ban from looking at my coins.Or a ban on the nuptles?

[weebo]

i got an interesting two pound coin yesterday its of a man in a top hat and he has a cigar in his mouth i never seen this one before its cool my first one to collect :-)

[Paulus]

i got an interesting two pound coin yesterday its of a man in a top hat and he has a cigar in his mouth i never seen this one before its cool my first one to collect :-)

That is Isambard Kingdom Brunel as featured on the Olympics opening ceremony and played by Kenneth Brannagh

[ski]

hiya......the man depicted is Isambard Kingdom Brunel and was issued in 2006 to celebrate 200 years since his birth.

ski

[ski]

sorry paulus....i must have writing my reply just at the same time as you.......ski