Coin Shopping Around The World

And now for something completely different. Let's try to post an 'update post', as addition of an already existing country. Or in this case, even two.

The first one would be:

Philippines

I recently went there again as there's a lot of business there, despite Philippines being a devastatingly poor country. It's also an upcoming economy, but still has a long, long way to go there before getting somewhere. And with the current president, I don't know if that'll happen any time soon. He's used to be very popular for his war on drugs, but he's also heavily criticized for his death penalty addiction, especially by the church, which still has a huge influence on daily life there.

That being said, things are changing a bit. Not for the good, necessarily. But it keeps things interesting.

Manila
Last time I wrote that Manila has just a few small coin shops, some which even can't be found. That's still true, but I found a few more options.

First, if you're in Malate (just south of Rizal Park), try to walk between Robinson Mall (Pedro Gil Street) and Rizal Park via either Mabini Street or Del Pilar street, the run parallel of each other. It's a bit seedy, but there are a lot of 'antique' shops which also sell coins, medals and basically old junk. Expect to be heavily overcharged, so bargaining up to 90% should be allowed. Remember that it's a very poor country, you can get a full meal here in a restaurant, including soft drink, for under $2, if you settle for something local.

Anyway, as soon as you approach Robinson Mall and Pedro Gil street, you'll be approached by some street sellers. They'll first offer you Viagra, then 'nice girls', then coins. Not exactly what I expected to be offered, but they got my interest. The seller told me that he got them from his grandfather from the time that the country was still American. That sounded plausible, until he showed me the goods, which included Morgan dollars, Peace dollars and even a 1780 Flowing Hair Dollar. All Chinese "silver", of course. So when I told him that all the coins are fake and indeed made across the ocean, but in the opposite direction, he just asked me if I wanted a 'nice girl' instead. So when I replied that I only want a stupid one, he shut up and stopped bothering me. So if you're working on your collection of fake coins, just showing up there will do the trick.

Legazpi
Legazpi hosts one of the most beautiful volcanoes in the world, Mount Mayon. It's a perfect cone shape, stands alone and it's huge, so the top has just that little bit of snow in it. It's absolutely stunning, and the city is quite small, but beautiful.

Just like other cities, Legazpi hosts a lot of tiny entrepreneurs. Grab a map from the airport, then just look for the local market and for the tiny watchmaker stalls you'll find across the city center. I found one who sells coins, but I can't exactly recall the location. Most are local coins, a few regional coins and even some more common American coins. Quality varies quite a bit and is not leading for the price. Size and face value of the coin is leading here.

Bacolod
Bacolod is a harbor town and provincial capital of Negros Occidental, close to Cebu. A bit overshadowed by Cebu, Bacolod has sufficient to offer for itself, though. Especially if you're interested in shopping, you will have the most fantastic time here: There's a huge amount of huge malls. And the prices are dirt cheap.

Now when it comes to coin shopping, you'll find a lot of interesting things here. First, there's a self-proclaimed 'coin shop' in a bridge between the north and south wing of the SM City Mall (it sounds worse than it is. It's just the name of a chain of malls. To make it worse though, it's close to a key maker shop called 'mr. Quickie'.). However, when asked they told me that they can just make any coin for me, but that I had to pay at least 6000 Pesos (about 120 US dollar) for my delivery. When asked, what kind of coin we're talking about, she showed me their portfolio. It's stuffed with medals and tokens. They just haven't learned the difference with coins yet. Nevertheless, $120 for a big batch of custom made medals is a very good deal, methinks!

Then again, there's the street stall vendors. You'll find quite a few here with coins, especially in the streets around City Hall, mostly towards Public Plaza: I found about a dozen of them. All of them are (also) watchmakers. You can easily see if they also sell coins, as they either have old or foreign banknotes on their window, or they glued coins on their stall, or they just dumped a batch on the shelf. That's usually not the only coins they have: they usually have more on a hidden place in their stall.

