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Coin Collecting Different Branches

By: Michael Russell , Posted On: Tuesday, April 03, 2007

When you approach the fascinating hobby of coin collecting for the first time, it can be very daunting to look at the many possible options available to you. There are many specialist areas in which you can invest your time and money, or of course you can always remain as a general coin collector, never deciding to specialize.

Often the best way to start collecting coins is just to start with the coins in circulation in your own country. This is a risk free option, as you can always decide to sell the coins if you decide the hobby is not for you. While you are doing this, you can obtain a good reference book on the hobby and begin to think of a specialist area you might want to pursue.

You could, of course, decide to specialize in the coins of one particular country. This is a very common way for collectors to start. Others go to the opposite extreme and try to collect coins from as many different countries as possible. Many collectors will only collect coins from a certain period in history, such as collectors of ancient coins.

There are many different types of specialization available within each of these broad categories. Many collectors are series collectors. They will try to obtain one example of every possible date and mint mark that was produced, including any major differences in the design of the coin.

Type collectors go beyond this, by collecting many different series, even trying to obtain all possible series within a certain type. They will usually concentrate on the coins of one country, at least at that particular time.

Collectors of ancient coins are a breed apart. It is surprising how many of these coins remain available today and how relatively easily obtained they are. Even going back to several centuries before the birth of Christ, coins are readily available that fall easily within the average collector's budget. Gold coins are the most expensive, followed by silver and then bronze. It is possible to obtain a coin from before the birth of Christ for only 5 ($10) to 10 ($20).

Another breed apart are the collectors of tokens. In Great Britain, for example, tokens were often privately produced in response to the Government's failure to produce the necessary low-denomination currency to allow many forms of trade to take place. These privately produced tokens were used in place of official government issue coinage and the Government was largely unsuccessful in preventing their use. This happened in three different centuries, in the middle of the seventeenth century, towards the end of the eighteenth century and at the start of the nineteenth century.

Even after government legislation was passed outlawing these unofficial tokens, their use still continued. They were used in place of the farthing, the quarter of a penny coin, until the end of the nineteenth century. After this, when inflation had eliminated the need for these tokens, other forms of artificial money were still used.

It can be a fascinating part of the hobby just deciding which among the many options you are going to choose. Please make sure that you avail yourself of an excellent reference book so you can make an informed choice. I wish you many happy hours.

Article Source: http://www.many-articles.com

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