Are Old European Silver Coins A Good Collectible?

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Author	Replies: 6 / Views: 1,768
ratio411 Pillar of the Community United States 1208 Posts	Posted 06/10/2008 12:32 am I am not really a world coin collector, pretty much just U.S. I have some modern 1900-up world coins by accident, and German coins because I lived there, but never really made it a task to collect them. Anyway, I noticed some really old European coins on ebay and bid on them on a whim. I scored 2 silver coins from 1620s Prussia (Germany) so far. I lost out on some older 1400s-1500s coins, and the auctions are still going for some really old ones I am bidding on. Anyway, the coins look nice from the pics. They are really old, and relatively cheap. For example... Imagine if U.S. silver went back to 1624... It would cost several times, if not hundreds of times, more than what I am paying/bidding for these coins. Anyone see a down side? Btw: The coins range from nickel to quarter size and are silver. I am really stoked about getting them 'in hand'! Report this Post to the Staff

wwhitman Pillar of the Community United States 1415 Posts	Posted 06/10/2008 11:04 am Two things - you have to be careful of fakes- know your dealer is the best suggestion here. Find out who is selling on e-bay and check out this site to see if okay. Second foreign coins, in general, are not nearly as expensive as US. A rare foreign coin may only be worth in the hundreds where corresponding US may be worth thousands. No reason for this, its just the way it is. If you want to continue, I would suggest you get some reference books and use them as benchmarks. Hope this helps a little Report this Post to the Staff
eaglefoot Pillar of the Community United States 6326 Posts	Posted 06/10/2008 11:08 am I would just say that what you're paying for these is probably about what they're worth, if it's on ebay.....(meaning the bidding game could be a little too high, about right, or once in awhile you might get a deal kinda thing) If they're coins that should be worth a very high premium and you're getting them cheap, then that would cause me to "raise an eyebrow". If I were you, i'd do a little research on some "world coins".....easy enough to buy a book and see for your self what's "out there" and what the values are that you can expect to pay for them. Be careful of things like counterfeit coins, copies, etc. and watch for the sellers feedback information...... You say you're getting these "reletively cheap"....?.....what prices have you paid for the pics you've posted and others? And "old coins" of any kind are cool.....so !! Report this Post to the Staff
Eurocoin Valued Member Finland 294 Posts	Posted 06/10/2008 2:24 pm ratio411, I know the sense. Here in Finland old 1600s-1800s Swedish and Russian coins (Finland belonged to Sweden and Russia before its independence) are very cheap too if compared to US coins. I think that one reason is that in USA coin collecting is a bigger hobby than in Europe or in Finland. You guys have about 300 million people there in USA so it is a much larger backround there than in Europe where population has settled into several different countries. So the demand for old (one nation) coins is larger. Report this Post to the Staff
ratio411 Pillar of the Community United States 1208 Posts	Posted 06/10/2008 9:50 pm Quote: You say you're getting these "relatively cheap"....?.....what prices have you paid for the pics you've posted and others? The 2 coins I have won so far were 10 bux each, then up to 5 bux shipping. They were 1624 Bavarian, about the size of a dime, and a 1623 Prussian the size of a nickel. I lost the thrid coin pictured, 1511 Prussia... It went for about 20 bux. It is the size of a quarter. I lost some others the same size for between 20-30 bux. I am bidding on 2 15xx coins that are about the same size, or slightly larger. I am willing to go a little higher on these. They have actual head figures on them, therefore seem to have more character. They are larger too, so it seems worth 30-40 bux. Hope I can squeak these out... There are some nicer Latvia, Poland, and Hungarian coins from the same times... I just don't know much about these countries. Also, the folks I am bidding from have large feedback scores... as in many sales, not just a few sales with a high percentage grade. So I would hope that fakes would have been found out by now. We're talking high 3 and low 4 figure sales numbers from the sellers. Anyway, thanks for the info! I thought about posting in 'world coins', but this seemed a little on the 'general' side. Hope it fits here... Dave Edited by ratio411 06/10/2008 9:51 pm Report this Post to the Staff
Jays-Dad Pillar of the Community United States 790 Posts	Posted 06/10/2008 10:06 pm I'm a foreign coin collector. Quite simply, the law of supply and demand applies to coins as well as every other commodity. When something happens like the 50 State Quarter program, demand goes up for all Washingtons, and supply remains the same, hence an increased price. As for foreign coins, I am in love with some of the things that can be purchased quite cheap, such as 16th and 17th century silver coins. I've got so many neat things that would have been unaffordable if they were American. I have many very old coins, even old crowns used to be pretty cheap. I've got coins with mintages in the 1000s that can be purchased for under $1 in some cases. Report this Post to the Staff
ratio411 Pillar of the Community United States 1208 Posts	Posted 06/11/2008 02:22 am Well, I just did some serious figuring of the metal content value of these coins... I am not impressed there! So, I suppose these are coins to collect for fun and historic value. Certainly they aren't consistent collector and bullion coins like most relatively modern US coins of precious metal content. From the 1840s to 1964, our coins have been ultra consistent in metal content. It makes for a very interesting and desirable mix of not only historic value, but precious metals hedge bet. I don't see this with very old world coins. I am watching 2 medieval gold coins on ebay. The gold content is $11.00. Tiny hammered coins... One is bid up to $4, the other nearly identical coin is at $91! Same seller. I don't understand. Any buyer would certainly look through a seller's other items if he took the time to bid on one auction. :shrug: I might be missing something, but not the weight of the gold, or the melt value. Report this Post to the Staff
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