ColonialCoinsUK

Great idea! He will remember that forever.

I bought my kids some kilo bulk lots of world coins at auction and a world map to go on the wall. They spent many many hours trying to match coins to the countries, and sticking them on the map, it was a great way for them to learn where each country was although places like 'Sarawak' caused some confusion as they no longer exist.  Unlike your son it was the ones with animals on or funny shapes that they were most interested in and it also meant that they got some funny looks on holidays when they wanted to know why it wasn't Pesetas in Spain, Lira in Italy and Marks in Germany - however this did then prompt them to start looking for the different countries on the euros. They still go through their change trying to put date sets together and looking for the special 50 pence pieces we have here in the UK so I guess something sank in over the years!

11 hours ago, Mohawk said:

Well......I'm glad that with my main classic coin pursuit, late Ottoman, this isn't a question you have to ask.  With a few exceptions, once you find a nice, high grade example, especially in AU or MS, it's likely the nicest example you'll find for years, if not the nicest example you'll ever find.  And for key dates, once you find an example, not even a high grade example, just an EXAMPLE, you likely have the example that will be in your collection for as long as you have it.  I have to say that I like that aspect of Ottoman collecting as it keeps things simple.....no questions about upgrades or anything.  Just be glad to have the coin.

I'm not sure what you collect specifically, but I think you have to do what feels right to you.  But I think I'd worry about completing the collection before upgrading. 

Given the very low populations of some issues I find the same applies to many world coins, particularly minors, and not just for high grade examples - although no where near to the extent it does with ancients! This is an area I have always read lots about but find the complexity and diversity a bit overwhelming so never actually started anything serious - and some of the prices for top examples scare me

I did pick up another couple of coins for empty slots at the Goldberg sale last night - both the first graded examples for raw sets which I was trying not to do, one was the only known MS example of that particular issue which is my excuse. As usual I was outbid on a couple of others and it wouldn't surprise me if they now appear in a Registry Set at some point. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Glenn Onishi at Goldberg for fantastic customer service when the PC gremlins appeared during the on-line live bidding.

Congratulations on your retirement!

As friends who have already reached that point would say 'retirement is not giving up work, it is just that you can now refuse to do all the rubbish and just concentrate on the interesting bits!' As a result they are all now busier than ever as they only have to do the fun bits.

There are a few coin collectors amongst them, one of whom is currently writing a book on Charles I during the English Civil War (he has a very impressive collection of coins, medals and artefacts of the period) and another is finally tracking down and recording all the minor die varieties of Victorian pennies. Personally I can't wait, although I expect my wife has a few jobs around the house which will then have to get done as I will have run out of excuses

We have the elongated penny machines here in the UK but they are very few and far between, they seem much more common in the US.

I wish you and your wife well and trust everything goes according to plan, best wishes.

A bit of an update: I have only bought two coins so far - but bid on many!

Although both of these fill empty slots with the top graded examples I have so far successfully managed to not buy a coin which starts a new graded set so many of my raw sets are still that way, although the Goldberg sale later today may change that. It hasn't helped that Heritage have started adding coins to their website for the April 30th sale and there are a couple there that I have been after for a while - one of which, due to a lack of funds, I was outbid on at a UK auction last year so part of me is now trying to save up to have another go as the UK appearance was more than 10 years since the last time it showed itself.

I hope everyone got at least some of the coins they were after.

jgenn, glad to hear that the envelope was found as it is nice to have all extras related to the history of a coin. I have a sixpence from the Eric P. Newman collection, also from Heritage, but there was never any mention of an envelope

Revenant I sympathise with your situation, my wife gave up buying coins decades ago and decided that coin books, as coin928 has suggested, was a safer bet (though from a provided list). Even these are getting expensive so a gift now tends to be a crate of world beers, with the surprise element being what oddities has she managed to find this time. As I still buy the book I can enjoy both at the same time!

I was delighted, but very surprised, to see that my Napoleon typeset received a Best Classic Set Award as announced by NGC this week. This came as a bit of a shock as the set is not yet complete, although it is not far off. I do have a raw coin for one of the vacant slots which I should really get around to sending to NGC, particularly now that the gaps stand out more than ever!

Congratulations to all the Award winners, the many great sets in the Registry highlight the diversity and global nature of coin collecting, however it just shows how little I know about anything, and that there is so much left to discover.

[my dissertation was long long ago, although I do have two on my desk at the moment that I am the examiner for!]

Thankyou both for the detailed history of Mansfeld, it is this historical context that I find fascinating as coins, with their changing design and production not only highlight the critical issues of the day but are sometimes the only tangible thing left to show that a person or place ever existed.

The US, rather than their country of origin, does seem to be the source for a lot of quality examples of world coins including European gold - in my experience the coins of the Netherlands/Belgium are almost an exception in this regard with Schulman b.v. being the main source by far - it is great that you have been able to find them at home. As a result I do tend to buy many coins from the US and end up 'importing' them back!

A few years ago the US was almost the only source of graded examples however there has been a noticeable change recently where sales at French (and Monaco), Swiss and Japanese and even some UK and German auction houses now have significant numbers of slabbed coins which certainly improves things however the populations for many issues are usually very low and I expect self-submitted coins will still form a large part of collections of graded world coins for a while yet.