World Coins

January 15th, 2010 | Coin Collecting, world coins

RHODIUM COIN BAR BULLION MOST PRECIOUS METAL IN WORLD

US $3,850.00

Sale

World Antique Coin Collection Lot Over 750 Old Coins

US $2,859.00

Sale

Money -> Coins: World

Collecting world coins is a rewarding and fascinating hobby. The first official coins were struck around the 6th century BC in Lydia, though metals used as a type of currency far pre-dates that, to Mesopotamia somewhere between 1500 and 2000 BC. Ancient coinage is fascinating, with most avid collectors doing a great deal of research into the origin and history of each type of coin. Because the coins are ancient, most highly sought after specimens are rare enough to be difficult and even impossible to find.

While some still concentrate on collecting ancient coins, many choose to collect modern coinage. World coins minted in modern times are not only much more readily available to collectors than ancient coins, there’s also a much wider variety available. And while one might think that a truly ancient coin would be valuable, collectors have apparently decided that the most valuable coin in the world was minted as recently as 1933.

The 1933 Saint-Gaudens Gold Double Eagle, with a face value of $20, was sold at auction in 2002 for over 7 million dollars. Obviously such a coin is out of the reach of collectors, but it serves as an example of how collecting modern world coins can be an intriguing hobby. In the case of this coin, its history played a huge part in its value.

Over 450,000 1933 gold double eagle coins were minted, but none were ever issued because before the coins could be distributed, President Roosevelt changed laws in response to the Great Depression. Citizens were required to turn in any gold coins they had, and no more gold currency was to be created or issued. The gold double eagles were melted down and used to make gold bullion. Some, however, began turning up. Two were legally preserved, but occasionally others surfaced in small numbers, usually a few or 9 or 10 at a time. All that were discovered were confiscated by the Secret Service, but King Farouk of Egypt had already exported one. This coin is the one that sold for millions of dollars, making it the most valuable world coin ever created.

Some collectors choose one area to collect from while other world coin collectors aim to find one coin from every country or region of the world. Some collectors even choose to trace their ancestry through coins from those countries. The history of a coin, its scarcity, and whether or not there were errors during minting all figure into a coin’s value. It’s a good idea to read about world coins, to discover the interesting histories of some valuable coins, like that of the 1933 double eagle.

World coins are described in collector shops and auctions according to a standard grading system, from best to worst: mint, uncirculated, proof, extremely fine, very fine, fine, very good, good and about good. Look for these words in auction descriptions and carefully examine the scan or photo of a coin you wish to purchase to see the obvious wear.

Photo Credits: wfabry

Originally posted 2008-10-09 14:00:21. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Related Posts

Rare Coins Coins and Paper Money -> Ancient Coins -> Persian, Indian, Asian There is something very special about rare coins. No matter where in the world they came from, they usually have a very rich history and collectors will search to the ends of the earth to find that special rare......
Coin Collecting 101 Coin collecting is an industry that has grown to encompass billions of dollars in sales. The earliest hobby of coin collecting is capable of being traced as far back as 1300 AD, which is when an Italian scholar known by the name of Fracesco Petrarca began to save coins and......
Collecting Coins of the World Start with your pocket change Start out by studying coins you pull from your pockets, or failing that, some old coins from your attic, on your floor, or out in public. As a novice coin collector, it makes no sense to spend a lot of your money on coins if......
Rare Gold Coins money -> Coins-World -> Gold Gold is one of the most popular substances in the world, and rare gold coins are highly sought out by collectors, not just for the precious gold content, but because of the rarity of the coins and the designs themselves. How do you know......
1925 Coin Penny Coins & Paper Money -> Coins: World -> Australia The 1925 coin penny is the 3rd rarest copper coin from Australia. According to records from their Royal Mint, this coin was struck late in the year to make sure that Australian merchants had plenty of pennies during the Christmas season.......

Related Websites

Gold cracks $700 Much to the joy of gold bugs everywhere, the yellow metal peeked above $700, a high not seen for a quarter century.Â The main news that got this bull rolling was that China is substantially increasing its holdings. One thing I've found in perusing coins is that common, small denominations......
Top 10 Largest Global Gold Mining Stocks This is a list, for resource purposes, of the world's top gold producers by size (market capitalization). For consistency and ease of comparison, I have listed them according to their NYSE ADR tickers and values, in order of their market cap. All values in USD. Note that I have limited......
Review: MetaGame by Sam Landstrom (Kindle Edition) I decided to order MetaGame (Kindle Edition) by Sam Landstrom because at the time I was looking for free Kindle books (it is now $1.69) and it sounded interesting. I am normally not a sci-fi or fantasy fan, so that's my caveat. To date 41 readers at Amazon rate this......
Build Your Own Sports Memorabilia Collection Some people begin to create a sports memorabilia collection to create a hobby, and other people decide to put together a sports memorabilia collection for the sole purpose of eventually selling their memorabilia off later. Some people, then, specially build up their sports memorabilia collection full of specifically chosen items......
History of Postage Stamp Collecting With the creation of the postage stamp came the birth of the concept of postage stamp collecting. This occurred just shortly after the first postage stamps were introduced in the year 1840 by Great Britain. Plilately, the study of postage stamp collecting has been derived from phileo, the Greek word......