Pounds Of Foreign Coins

Welcome to the CFF, Bankman! A pound of coins is really not that many. And I would expect that these are common well-circulated recent ones. Better to concentrate on one country.

I think it's cool to do a pound mix for a young person. They can learn a lot through the coins about different countries, how to id coins, etc.

"Mission mix" poundage is one way to quickly acquire a large amount of cheap world coins, though in poundage you will inevitably obtain duplicates. Whether having lots of duplicates bothers you or not, depends on you. Many coin dealers have a "scratch tray" of cheap world coins, that allow you to fish through and pick out the ones you like. This is less random and less duplication-prone than buying bulk lots, but each coin is slightly more expensive this way.

As for suggestions on focus, you've got lots of options. Including "not having a focus at all" - it's perfectly OK to collect whatever you like, without putting limits or restrictions upon what you collect. But, some people thrive better with clear defined limits and goals to "complete a set". Whatever fits your personality better. There's no "wrong way to collect coins".

Does your family have heritage in a particular part of the world outside of the US? A link to "family history" can be interesting and educational. My family comes from Poland, way way back; besides owning Polish coins, I even own a coin issued by King John Sobieski of Poland, back in the 1600s - not a direct ancestor, but a distant relative of mine, according to my mum (who's into genealogy). Or you can focus on countries and coins that have a historic link to the US (such as the Philippines).

Have you or your family ever been overseas, for holiday, business or other reasons? If so, you've probably got a jar of coins left over from your trips (since there wouldn't have been any way of cashing them in for US currency once you arrived back home) - that's an "instant world coin collection starter kit" with a personal connection.

Thematic collections are popular. Trains, birds, architecture, cats... whatever topic might appeal, you can find them on coins.

"One from every country" is a popular collecting goal for world coin collectors - and you're free to define "country" however you wish, and set whatever date limits you might want to set as well. Having limits here is perhaps advisable, as there have been tens of thousands of "countries" that have issued coins over the past 2500 years; most of those countries no longer exist, and in some cases the only evidence we have today for those countries existing is the coins they left behind.

Collecting coins from "the year you were born" can be interesting, but challenging - not every country issues coins every year, so finding out which countries did, and which didn't can take some research. You might also need to dive into understanding foreign calendars, and foreign writing systems so you can read the numbers in the date - not all countries use the AD calendar to write the date on their coins. For example, right now this year is AD 2023, but in Islamic countries, it's AH 1445, while in Buddhist Thailand, it's BE 2566, and in Israel it's AM 5783, while in Japan it's the 5th year of the Reiwa Emperor. Collecting different, obscure calendars which were used to write the dates on coins is a collecting interest of mine (as you can probably tell).

Great answers and suggestions!! Keep them coming!!! I will share them with my son and he will be happy to see the community that exists to help us with our interests and education.

Take the child to another coin show. Many of them have a children area to generate interest in young people for the hobby and often that involves free coins. Many dealers will give youngsters something interesting as well.

Back in ancient times, when I was a child, Littleton advertised a lot of coins via mail order for a dime to get customers started on their subscription program. The coins generally were fairly high quality even if a bit over priced. Bulk buys at coins shows can be fun and, in my opinion, better value than buying pounds on ebay merely because of the unknows associated with ebay purchases. Don't get me wrong, you can get similar results on ebay as you would at a coin show, but you just can't beat the experience of going to a show.

to the Community!