Exploring My Coin Collection
It’s been about five months since my last post here (sorry!), but I’m still deeply engaged in collecting coins and currency. The world of numismatics is truly fascinating!
Recently, I’ve started focusing on two new areas, and they have really reignited my passion for collecting. I find that having specific goals helps me stay organized and feel a sense of accomplishment, rather than just accumulating random items, haha.
Let me share these new collection ideas with you, starting with the one I’m most excited about.
**Obsolete Notes from Charleston, SC**
Although Charleston isn’t my hometown, I find its historical notes beautiful. This concept was introduced to me by a presenter at our coin club, who shared his journey of collecting National Bank Notes from his hometown.
Finding such items for my area has proven challenging and expensive, but I’ve had success in finding old merchant tokens, canceled checks, advertisements, and, most excitingly, obsolete currency. There’s something thrilling about holding a 150-year-old note that once circulated in your town and possibly through the hands of your ancestors!
I’m incredibly excited about this niche. My ultimate goal is to collect one of every item that’s been identified so far. In just four months, I discovered two tokens that weren’t listed anywhere! Eventually, I’d like to donate or lend this collection to my city’s museum so others can enjoy it. Maybe I’ll even join some coin exhibitions along the way.
This ambition will likely take me decades and a considerable amount of money to achieve, but it’s all part of the hobby, right?
**The Foreign Coin Collection Begins!**
I’m not as committed to this collection as the hometown notes, but while sorting my loose foreign coins, I realized it could be a fun endeavor. Plus, it’s one of the most affordable collections to start—people often give away foreign coins!
A few weeks ago, I spent about six hours over three days gathering all my foreign coins from jars, boxes, and bags, then meticulously sorting them. I ended up categorizing them into three main groups and, in the process, decluttered my collection. I examined every foreign coin I had, sometimes multiple times!
Interestingly, when I mentioned this venture at my coin club, many members raised their hands, admitting they collect foreign coins too. One member is even attempting to gather coins from every country—quite an ambitious goal!
I’ve now organized each coin into 2×2 cardboard holders in a binder, leaving spaces for future additions. One tricky aspect is having to rearrange them whenever I add a new coin, which required redoing my initial setup—oops. Another challenge was choosing a list to track all these countries. There are different lists based on modern countries, historical ones, special sovereignties, etc. I chose one from Numista because it printed nicely and only listed about 400 countries. Good enough for now!
If you’re interested in a similar collection, a quick Google search will point you in the right direction, and there are several online groups dedicated to this theme.
I also enjoy collecting random world notes—always a pleasure to look at!
I’m aiming to get back into regular blogging because I love sharing my thoughts on these topics. I have plenty of pictures and ideas to share, so maybe I’ll unleash them here to motivate me to keep posting.
It seemed to work for this post, right? 😉
Happy collecting!
