Sorting Through Some Coins!
It’s been about five months since my last post here (sorry!), but I’m happy to say that my passion for collecting coins and currency remains strong. I’m still deeply immersed in this fascinating hobby. 🙂
Just last month, I discovered two new areas of focus that have reignited my enthusiasm for collecting! I find that without a clear mission, my collection can quickly become a jumble of various items. Setting specific goals helps me feel more accomplished in my collecting journey.
Let me introduce you to my two new collections, starting with the one I’m most excited about:
Obsolete Note from Charleston, SC – It’s not my hometown, but it’s a beautiful piece!
This idea is one of the best I’ve stumbled upon, thanks to a presenter at our coin club who shared his journey of collecting hometown notes, mostly National Bank Notes. For my town, these notes are quite rare and expensive, but I’ve had success in finding old merchant tokens, canceled checks, advertisements, and especially obsolete currency. Holding a 150-year-old note that once circulated nearby, possibly even used by my ancestors, is truly special!
I’m incredibly excited about this niche. My ultimate goal is to collect an example of every known item and possibly donate or lend it to our city’s museum so others can enjoy it. I might even try entering some coin show exhibitions along the way. This mission could take decades and a significant investment, but the joy of the hobby makes it all worthwhile!
The Foreign Coin Collection Begins!
I’m not sure how serious I am about this collection yet (definitely not as passionate as the Charleston notes), but while sorting through my foreign coins scattered everywhere, I realized it could be a fun endeavor. Plus, it’s likely one of the most affordable collections since people often give away foreign coins!
Last month, I spent around six hours across three days gathering all my foreign coins from jars, boxes, and bags and began sorting them. With all the sorting, I ended up with three main categories, and I now have a neat, decluttered collection. I went through every single foreign coin, sometimes multiple times, to decide what to keep! Haha…
Collecting foreign coins seems pretty popular (when I mentioned it at my coin club, many members were also interested!). One person even aims to collect coins from every country—although that seems nearly impossible! But if you’re interested, it could be a fun collection for you too.
I’ve organized my coins in 2×2 cardboard holders and sorted them in a binder, leaving room for future additions. However, rearranging them each time I add a new coin is quite annoying, so I had to redo the setup after the first hour—oops.
Another challenge is choosing a list to track all these countries. Some lists focus on modern countries, while others include older nations or special sovereign areas, recognized by organizations like the United Nations. I chose a list from Numista since it prints easily and has about 400 countries, which is good enough for now!
A quick Google search can guide you if you’re interested in collecting foreign coins. There are groups online that focus on this pursuit as well.
I also keep random world notes, which are always fun to look at!
I’m aiming to get back into blogging regularly because I love sharing my thoughts on these topics. I’ve got tons of pictures and ideas to share, so maybe I’ll just pour them all out here to motivate myself to post more.
It worked for this post, right? 😉
Happy collecting!