Please remember that you're (most likely) no Filipino, so you stand out of the crowd. As soon as you show interest at one stall, you'll most likely attract the attention of a lot of other stall holders who will see your interest and try to get you to their stall to buy some more. Bargaining is a must do. Don't be afraid to just tell them that you paid 10 pesos ($0.20) per coin in Manila / Cebu / any other city, and they'll drop to a more reasonable level. Again, age, quality or rarity of the coin are not leading in setting the price, but size and face value are. The offerings here are quite diverse: a lot of Philippine coins, quite a bit of coins from the region, an odd 'world coin' and also some American coins.

In rare occasions you'll be offered silver coins. Most are legit, for what I've seen. But be prepared to haggle a huge amount, as they apparently continuously mistake the midcourse of AG for that of AU.



Now, over to the second country:

Norway

Yes, there's something going on at my home front. I don't know exactly what or why, but suddenly there's an increase of online coin shops. Most have very limited offerings, usually only Norwegian or Scandinavian coins, with an odd 'world coin' or 'antique coin' in between.

I don't know if the recent economic crisis plays a role here, but Norway got hit very hard when the oil price crashed. Just a few years back, one in nine jobs were directly in this sector. Now that has changed, and a lot of oil jobs got lost due to oil companies not being able to produce at cost covering levels anymore. Fortunately for us, the oil price got up a bit again, but the economy is still quite weak on its knees. As such, a lot of people seek to invest in precious metal now. I found that out when monitoring gold and silver here: gold coins are sold at ridiculous prices and actually usually get sold within days after being posted. I guess that just woke up the entrepreneur in a few Norwegians and thus, we have a few more on line shops now.

So, as of today, we have the following shops to offer in Norway (note that most, if not all, have an online shop and also deliver abroad):

Oslo
Roschberg Mynthandel
Numisma AS
Oslo Myntgalleri

Bergen
Bergens Mynt og Seddelforretning AS

Trondheim
Riibe

Stavanger
Stavanger Frimerke- Og Mynthandel

Kristiansand
Kristiansand Mynthandel

Asker
AskerMynt

Egersund
Egersund Numismatikk & Antikk AS

Mjøndalen
Buskerudmynt

Lier
Norsk Frimerkforretning Liertoppen

Lillestrøm
Roschberg Mynthandel (same as in Oslo)

Bodø
Bodø Mynthandel DA

Tromsø
Tromsø Frimerke og Mynt Steinar Eilertsen

Ski
Follo Mynt

Sandefjord
Sandefjord Mynthandel

Online only:
Numis AS
Sarpsborg Mynthandel (also auctions)
Norsk Mynthandel
Stylo Mynthandel
Goldsource
Finn.no (more like an online market place like ebay, with a huge coin offer)
Samlerhuset (in case you love to get ripped off: these guys are outrageously expensive and very aggressive in their sales strategy.)

Apologies if I forgot one.


EDIT:

Oh my, I saw that I already posted some update posts! Nothing new there...

Thanks for adding, that's indeed useful information!

Indonesia is a bit special to me, as my grandfather fought in the war there (on the Dutch side, though). I got some older Indonesian coins from him and he taught me his love for the regional food, and even how to make some of it at home (or as good as it gets with ingredients from a local toko). I do believe he was stationed on Java.

When I was in Jakarta I didn't really have time to explore much of the city. First: I had a bad jet leg (I usually don't have them anymore, so this came as a surprise), second: it was just waaaay too warm to explore the city, third: I had a job to do, fourth: I got stuck in extremely bad traffic when trying to explore the city (over 1 hour to make a 3 km/2 mile ride) and finally: I was a bit underwhelmed by Batavia and the shops I found in the city, to be honest (but oh so in love with the food!). Had I known that there was coin trading to be found in Pasar Baru, I'd probably have checked it, as I stayed just on the other side of Monument Nasional, in Wahid Hasyim Street. :)

So, next time I'll be around, I know where to go. :)

I also found this old thread about Bali and Jakarta here on CCF, http://goccf.com/t/95804 , with this specific post about Jakarta: http://goccf.com/t/95804#798537
Do you know if the recommendation is still valid?

When it comes to Bali, I actually have been there a few times on vacation and I can tell, the reports as found in the topic mentioned are still valid. No numismatic activity to be found. Lots of excellent resorts with fantastic spa's and even better food (I'm in LOVE with satay, nasi/bami goreng, and all those other splendid dishes), though. And always a great party going on.

