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 Replies: 14 / Views: 1,088 |
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Pillar of the Community
Poland
3201 Posts |
So this morning I was reading the history book. It had a paragraph outlining how in the 19th century Russia conquered central Asian states such as Bukhara.
This made me wonder how many people would be aware that such country even existed? And that was just one state, there must have been many others. This fact in turn lead me to thinking that this would make an interesting, if small, coin collection.
However, as information on such coins will probably be sparse on the Internet, there will be few images to compare coins to, the inscriptions would not usually be in Latin characters, and even here I suppose there would be much fewer people to ask if the ID supplied by the seller is correct or if the coin is genuine.
So my (theoretical) question is - if one followed that route, how likely is it that such a "collection" would end up being composed mostly of fakes, fantasies, and misidentified pieces? Edited by DL20K
08/08/2016 2:55 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6130 Posts |
IMO, it would be a slippery slope, due to the extreme blurring of lines. Transnistria is a semi self-governing area of eastern Europe that issues it's own coins that actually circulate in everyday use. Yet it is not a "real" country in the sense that it is not recognized by the UN and the territory is claimed by Moldova.
Then you have countries in high-conflict regions that lasted for a few months before being overtaken.
And Micronations.
Dont let me spoil it for you... I think it sounds fun, but I would do your homework before you drop a penny on a coin that might be a legit circulating issue, or a fantasy churned out by the Franklin mint for an uninhabited island in the south Atlantic.
I have allowed myself to get distracted with Indian Princely state rupees, and boy is that a fun area!
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Pillar of the Community
Russian Federation
5172 Posts |
It's unclear which countries such a list would even include, and it's also almost certain that most of the coins would be rare and/or expensive. That is probably more important than any misinformation (which doesn't seem very likely).
I'm reminded of a set some CCF member tried to do of "one coin from every culture" - most of it was basically similar to what you just described. Can't recall the CCF member's name, however.
I once considered a project of "one coin from every country in Yakko's World". I actually seem to have most of the list (including Crete and Sumatra) - but those African places are tricky (and San Juan and Abu Dhabi might be impossible).
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Pillar of the Community
 Poland
3201 Posts |
Finn235, I know what you mean. I encountered the problem of non-states issuing "coins" sometime in the last decade, before I joined CCF. I found three colored plastic round things from some island. They sure had a "face value" and date but turned out not to be coins at all. I don't remember whether the island in question was inhabited or not. The quick solution would be including nothing issued beyond a certain date, say 1950. This removes all modern coin-like products but alleviates none of the problems I mentioned in my post  January1may, I agree that there couldn't be one list of such countries. What's unheard of here, may not be that unusual to someone else. "One coin from every culture" would be similar, it just includes the modern and the more widely-known historical countries as well. "Dead countries" would also be similar as one of the reasons for such states being largely unknown nowadays is that they don't exist anymore. |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1747 Posts |
I doubt someone would spend the time, effort, and money to forge obscure coins. there would be no profit (the whole reason for forging)
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1316 Posts |
Getting into the German States is a DEEP pursuit all by itself, which had a gajillion of issuers spanning several centuries. The Netherlands and Austria similarly had all sorts of kingdoms issuing over the same time period. Italy's states maybe even going further back Agreed that you might want to establish some parameters based on your personal interests before putting out any hard earned dough.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
5239 Posts |
This is a fascinating pursuit, of which I have been engaged in for a number of years.
There are groups which specialize in "one coin per country", where "country" is defined somewhat loosely. You may or may not want to include some of the "fantasy" countries.
In any case, these obscure countries are pursued by quite a few people.
I think that this is viable if you approach this carefully and slowly, you should be OK. Some of the obscure countries are rarely seen; you will never complete the project, that is guaranteed.
Some of the obvious warnings would apply to collecting anything: use reputable dealers, etc. Unfortunately there are fakes of obscure countries so their obscurity is no protection.
Edited by oriole
08/08/2016 5:52 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6130 Posts |
I saw one member had the requirement "must be legal tender to buy a cup of coffee" which I think is a good one to stick to. Franklin mint et al churn out plenty of "legal tender" coins for these places like Tristan da Cunha and Niue that are "legal tender" but a cashier would laugh if you tried to use one.
Edited by Finn235
08/08/2016 9:50 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6130 Posts |
Just a thought--how about choosing a theme to start with and expand upon? Good starting points with lots of options would be French colonial coins featuring Marianne (Polynesia, New Caledonia, New Hebrides, Reunion, Madagascar to name a few) or the more obscure coins with Victoria's mug (Guernsey, Gibraltar, British Honduras, Bikanir State). Most of these are circulation issues, and some are TOUGH to get.
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Pillar of the Community
Norway
1358 Posts |
Why not just start a collection of coins from coin issuing states conquered by Russia in the 19th century?
It's much more concrete than 'generally unknown countries' and avoids eerie questions like 'what is a country', 'whom is it unknown to', etc.
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Pillar of the Community
Russian Federation
5172 Posts |
Quote:
Why not just start a collection of coins from coin issuing states conquered by Russia in the 19th century?
It's much more concrete than 'generally unknown countries' and avoids eerie questions like 'what is a country', 'whom is it unknown to', etc. I agree, though it would then need accurate definitions of "conquered", "Russia" and "19th century". (And, depending on answers to the previous, perhaps also of "coin issuing state".) For example, would such a list include Jever? |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1912 Posts |
It is true there is a collector group with a checklist for one coin per country. And that list includes names of little known or dead nations. But also, there are some back pages of checklist lines to collect such as unrecognized, fantasies and micro-nations. If you became a member of this group, you could download the lists from the files section, then edit the list to suit your own collector interest.
Also, as seen in the previous post, "Jever" would be found on this checklist.
Edited by Albert
08/11/2016 4:20 pm
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Pillar of the Community
Poland
3201 Posts |
A bit off topic, but I had to check what kind of territory Jever, mentioned by january1may, was and what was its relation to Russia. And so: Quote:
In 1793, the male-line of Anhalt-Zerbst perished and its territories were split. Jeverland was then given to Catherine II of Russia, formerly Princess Sophia of Anhalt-Zerbst and Frederick August's sole surviving sibling. It remained Russian until Napoleon's armies occupied it in 1807 Never knew about that. |
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21786 Posts |
None of the states from ancient coins exist into current times, although some would argue the difference in the Chinese case.
The concept of 'nation states' in ancient and medieval times is very different to what now exists.
Political development in various parts of the World over the centuries progressed at different rates, and in a wide variety of directions.
If you want to make a statement about past political entities and their coin issues, just illustrate that statement with what coins you like, and what opportunities you may take in their acquisition, to build a representative collection only.
Along the way, you will learn a lot about the development of political World history illustrated by coins, and you will learn a lot about how to identify dangerous fake coins for what they are.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
5239 Posts |
The possibilities are endless. There is no universal definition of "country", and "widely unknown" is rather subjective, so you are free to set whatever boundaries seem logical to you.
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Replies: 14 / Views: 1,088 |
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Posted 08/08/2016 3:16 pm
