Most collectors of American coins collect by date, mint mark, and condition. This is known as "series" collecting. That's how I started out. I quickly assembled a complete collection of Morgan and Peace silver dollars. Then I assembled a complete collection of Silver Eagles and Engelhards as well as other bullion type coins.
I started a Walking Liberty half dollar collection, until they got too expensive in uncirculated condition. I'd always been curious about collecting money from other parts of the world but didn't know much about it.
Most foreign coins are collected by type, which makes the KM (Krause & Mishler) numbers so useful. The Krause & Mishler "Standard Catalog of World Coins" in its many editions is the Bible of world coin collectors. I acquired much of my knowledge in this area by reading and studying these enormous books.
Many collectors assemble their collections by type, in some form or another. I realized early on that my "type" is one ounce silver and gold. As I learned more about foreign silver and gold one ounce coins, I found them considerably more affordable than American silver and gold dollars in the same condition.
I often buy them at a discount from Europe, China or South America. I'm guessing people in those countries:
• Have little interest in numismatic collecting
• Can't afford expensive, unnecessary precious metal coins
• Back to 1 & 2, need the money and don't want the coins to store, so they will sell them cheaply compared to Americans
For instance, you may collect gold of a certain denomination or design. Or you might collect every denomination of gold coin a country has ever minted. You might collect crown size silver as I do. You could collect commemorative pieces from different countries. You might want an example of everything a single country ever minted.
I collect silver and gold coins with various female representations of Liberty on it. I also have a one ounce silver collection with sailing ships depicted on them. You may also be interested in collecting coins with images of the country's ruler on them.
In a sense, collecting your pieces by type is much more cost effective than collecting by series, especially since supply is stagnant and demand is increasing for certain coins beyond what is affordable or even attainable to many collectors.
I love my Morgan collection, but I find discovering other one ounce silver specimens to be very fun and satisfying. I also have to learn the denomination names as I collect them. Most one ounce silver coins were minted prior to 1925, though a few go into the 1940s and had pretty much completely stopped by 1950.
I also realize when I go to sell my gems, I won't get as much either, unless the interest in world coins increases. As with many numismatic collectors, I collect for my own satisfaction, not exclusively what future value might be. I know with precious metal values increasing, these coins will increase along with it.
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