Ah, money. 🙂
Cash, loot, bread, shekels, scratch, dinero, moolah … money. Who doesn’t like money? Yes, I know the saying about “the love of money is the root of all evil” and all that. But I must repeat … who doesn’t like money? For all kinds of reasons.
Speaking of the “root” of all evil … I was “rooting” around in my closet yesterday and came across two small bags of old coins that I had forgotten about. One of the bags held coins that my dad had collected over the years (he was born in 1898). The other bag held coins that my very good friend, Mae, had collected over the years (she was born in 1928 and had lived in Germany for a few years right after WWII). I’d been meaning to research the value of these coins for many years. Now’s the time!
Here are the piles of coins from today’s work, separated into country of origin. Most of these coins are from the early to mid 1900’s, some from the 1800’s.
The photos may be deceiving. Some of those piles (Denmark, France, Bahamas, the Philippines, Mexico, etc) were so tall that they wobbled and threatened to topple over. I had to separate Canada and England into two piles each.
With the coins now separated by country, I’ll next make a list by year and denomination of each coin within each country.
I could sell all of these coins on Ebay, or I could take them to a place that buys old coins. I do know one reputable business that buys coins like this, though they would of course give me a fraction of what the coins would be worth on the open market.
So no, I’m not going to make a fortune off of these coins, but I’m having fun. My friend Mae told me about many of her adventures outside the USA. I too have lived and traveled extensively outside the USA (mostly as a child with my parents). It’s fun to remember and to dream of new destinations.
Of the coins I have that I have researched so far, the oldest USA coin is dated 1851 and is worth about $6 according to what’s for sale on Ebay. One can’t trust Ebay prices necessarily, but it’s a good starting point. There’s one German coin from 1920. The one coin from Turkey is 1991 and is apparently worth around $4 USD. Canadian coins include some from 1910 and the late 1800’s, long before Canada was Canada, and yet they say “Canada” on them (I can see more research about the history of Canada coming in the near future). The one Hawaiian coin is dated 1833!
Some of the most interesting coins, I thought, were the Australian coins. Here are images below that I borrowed from the internet of the backs of the four denominations of coins that I have.
So … now I’m a pneumat… ah, a numasmer… hmm, a neumister….. let’s just say I’m a coin collector! 🙂 This will be a fun winter hobby while the travel trailer rests up over the cold winter months.
[The real word for a person who is a coin collector is numismatist.]
Update: Today, in that same closet where I found those coins yesterday … today, I found an envelope stuffed with mostly uncirculated paper money from several countries from the 1960’s through the 1990’s, although there are a few Canadian bank notes that date back to 1900. This paper money will wait for another day for its research.
What do you collect? Tell me about it. I’d love to know. Do tell!