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back in the 2010s I was educating myself on personal finance. this led me to gold and silver and the concept of a store of value. I'd go to antique markets and search for gold and silver at below spot prices, often finding tremendous bargains!
While hunting the antique stalls, I was drawn to antique coins (numismatics) and began buying those too. There are some wonderful pieces of history out there, often surprising prices. For example it's quite possible to buy coins that are many thousands of years old for just a few dollars.
Every coin is unique and tells a story from times long passed. For example:
Roman coins would spread far and wide across the empire often keeping the remote provinces in the know on the latest fashion and hairstyles that were in vogue in the capital.
Coinage has been used as propaganda throughout the ages. For example, the Nazi's used the coins they issued as a powerful propaganda tool. Yet, they were not the first to do so, nor will they be the last.
And of course, coins tell an economic and a political story.
Change in silver content of Roman denarii over time due to debasement.
They also record the technical and artistic capabilities of the society that create them.
Hammered coins were made by hand by hitting two dies together with a hammer. Here's a wonderful example of an 800 year old hammered British silver coin. The story goes that they are embossed with a cross so that they can easily be cut into halves or quarters when smaller change is needed.
The first milled coins came about around 400 years ago and were produced in large quantities from the mid 17th century onwards. Machine-made, they are more precise in definition and uniformity.
In the sixteenth and seventh century Britain started producing coins with reeded edges, this was a technical feat and helped to prevent counter-fitting and coin clipping - a practice where a small piece of the edge of the a gold or silver coin is sheered off.
Another exciting thing about collecting coins, is that you never stop learning. I've been buying, selling and collecting coins for over 10 years now, but I still regularly come across items that I've never seen or even heard of before.
Anyway, enough about coins for now. Do you collect anything? Maybe you also collect coins? Or maybe fiat bank-notes? Or do you collect other items? Perhaps it's Pokemon or Baseball cards? Or antiques? Or retro video-games / vintage records? If so, I'd love to hear your story. How did you first start collecting? How has your collection performed as an investment? And how do you benefit in non-tangible ways from your collection?
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๐Ÿƒ๐ŸƒWe are migrants and we have been away from our country for almost 10 years!! My brother has a small collection of bills or coins that range from Bolivars that are from where we come from... also Colombian pesos from passing through that country... he has dollars in coins from Ecuador... Soles from the city of Lima, Peru and now in Chile, Chilean pesos... currently we have the idea of getting currency from Brazil and currency from Bolivia and thus grow this small collection... he does not have children yet but he has told me that he will save this for if one day we return to our country, it will be for his children and of course to tell them the travel stories๐Ÿƒ๐Ÿƒ๐Ÿƒ๐Ÿƒ
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A fellow traveler! I too discovered ancient coins around 10 or 15 years ago. I also started by finding below market gold and silver. Maybe we can set up a little SN ancient coin daily post.
I'm a big Augustus fan. Here's one from my collection:
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I too discovered ancient coins around 10 or 15 years ago. I also started by finding below market gold and silver.
You mean you... found physical ancient coins and their silver weight is worth more than the market value for these coins? Really? That seems like a very odd market inefficiency.
Have you used a metal spectroscopy device on it?
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I never got scientific. In my case, I would haunt gold and silver shops and pawn shops for years. Those guys know what they are doing, and I never found something priced wrong. When I started looking at ancient collectables, I would find dealers where the numismatic value would almost be at the price of bullion. This happens, or used to happen, sometimes with St Gaudens double eagles priced the same as a bullion eagle. I also recalled that happening with gold 40 franc Napoleons.
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there are lots of coins and medals minted in the modern period that, with a little patience and practice, can be acquired for below spot.
for ancient coins it can happen too, but it's much less common
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How cool that we share a similar story and interest in this subject. I'm all ears for setting up something regular on SN. There are so many things that we could find to talk about on the subject, maybe it could even lead to a territory one day!
p.s. it's a really nice coin, did you photograph it yourself?
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Sounds great. No, my photography skills are terrible. Whenever I buy a coin I save and download the catalogue photo and description. Lazy man collecting!
I am considering downsizing my collection, and would really like to somehow sell coins for bitcoin. I don't know where or how yet.
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Sounds smart, not lazy ๐Ÿ˜
I was thinking of picking a few coins that have an interesting history behind them and doing a little research and write up on them for SN.
For the first write-up I'd probably choose the French Sol coins from the Constitutional Monarchy (1791-1792) - minted around the time of the French revolution, a time of turmoil and hastily issued currency.
Would you like to work on this together, or shall we choose a coin each and prepare our own write-up?
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100 sats \ 9 replies \ @siggy47 4 Nov
I'm traveling this month, so maybe you should take the lead at first. I will chime in, of course. There are many history buffs here who would enjoy this. @TomK comes to mind.
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Here's the writeup! #758631
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Terrific! I'm travelling today and will save it for the trip.
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nice, sounds good! the article turned into a bit of a behemoth haha i think I'll keep next week's one a bit shorter. where are you travelling?
sounds good to me, keep an eye out for the next post in the coming days ๐Ÿ‘
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"I've also been fascinated by collecting, though Iโ€™m drawn to [insert type of collectible here, like paper currency, stamps, or unique historical artifacts]. One piece that stands out for me is [describe a memorable item or an interesting historical tidbit about it]. Iโ€™ve often wondered how others choose their piecesโ€”are you more drawn to rarity, historical significance, or aesthetics?
Anyone else collect items with unique stories? Iโ€™d love to hear about the gems in your collection and what got you started!"
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