Simplicity is not the best policy when it comes to coin collecting
. Oftentimes it is the rareness, the history, or the mother country of the coins that collectors value most.
Here is a wide array of the variety of coins that "coinophiles" are obsessed with:
National Coins: Patriotism in Coins
Usually, national coin collectors are interested in collecting their own country's coins. It is common practice for collectors of national coins to get a representative coin from each date and mint marks for each coin series. Various national coin collectors combine a unique variation of series, date and mint marks.
Error Coins: It's OK to be Not-So-OK
One of the modern types of coin collecting is known as error coin collecting. Errors became possible when the production of coins was automated during the nineteenth century. Collectors of historic coins are fine with error coins because they like the uniqueness or error coins. Even modern day coin collector falls in love with error coins because they are assured that the modern processes promise that they are unique. The characteristics or coin errors include the following:
- dies that are doubled
- mint marks that are repunched
- over-dated
- double strikes
- coins that are "off" metal
- coins that are displaced or off center
- coins that are clipped
- one coin with different nominations on two sides a.k.a. mules
World Coins: Hobby of Kings. of the World
Collecting world coins is about gathering those modern coins from all the countries of the world. Geographically-challenged individuals will have a hard time participating in this kind of coin collecting. If you would like to be a collector of world coins, you must be prepared to spend a considerable amount of money if you would want to have an extensive collection - being a "jetsetter" might be required. World coin collectors often acquire representative coins from each country or from authorities that issue coins. There are also world coin collectors that collect by subject such as those coins that feature animals.
Historical Coins: The Value of the Past
Collectors of historic coins find value in mints that are from medieval or ancient times. The most popular of these historic coins include the following:
- Byzantine
- Celtic
- Greek
- Indian
- Israelite
- Merovingian
- Ostrogothic
There are other ancient coin specialties but it really depends on the preferences of the collectors. The popular way is to collect the coins that were minted during the reign of a certain emperor or king.