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How Many Countries To Collect?

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Garoyn's Avatar
United States
513 Posts
 Posted 06/07/2016  12:19 pm Show Profile   Bookmark this topic Add Garoyn to your friends list Get a Link to this Message Number of Subscribers
Stud722, your sig indicates 264 countries (and counting). Really? Does that include countries that were once countries (with coins) that are no longer countries? What about kinda-countries (e.g. Hutt River Province, Guernsey, Gibraltar, India states, German states, etc.)? Ancient and non-ancient? Got a list I can use? I've been using Krause-Mishler listings (Standard Catalog of World Coins), but haven't gone earlier than the 1901-date listings.

What countries do world-collecting folks collect?

I am trying to get one of each country/entity (from the K-M post-1900 listings).
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chequer's Avatar
Canada
4227 Posts
 Posted 06/07/2016  12:53 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add chequer to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
This topic comes up fairly regularly. Search for OFEC (one from every country) and you'll get lots of hits. Here's a good thread to start with:

https://goccf.com/t/205766
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stud722's Avatar
United States
1088 Posts
 Posted 06/07/2016  1:33 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add stud722 to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Garyon, each and every collector has a bit of a different way of determining what a their country list may contain. I started by using the Krause Standard Catalog of World Coins index from 1901- date. I have since then added 17th, 18th, and 19th century coins and countries to my list. I have used Numista as a great tool in collecting. It helps you organize my collection and showcase the collection. It will take some time to put your collection in but it has some great features like total coins in the collection, amount of PM, countries you have, countries you need (according to their list), etc. Good luck with your collection!

P.S. Yes, this does include countries that were once countries that are no longer.
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stud722's Avatar
United States
1088 Posts
 Posted 06/07/2016  1:38 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add stud722 to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
I believe Numista lists 390 total countries. If you ever have any questions or concerns, I would be happy to help.
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Finn235's Avatar
United States
6130 Posts
 Posted 06/07/2016  2:25 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Finn235 to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
It's an open question for interpretation. Soverign, coin-issuing, formally recognized entities should definitely be on the list--I think there are about 180ish?

I would include dependencies and colonies (Guernsey, Jersey) as a sub-set, as they are distinct circulating coins, but they are not "countries" in the sense of being self-governing. I would probably include unrecognized countries like Transnistria in this set.

Micronations would be a different sub set for me, since they do not circulate, or do so only as a joke/novelty.

There are also non-circulating issues for lots of (especially British) territories that use the currency of their mother nation. I have seen "mint sets" for uninhabited islands like the Galapagos, and Gough island.

Then there is the problem of countries that no longer exist. Ditto with regime changes (Russia was under the Czars, Soviets, and Republic in the 20th century), especially if there is not a coinage reform to mark a shift in power.

I would probably start with the first point--extant, coin-issuing soverign nations, and expand as you see fit.
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Parklane64's Avatar
United States
2668 Posts
 Posted 06/07/2016  2:26 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Parklane64 to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
I guess it depends on what qualifies as a country. I think there was some currency from Emperor Norton.

https://www.google.com/search?q=Emp...n+money
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oriole's Avatar
Canada
5238 Posts
 Posted 06/07/2016  3:23 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add oriole to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
One philosophy is to collect one coin for every distinct government/ regime of a particular country. Using this way, for instance, Poland could be considered to have 5 distinct "governments".

Don't forget all the German states prior to WWI. And if you add the notgeld, you add about 600 more.

More fun than a barrel of monkeys to collect one of each!
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Bacchus2's Avatar
United Kingdom
2868 Posts
 Posted 06/07/2016  3:51 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Bacchus2 to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply

Quote:
I would include dependencies and colonies (Guernsey, Jersey) as a sub-set, as they are distinct circulating coins, but they are not "countries" in the sense of being self-governing.


Guernsey and Jersey are self governing. Eg
http://www.gov.je/Leisure/Jersey/Pa...Profile.aspx

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geraltttt82's Avatar
United Kingdom
367 Posts
 Posted 06/07/2016  4:49 pm  Show Profile   Check geraltttt82's eBay Listings Bookmark this reply Add geraltttt82 to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Im also OFEC collector :) but my main scope is to colect all countries from only XX century (only coins minted in XX century). Still 3 countries missing (but one of them, its medalic issue.... but using list from numista - I have 357 countries.
Edited by geraltttt82
06/07/2016 4:51 pm
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Russian Federation
5172 Posts
 Posted 06/07/2016  6:03 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add january1may to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Numista currently has 400 or so countries (the official count is 405, but I'm not sure if that includes pairs like Myanmar/Burma that link to the same country; it definitely includes Tokens and Exonumia, might also include the "unidentified coins" entry, and the rather silly Mesopotamia entry is overdue to be removed).

