Coin Shopping Around The World

It has been a little while since my last update, but I wanted to share an experience from Bologna, Italy.

If you walk past a store called "Coin", you may be surprised to discover that they actually sell clothing rather than numismatic items.








I didn't notice any LCSs, but I did note that some of the news/souvenir kiosks sold sets of modern Euros. Others had banknotes and/or stamps. The specific kiosk in this picture is in the Northern part of the city--up by the bus station.

Perhaps one of our Italian members can provide the name of a good LCS in Bologna.

Very interesting.

My favorite Italian pizza is the quattro staggioni (4 seasons): artichoke (spring), olives (summer), mushroom (fall), ham (winter) in quadrants (think "croix cantonnee" on a coin ).

And, while Bologna has that famous ragu on their pasta that somehow got transformed into a tomato sauce when it crossed the Atlantic, Ferrara has a triangular ravioli stuffed with a pumpkin fillng (cappelacci al zucca) that's probably my favorite pasta.

Just an hour and a half past breakfast and I'm hungry again.

Hey Spence, I'd say "Have a gouda time!" but you're not in Holland.

Just found this post and spent a lot of time reading it all. Lots of time on my hands due to snow storm. Made me remember when my Son spent a semester of college in Poland. He traveled all over Europe then and sent me coins from all the places he visited. I'm not a World coin collector so they all ended up in a box. He ended up in Germany rather than sticking with his classmates for a while since he found relatives there. He too had lots of stories to tell. This post is fantastic. Should have been a short novel.

Let's have a look at Central London. Sadly, many of the coin shops I remember from the 1980s have disappeared, notably 'The Arches' under Charing Cross Station.

There are still a few places worth checking out if you have a free day in London. All pictures from Google Street View.

Starting from Trafalgar Square, walk up Charing Cross Road and you'll find the Gold Coin Exchange. Despite the name, they do sell other coins. I've read varying reports about this shop. They seem to have a lot of stock but the window display looks a bit dusty and uncared-for. I've bought a few coins from here in the past, mostly in the £10 - £20 range.


A short walk up the road from here brings you to a narrow cross street called Cecil Court. Here is Philip Cohen, a relatively recently-established coin shop. I've only made one purchase here (a Victorian florin) but was happy with the price and grading.


If you're in London on a Saturday morning, head to the Saturday Collectors' Market at Charing Cross. The entrance is in Northumberland Avenue just by the railway bridge over the Thames - a short walk from Trafalgar Square. There are usually between 6 and 10 coin dealers and about the same number of stamp dealers. You're unlikely to get a great bargain, but there's usually a good selection of coins on show, with quite a few junk boxes to rummage in.


Back to Trafalgar Square, head east along the Strand and you'll find Stanley Gibbons, the country's largest stamp dealers. The coin dealer A H Baldwin operates from the same premises. I've bought accessories here but the coins look expensive.


Across the road is the grandiosely-named Strand Stamp Centre. They have a few coins in the window, but they tend to be recent GB commemoratives and coin covers.


Heading away from the Trafalgar Square area, one of London's most visible coin shops is Coincraft, right opposite the main entrance to the British Museum. They have a lot of very overpriced 'junk' such as sets of World War I UK pennies (one of each date from 1914 to 1918) for £9.50, but they are very knowledgeable and their Roman, medieval and older milled coins are generally well graded and fairly priced (but not cheap). The only chance of a bargain here is when they sometimes have a tray of cupro-nickel crowns from places like Gibraltar and the Isle of Man, for £3 each. They also often sell modern British proof sets and commemoratives for less than the original issue price.

Thanks @nr for the great coverage in London. You don't have any similar insight for Manchester UK do you? I might be popping over there later this year.

UltraRant's last post was in November 2017. I hope he's doing okay.

On the flipside, it's nice to know that his thread is still kicking, even if he may not be.