This could basically conclude my report about Indonesia.

I was in Indonesia to visit family. Thankfully, we went in the coldest time of the year (still really warm!). I did manage to snag a banknote and a Nederlandische Indie coin from 1858 for about a dollar in total.

Okay, I'll ask about a country less well represented on CCF: when are you planning on visiting Russia, if ever?

IIRC, you said you would message me if it comes up, but I don't think I ever heard back from you about it, and it's been nearly a year.
Did that trip get cancelled, and if so, is one still planned later?

Time for a new country. Or... country...

Western Sahara

Western Sahara was formerly known as Spanish Sahara, until 1975 when Spain had to give it up. Not having a proper exit strategy in place, Mauritania and Morocco decided to just split up the territory and add it to their respective countries. The Sahrawi people were against it and started a campaign for independence. Decades later, we find that Mauritania quit the race, Morocco occupies most of the land and Polisario, the independence movement, is captured between a wall and landmines on one side and closed borders on the other. Or being in exile in Algeria. And the whole territory went into a bloody war until the cease fire of 1991.

And honestly, I don't get what the fuzz is about. It's pure, empty, barren Sahara desert. Nothing grows there, rain hardly ever falls there. No one lives there. Nothing lives there. There are hardly any natural resources (despite exploration, no oil has been found. I guess the conflict would have been resolved already if any had been found), so I really wonder why the Spaniards once were like 'hey, look at this! It's great, let's occupy this territory and defend it like it's our own!'

Ok, not entirely true. There are a few thousand people there, and most live in the capital, El Ayoun. Another town worth mentioning is Dakhla. Both can be reached by air travel, so if you want to go there, I recommend that, as the alternative is a 300+ mile trip over one road through the scorching desert. Indeed, the only piece of infrastructure around between those places. Except for the many military checkpoints, of course. And one gas station, which might be closed or out of order when you arrive.

As said, Morocco took control over the territory and makes sure that no one in these areas will doubt the legitimacy of this claim. As a result, there are more Moroccan flags hanging around than there are people and any kind of mentioning or support of Western Sahara towards any official will be 'faced with violent suppression'. Cozy, isn't it?

Needless to say, there isn't anything touristic to do. El Ayoun has parks that have been closed to the public due to construction works for many years and it seems that it'll remain this way for a few more years. If you go there as a tourist, then first learn some French and make sure that you have sufficient books with you to conquer boredom, as internet still isn't widespread or stable.

Now for coins and coin collecting. As stated, the country is de facto controlled by Morocco and as such, the means of payment is the Moroccan Dirham. The Western Sahara government has issued coins, Saharan Pesetas, in the past, but these are of course forbidden inside the Moroccan area of influence (read: every inhabited part) and will be destroyed once found. And I guess the owner will be punished. So if you're interested in these coins, then you may try to obtain them elsewhere.

One of the problems Morocco faces is poverty, and due to government policy, Western Sahara is kept even poorer. Not just a bit poverty: the country is dirt cheap, labor is a bargain, people are generally uneducated (illiteracy is quite common, I've been told), and as such, Morocco couldn't afford to have coins minted more than once a decade on average. This changed in 2011, when annual minting became more regular. Needless to say, most circulation coins are worn to the level that it's a lowball paradise.

Morocco has minted quite some commemorative coins in the past, even in silver and gold. Don't expect to see any of it around when you're here. Forget going to a bank or post office to buy some. They won't have it. Tourist information (yes, they have that!) looks as if you're downright mad if you ask them if there are coins for sale. They give you the same look if you ask if there's anything to do, though...

What you can do here, is bird watching in the lagoon of El Ayoun, or kite surfing in Dakhla. Or just sit down on a terrace on the main street, Boulevard Mekka, and watch the people when enjoying a posh 50 cent cup of coffee that will give you the runs three days later. Just like the locals do. And just forget about coin collecting and coins. It just doesn't exist here.

Tell me the very last place on that list. If I've been there, I'll pick that one next.

Ha! Beat me to it.

Greenland also comes to mind, but I think I am more curious about what the various (smaller) pacific island nations may have outside of tourist gift shops.