Advice For Getting Started In World Coins?

World coin collecting is an exciting, rewarding and often economical section of the hobby. Welcome! To answer your questions in reverse order...


"First the book, then the coins" is always an excellent philosophy with this hobby. I would second what roots said about the Krause catalogues; if you were going after the coins of just one or two countries, I'd recommend getting the specialist books for those countries (eg. Spink for British, Schon for German, Renniks for Australian, etc) but it rather sounds to me like you want to "collect them all". So the Krauses are the way to go. It also comes in DVD format, which is much cheaper. They also have online database access at Numismaster - you need to register to look at their database, and pay subscriptions if you want mintages and catalogue values. Personally, I find the books the best.


"Spanish pillar dollars" are fairly cheap and readily available, especially in America; a worn, battered example could be bought for bullion value, a nicer example can cost up to $200 or more.

"Austrian thaler" is a little vague; Austria has issued thalers for several hundred years. If you're referring to the joachimsthaler, the 16th century precursor to the dollar, these typically sell for at least several hundred dollars (the one in the link sold for several thousand). At the other extreme, restrike Maria Theresa thalers can be bought for bullion value.

"British silver coins" is also somewhat vague; silver coins in Britain go all the way back to before the Roman invasion. Mediaeval hammered silver pennies are a popular (though somewhat pricey) series, while the silver coinage of Victorian times has to be amongst the most beautiful and artistically elaborate of all modern coinage. I'd strongly suggest buying or borrowing a copy of Spink or another specialist British catalogue (the Krause catalogues only go back to 1601) to see for yourself the immense variety possible in collecting British silver coins.


That depends entirely on (a) what you want to collect, and (b) how much you're prepared to spend. It also depends to some extent on what your "local conditions" are like. If you happen to live in a big city with dozens of world coin dealers within easy transport range, you can shop around, compare prices, and build a good dealer-customer relationship with the best ones. If you're out in the boondocks, you're pretty much limited to Internet shopping, with all the pros and cons that entails.

As far as fakes are concerned, this also depends on what you're collecting. Spanish silver dollars are certainly a very popular coin for counterfeiters, and have been ever since they were made; we've even got some forum members who collect them and have become quite expert at spotting them. I'd only buy a Spanish dollar (especially a pricier one) from a dealer that was very familiar with this series. British coins, on the other hand, are much less commonly faked.

If you have any other questions about world coins, or particular coins or dealers that are of interest to you, please ask right here on the forum.

Many Thanks for the detailed responses, Bill

Here's a great deal on the Krause world coins books:
http://www.exactchange.info/Krause.htm

The books have been converted into .pdf (Adobe Acrobat reader required, free download) and come on three DVDs, for $25. You can barely get the 2001-present book for that. I loaded the books onto my hard drive and I think that it's faster looking things up this way than it is thumbing through a big phone-book sized catalog, and you can enlarge the images which can be a big help.
you can also print off pages (or the whole thing...if you really feel strongly about it) that are the ones you need.

As you've probably already heard on here, the prices Krause assigns are usually off, sometimes quite a bit, so don't place a lot of faith in the "book value". Market value is best gleaned from auction prices realized.

Yeah, I tried the whole while the wife was talking thing