What I've Got

One thing come to mind...

The Spanish coins: these coins actually have two dates on them. The main, easily-readable date is the die-date, basically the year the coin design was authorised. On the 1 peseta coins of Franco, the actual date of mintage is hidden, written inside the stars on either side of the word "UNA". Even folks with good eyesight usually need a good magnifier to read numbers that tiny!

Now that Spain is using the euro, this bizarre and unique method for dating coins has become extinct.

World coins are a lot of fun to collect. You can get addicted, so be careful. LOL

1. 1943 cinco centavos (which country?)
2. 1970 cincuenta centavos (which country?)
3. 1981 Ecuador un sucre (Mintage: 70,000,000. Metal: Nickel Clad Steel)
4. 1953,1966 Spain una peseta (If I have the right coins. Metal: Aluminum-Bronze)
The coin dated 1953 was actually minted between1954 to 1967
The coin dated 1966 was actually minted between1968 to 1975
5. 1973 Rep.Columbia V centavos (5 Centavos. Mintage: 10,525,000. Metal: Bronze)
6. 1974 Chile 100 (100 Escudos. Mintage: 32,100,000)
7. 1976 Brasil 10 centavos (Metal: stainless steel)
8. 1971 Hungary 10 forint (Mintage: 24,998,000. Metal: Nickel)
9. 1978 Ireland eire (erie is Ireland, does the coin have a 1P or 2P, as in one penny or two pence?)
10. 1970 Finland 10 pennia (Mintage: 3,996,000. Metal: Aluminum-Bronze)
11. 1963 France 20 centimes (Mintage: 190,330,000. Metal: Aluminum-Bronze)
12. 1970 Belgium 1 franc ((Mintage: 35,730,000. Metal: copper-Nickel)
13. 1973 Sweden 5 ore (Mintage: 193,038,000. Metal: Bronze) This design only made in 1972 & 1973.
14. 1971 Austria 1 schilling (Mintage: 27,974,000. Metal: Aluminum-Bronze)
15. 1982 Austria 50 groschen (Mintage: 9,950,000. Metal: Aluminum-Bronze)
16. 1954 Italy 5 lire (Mintage: 436,400,000. Metal: Aluminum)
17. 1957 Italy 100 lire (Mintage: 90,600,000. Metal: stainless steel)

LOL, I've have no great insight, but I do have a Krause catalog of world coins. Lots of information and pictures in the catalogs.

The 1978 Ireland 5P (5 pence) has a mintage of 28,536,000 and is made of Copper nickel.

The Mexican 1943 cinco (5) centavos had a mintage of 54,660,000 and is made of Bronze. It's value is about 40 cents in very fine condition. Now if it were the same design in 1942 with a 900,000 mintage it would of been worth $20 in the same condition. World coins can be a treasure hunt.
The Mexican 1970 cincuenta (50) centavos had a mintage of 76,236,000 and is copper nickel. A very pretty design that one!

The Sweden 5 ore is not rare, but if anyone was collecting a full type set of Swedish coins thay would need this design. They have a book value of 10 cents in XF condition.


I went shoping at my local coin store a couple days ago and after scratching through their coin boxes for a couple hours, bought 143 coins for $21. They are what I call my "junk coin" collection because they aren't worth anything but I find them so interesting.

I like old coins (before 1900) in any condition, so out of those coins, were just over a hundred old coins in About Good to Good condition. Some with holes, damaged, corrosion, and some so worn it's hard to even tell what coin they are. They are mainly English coins, but a few French and an Italian or two and some unknown. Figuring what they are is half the fun. The oldest one is dated 1724...I just have to figure out what it is. LOL.

The remaining coins were more modern and from all over the world, Including 9 USA 1 cent coins. 1911, 28s, 29, 30s, 35s, 36s, 37s, 40s,40d. Since many USA soldiers were here in Australia during WWII, I've noticed that I find more S mint marks here.