Coin Collecting Information

Nicholas Tan asked:


A special machine does the stamping of coins to make them genuine. People who counterfeit coins are well trained and have the capacity to manipulate their duplication - especially those rare coins which have high value among collectors. The most common procedure used in counterfeiting is that they pour a liquid metal into molds that will leave die marks with cracking on the counterfeit coin.

Those who are experts in determining counterfeit coins have observed that the changes seen in the coins have added, removed, or even altered the coin’s date markings. If a person thinks that he is in possession of a counterfeit collectible coin, he can compare it with another coin – one like the suspect coin – which is known be genuine and have the same markings.

If the coin’s value is more than 5 cents, look for corrugations in the outer edges of the coin. These are very thin railings (also know as “reeding”) on the edges of the coins. Genuine coins have very thin edges and the railings are even and distinct if one is very observant. Those coins that are counterfeit can be distinguished if the edges are not thin enough and the railing is uneven or missing in some areas.

Should there be an instance when a person perceives that he has received a counterfeit coin, he must not return the counterfeit coin to the person that handed him. He must try to delay the person – should he try to escape – or try to keep that person in sight and follow him to his destination if possible. It is important to remember the person’s clothes and physical appearance and if the person has any companion during the exchange: if they have a vehicle, get the car’s license plate number and immediately call the nearest police department or the United States Secret Service for help.

There are many things that can be considered to determine whether the coin is counterfeit or not. There are terms that are used to describe a counterfeit coin’s characteristics and they are as follows:

1. A restrike of a coin can be considered to be genuinely authenticated. These coins are actually dated earlier than those originally issued by the country that released them but have the same or exact features as the original coins.

2. Coins of a specific country in the ancient times are sometimes copied by another country. A person may think that it is forgery, but it is not because they had been legally approved in the country where they originated.

3. Forgery can be associated with the making of an illegal profit. It would be the main objective of the counterfeiting syndicate. The government sometimes uses forgery for political propaganda, as in the Second World War when Germans produced millions of American and British banknotes with the intention of profiting from them and destabilizing their enemy’s economic situation.

4. Another known type of counterfeit coins is replica coins. Replica simply means that the original coins are copied with the same features and markings. The usual counterfeit coins have differences that are noticeable when examined by coin experts. Some coins have the word “copy” intentionally put on the sides of the coins and these replicas are used for educational purposes and museum displays.

5. A Lebanese connection is said to have a huge production of counterfeit coins. These coins were found to be used in an attempt to fool many museums, collectors, business leaders and other countries that are searching for their ancient lost coins before the discovery of this syndicate.

6. The collector intended forgery and the circulated intended forgery are types of forgeries where the coins are intended to be tokens yet the face values are accepted, despite of their illegality and irrelevant intrusive values.

It is important to consult an expert to determine if the coin is counterfeit or fake. An ordinary person can easily detect if the wrong metal was used for the counterfeiting. If the person is a collector of such items, he should be more aware of these coins. A collector needs to be more concerned with the collectible rare coins because this is where counterfeiters benefit frequently - their aim is to profit from the exclusive market for valuable coins.

Cindy Heller asked:


According to history, Egyptian King Farouk and Roman emperors were among the first coin collectors. They collected a large number of coins in their palaces and castles. Over the years, the concept of coin collecting has changed and common people have become coin collectors. In fact, the competition between these collectors is quite fierce and this makes the price of rare coins always increase. A single coin can hundreds of thousand and even millions of dollar, which shows that coin collectors will do anything necessary to get the coin that they want.

Coin collecting themes

Some coin collectors are generalists, which mean that they collect bits of everything, but others are very specific and this creates coin collecting themes. The country theme is one of the common ones. The purpose of this theme usually is to collect coins from as many countries as possible. Traveling has become easier nowadays and thus it is easier to collect coins from different countries. Internet and online friend network can also be used to get foreign coins.

A year theme is fairly common as well where coin collectors used the year when the coin was minted as the basis of their collection theme. A variation of this theme is to collect a coin denomination from the first to the last model. When collectors complete all models from a coin denomination, they will continue with other denominations. This theme is closely related with period theme where the basis of the collection is the period when the coin was minted. Common period collections are collecting coins from Victorian era and Greek period.

Prior to the 19th century, coins were hand minted and it was pretty common for coins to have errors. Today, these errors have become one of coin collecting themes as well. Another coin collection theme is mintmark differences between coins. Mintmarks that are rare and difficult to produce will have higher value than the common ones.

Subject, for example like a figure of animals on the coin, can become a coin collecting theme as well. Composition or the type of metals that a coin was made from is another common theme. You will find that it is common for a coin to have two or even three metals combined.

Whatever the theme is, many coin collectors like to compete between each other because they want to outdo their compatriots. They brag when they have completed a rare set of coins that is available nowhere. This situation has made coin collecting a fascinating and an expensive hobby.