A few weeks ago, I happened to look at Numista's listing of Romanian coins, and was surprised how beautiful they all are, and how many of the supposedly common types I'm apparently missing. So I decided to get a full type set (well, as full as I could manage) for 2016 (if I have the opportunity, anyway).
For the record, the type list is based on Numista. In places it might differ from someone else's type division; I'm not an expert (I could barely figure out what to exclude).
Given the recent silver prices, it is not impossible that I'd be actually able to acquire the silver coins as well (even the larger ones). But it is a lot less likely than the base-metal types, so the following listing will consist of three categories: base metal, small silver (under 10 grams), and large silver (10 grams and over).
Gold is right out. I'm not counting any of the loads of commemoratives either (though I might end up getting some of the more common commemorative types).
Yes, I'll probably not get anywhere close (even in base metal only). And yes, this is far from being my
only numismatic goal this year (I'm not that focused). But whatever.
Also, some of these might turn out to be rare; then I'll exclude them later.
Listing I: base metal
1. 1 banu 1867
2. 1 ban 1900
3. 2 bani 1867
4. 2 bani 1879-81
5. 2 bani 1882
6. 2 bani 1900
7. 5 bani 1867
8. 5 bani 1882-5
9. 5 bani 1900
10. 5 bani 1905-6
11. 10 bani 1867
12. 10 bani 1900
13. 10 bani 1905-6
14. 20 bani 1900
15. 20 bani 1905-6
16. 25 bani 1921
17. 50 bani 1921
18. 1 leu 1924
19. 1 leu 1938-41
20. 2 lei 1924
21. 2 lei 1941
22. 5 lei 1930
23. 5 lei 1942
24. 10 lei 1930
25. 20 lei 1930 [Carol II]
26. 20 lei 1930 [Mihai I]
27. 20 lei 1942-4
28. 50 lei 1937-8
29. 100 lei 1936-8
30. 100 lei 1943-4
31. 200 lei 1945
32. 500 lei 1945
33. 500 lei 1946
34. 2000 lei 1946
35. 10000 lei 1947
36. 50 bani 1947
37. 1 leu 1947
38. 1 leu 1949-51
39. 1 leu 1951-2
40. 2 lei 1947
41. 2 lei 1950-1
42. 2 lei 1951-2
43. 5 lei 1947
44. 5 lei 1948-51
45. 20 lei 1951
46. 1 ban 1952-4
47. 3 bani 1952-4
48. 5 bani 1952-7
49. 5 bani 1963
50. 5 bani 1966
51. 5 bani 1975
52. 10 bani 1952-6
53. 15 bani 1960
54. 15 bani 1966
55. 15 bani 1975
56. 25 bani 1952-5
57. 25 bani 1960
58. 25 bani 1966
59. 25 bani 1982
60. 50 bani 1955-6
61. 1 leu 1963
62. 1 leu 1966
63. 1 leu 1992
64. 1 leu 1993-2006
65. 3 lei 1963
66. 3 lei 1966
67. 5 lei 1978
68. 5 lei 1992-2005
69. 10 lei 1990-2 [supposedly commemorative, but common enough, multi-year, and I have one anyway]
70. 10 lei 1993-2003
71. 20 lei 1991-2003
72. 50 lei 1991-2003
73. 100 lei 1991-2006
74. 500 lei 1998-2006
75. 1000 lei 2000-2006 [same situation as number 69]
76. 5000 lei 2001-2006
77. 1 ban 2005-
78. 5 bani 2005-
79. 10 bani 2005-
80. 50 bani 2005-
Listing II: small (and medium) silver
1. 50 bani 1873-6
2. 50 bani 1881
3. 50 bani 1884-5
4. 50 bani 1894-1901
5. 50 bani 1910-4
6. 1 leu 1870
7. 1 leu 1873-6
8. 1 leu 1881
9. 1 leu 1884-5
10. 1 leu 1894-1901
11. 1 leu 1910-4
12. 200 lei 1942
Listing III: large silver (just for completeness, I won't be getting many of these)
1. 2 lei 1872-6
2. 2 lei 1881
3. 2 lei 1894-1901
4. 2 lei 1910-4
5. 5 lei 1880-1
6. 5 lei 1881 [different title]
7. 5 lei 1881-1901 [no idea what the difference from above is]
8. 100 lei 1932
9. 250 lei 1935 [apparently rare]
10. 250 lei 1939-40
11. 250 lei 1940-1
12. 500 lei 1944
13. 25000 lei 1946
14. 100000 lei 1946
That's 80 types in base metal, plus 12 for small silver and 14 for large silver.
Most of the silver is over 100 years old; there is a total of one post-1915 small silver (and I already have it), plus seven large silvers (I might consider the 100000 lei, if I ever find any).
I've excluded some commemoratives even when Numista does not classify them as "non-circulating" (actually, I only left two, as listed above).
I also almost included one non-circulating commemorative (200k mintage!) because I happened to have it already (and had no idea it was that rare).
Just for the record: the "circulating" commemorative types I left out are two "Reign of Carol I" silvers from 1906 (nice but probably too uncommon), one large silver from 1941 (definitely too uncommon), the modern 50 bani pieces (might get some if they turn out to be cheap enough)... and a 500 lei from 1999 that has a high enough mintage to be plausibly circulating (4 millon), and a cool enough design (solar eclipse) that I might well get it anyway.
And yes, that's 80 coins (81 with the eclipse 500 lei), even without any silver. I already have many of them, and much of the rest is low-end bargain bin stuff, but even so, I'm looking at as much as $100 spent just on that set only.
Assuming I get anywhere close to completing it, anyway. In particular, the 1867, 1900 and - especially - 1921 series would be tricky.
Fun fact: Romania (in the 1960s and 1970s) is the only country I'm aware of where that had an 15 coin and a 25 coin, but no 20. The traditional Soviet system went 10-15-20-50 (and the Russian system it came from went 10-15-20-25-50), and pretty much everyone else skipped 15 entirely.
Um, watch this thread for further results? So far, I'm trying to figure out what I already have
Posted 01/22/2016 12:52 am