However, that includes "countries" like "German states", "Italian States", "Venezuelan provinces", and a bunch of other similar lists. I rather prefer to count countries from such lists separately (which inflates the count significantly when one has a lot of German and/or Indian coins).

Partly due to that, my early "countries in my collection" lists (an example from November 2012 survived and was found recently) included a bunch of rather unusual country splits - some of them I certainly would not have included today (such as interwar/postwar Poland and Czechoslovakia), but I still stand by others (RSFSR/USSR, interwar/modern Baltic states, WWII/modern Slovakia, pre-WWI/WWII/modern Serbia).

Then there's stuff that simply doesn't really have a place under the existing Numista classification. Russian states coins, for example (like my Tver pulo).


As far as "kinda-countries" go, you'd be surprised how many there are. I made a list once, and then updated it, but that was in different threads; might as well quote the full updated version here:
Vatican City, Cook Islands, Aruba, Jersey, Pitcairn, Alderney, Palestine, Greenland, Crimea, Mesa Grande, Lundy, Seborga, Hutt River, Sealand, Redonda, Atlantium, Molossia, Westarctica, Vinland, Vilenjak, Winterfell.

(This is all coins - and "coins" - made since the mid-2000s or so; there are a few other weird ones that were made earlier. There are also many that were made recently enough that I just forgot to include; this is definitely not a representative sample.
Ordered, very roughly, by diminishing similarity of the relevant issuing entity to a real country; anything up to Jersey definitely should be accepted by any OFEC collector. Fixed the Greenland placement, incidentally.)

Then there's Transnistria (perhaps Somaliland as well, it's less certain), which is not a recognized country by any reasonable standards, but makes its own coins that circulate in the country.
Western Sahara definitely used to be in the same category, might not still be; it is debatable whether Nagorno-Karabakh ever was (their coins were officially authorized, but were all of fairly low denominations - perhaps a cent or two US for the highest - and while they were definitely introduced into circulation at some point, it is very uncertain whether they stayed in said circulation).
Abkhazian coins are authorized but all NCLT (and recently deleted from the non-token sections of Numista); South Ossetian "coins" might not even have been authorized. Anything for (modern) Crimea, Donetsk or Lugansk is a complete fantasy. To the best of my knowledge, Kosovo does not issue coins (they use the euro, but are not allowed to make their own euro coins).
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Garoyn's Avatar
United States
513 Posts
 Posted 06/07/2016  10:01 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Garoyn to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Very helpful info, folks, thanks. Looks like my "list" will require periodic, uh, "modification" as I encounter new stuff. I've tried (well, so far) to omit those issues that are fantasy coins or NCLT issues merely to grab a buck from foreign suckers, er, collectors.
Edited by Garoyn
06/07/2016 10:05 pm
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geraltttt82's Avatar
United Kingdom
367 Posts
 Posted 06/08/2016  01:23 am  Show Profile   Check geraltttt82's eBay Listings Bookmark this reply Add geraltttt82 to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
I made some excel list using Krause 42th edition.
313 main countries
464 countries and provinces like Hu-Peh / German States one by one
1081 countries and provinces like Hu-Peh / German States one by one and all types of governments / reforms
Edited by geraltttt82
06/08/2016 01:24 am
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Parklane64's Avatar
United States
2668 Posts
 Posted 06/08/2016  03:20 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Parklane64 to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Don't forget military script and invasion money.
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UltraRant's Avatar
Norway
1358 Posts
 Posted 06/08/2016  05:05 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add UltraRant to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Years ago I tried to make a simple list over current countries in the world, as I travel a lot and like to keep track of where I've been. Turns out that that is already an issue without a definitive answer. My current guess is 195 sovereign countries and 11 autonomous states. But it might change at any time... In order to get there I actually adopted a set of rules and conventions which are shared with most international standards.

For numismatics I find it even worse, as one should take the past into consideration as well. Which makes it extra complicated, as there are issues like several ((semi)-autonomous) parts issuing their own currency, countries changing shape, ceasing to exist or being created, having (had) multiple currencies in use, sometimes simultaneously, some countries have been sharing a currency and some countries have never issued any currency at all...

So my definitive answer is that there's no conclusive answer to the question. I think the best you can do is to set up your own rules for what defines as a numismatic country for you and then start counting.
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Garoyn's Avatar
United States
513 Posts
 Posted 06/08/2016  08:41 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Garoyn to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
I find that Numista has a helpful list (405 countries entities) at http://en.numista.com/catalogue/pays.php .

Now to go through these and see if I want to include all of them in my own collection algorithm (Saar, really?!)
Edited by Garoyn
06/08/2016 08:44 am
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Russian Federation
5172 Posts
 Posted 06/08/2016  09:19 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add january1may to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Saarland coins are pretty nice thank you very much. Not particularly similar to coins of any other place either.

Uncommon as heck, mind you, but that's another question entirely.
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