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respiridus
Deputy
Joined: 26 Oct 2005
Posts: 1965
Location: Pera Orinis, Nicosia, Cyprus
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My father used to "collect" coins in his youth. I'm using quotes, because all he really did was find the suckers and throw them in his office drawer. To make a long story short, I found this "collection" a couple of days ago while searching the sende. Essentially, there are 5 jars full of coins: Cyprus coins, but also European, Arabic, even coins from as far away as Japan and Hong Kong. Mostly 19th and 20th century, but also a few older ones, and a couple of ancient ones. Not what you or I would call a treasure, of course: My limited knowledge in numismatics tells me that most are worth between 1 cent and 1 pound, with maybe 5 or 10 in the 10-30 pound range.
Then I had an idea: How about cataloging and placing them in albums? It would provide a nice history/geography lesson and also help restore a family artifact. Problem is, the Internet doesn't help much for such a job, because it's riddled with commercial sites that offer virtually no valuable information for free.
However, I managed to find out this community-built database (with photos):
http://www.omnicoin.com/default.aspx
Also, this book looks like a good introduction:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0307480089/qid=1137346727/sr=2-3/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_3/103-2899231-7007818?s=books&v=glance&n=283155
Is anybody here interested in such things? Or someone who can help?
TIA |
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Crash Test Dummy
Warnings : 3
Ministerial
Joined: 25 Sep 2005
Posts: 4911
Location: London(ish)
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| will give you 20 GBP for the lot |
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respiridus
Deputy
Joined: 26 Oct 2005
Posts: 1965
Location: Pera Orinis, Nicosia, Cyprus
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| Crash Test Dummy wrote: |
| will give you 20 GBP for the lot |
Not enough even for a brief visit to Soutsou str.  |
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Dhavlos
Warnings : 1
Site Admin
Joined: 13 Aug 2005
Posts: 4697
Location: Birmingham
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lol.....why not split up the coins into their different countries, then split them further by their dates...instant collection 
btw...some of the more 'ancient' coins could actually be worth something?! |
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Crash Test Dummy
Warnings : 3
Ministerial
Joined: 25 Sep 2005
Posts: 4911
Location: London(ish)
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| Dhavlos wrote: |
lol.....why not split up the coins into their different countries, then split them further by their dates...instant collection
btw...some of the more 'ancient' coins could actually be worth something?! |
thanks dhav. i could of had the whole lot for 30 quid |
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respiridus
Deputy
Joined: 26 Oct 2005
Posts: 1965
Location: Pera Orinis, Nicosia, Cyprus
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| Dhavlos wrote: |
lol.....why not split up the coins into their different countries, then split them further by their dates...instant collection
btw...some of the more 'ancient' coins could actually be worth something?! |
The only ancient ones are 3-4 Roman/Byzantine, and not in very good condition. From what I've heard/read, they can go between 5 to 30 pounds each. So, if someone is planning to rob my house, you better go for the stereo. 
What I'm planning to do, is actually create a database with the following data for each coin:
1. Serial number.
2. Country.
3. Date.
4. Value.
5. Comments.
Then, I plan to put them in albums (there are specially designed albums for coins), arranged by serial number. |
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Dhavlos
Warnings : 1
Site Admin
Joined: 13 Aug 2005
Posts: 4697
Location: Birmingham
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| wow, respy....your living up to the 'geeky ' image...first your a computer designer thingy now your organising your coin collection, lol |
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respiridus
Deputy
Joined: 26 Oct 2005
Posts: 1965
Location: Pera Orinis, Nicosia, Cyprus
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| Dhavlos wrote: |
| wow, respy....your living up to the 'geeky ' image...first your a computer designer thingy now your organising your coin collection, lol |
Well, let me answer that: I...^X^X^X
Segmentation fault. Core dumped.
Init: Critical service down - restarting...
Init: Cannot restart service: Bus Error.
Kernel panick: Cannot read inode 245673 on /dev/sda2.
System halted. Press any key to reboot.
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Dhavlos
Warnings : 1
Site Admin
Joined: 13 Aug 2005
Posts: 4697
Location: Birmingham
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| well, im sure if i understood, it would be hilarious |
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respiridus
Deputy
Joined: 26 Oct 2005
Posts: 1965
Location: Pera Orinis, Nicosia, Cyprus
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| Dhavlos wrote: |
| well, im sure if i understood, it would be hilarious |
Explanation: Trying to refute the fact that I'm geeky, there was a malfunction in the computer bus that is my brain, bringing the entire system down. |
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thebrix
Mukhtar/is
Joined: 19 Aug 2005
Posts: 526
Location: London, United Kingdom
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| respiridus wrote: |
| Then I had an idea: How about cataloging and placing them in albums? It would provide a nice history/geography lesson and also help restore a family artifact. Problem is, the Internet doesn't help much for such a job, because it's riddled with commercial sites that offer virtually no valuable information for free. |
Join the club - stamps have the same problem 
Certainly, the book you refer to looks good. The ".... for Dummies" series is also well worth looking at; despite the silly titles the contents are often excellent.
The next problem (after identifying the coins, and their value) is to put them into something rather better than a big jar; Centerville Coin & Jewellry Connection should give you a host of ideas.
I recommend that you only put the reasonably valuable coins into dedicated albums or boxes; anything below can be put into coin envelopes and stored in a cardboard box. (I did this sort of triage, also giving away the less good parts of my stamp collection and concentrating on those which were better).
Coin and stamp collecting often seem a bit old-fashioned, but a well-arranged collection is fascinating and an investment as well.
Alastair
PS Krause is the standard for coin catalogues, just as Stanley Gibbons is for stamp catalogues. |
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respiridus
Deputy
Joined: 26 Oct 2005
Posts: 1965
Location: Pera Orinis, Nicosia, Cyprus
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Thank you for the info, re.
I was thinking about using albums for most/all of them, but I've heard that vinyl albums can cause some damage, and that are special mylar ones that are much better for the purpose. Do you know anything about this? |
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Bullika
Warnings : 1
Ministerial
Joined: 29 Sep 2005
Posts: 3025
Location: World
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| i too collect coins respi and banknotes. i have a 1 livre (domains nationaux) note with louis the 14th (i think) head on it, 1792. |
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thebrix
Mukhtar/is
Joined: 19 Aug 2005
Posts: 526
Location: London, United Kingdom
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| respiridus wrote: |
Thank you for the info, re.
I was thinking about using albums for most/all of them, but I've heard that vinyl albums can cause some damage, and that are special mylar ones that are much better for the purpose. Do you know anything about this? |
Yes. Mylar is much harder and more chemically stable than vinyl; the chemicals in the second can "migrate" to whatever is touching it.
(There have been similar problems in the past with stamp albums).
Alastair |
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respiridus
Deputy
Joined: 26 Oct 2005
Posts: 1965
Location: Pera Orinis, Nicosia, Cyprus
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Thanks.
Anyone knows where one can buy mylar albums for coins?
Please don't say Solonion: They have everything paper-related, but at prices 10x of others. I once bought an organizer for 30 pounds from them. |
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