The "Look and Feel" of Collectible Coins
Collecting challenge: Find a nice example of each of the 14 coin genres.
Rare coins combine history, art and precious metal -- a tantalizing combination that satisfies the collecting urge in young and old alike. Over the years, coin collecting has naturally divided itself into six broad areas of interest: United States Coins, World Coins, Ancient & Medieval Coins, Modern Coins, Varieties & Errors, and Exonumia.
DEFINING THE 14 COIN GENRES
Within these six broad areas there are a total of 14 coin genres, that is, 14 different categories illustrating the overall appearance and artistic style of collectible coins.
Some collectors become uncomfortable when they wander outside the limits of one particular genre. That’s a mistake. Get to know the different genres and, if you are up to it, try assembling a small collection with one nice coin from each genre. Who knows? Your new genre collection may spark new collecting passion, and that is always a good thing.
A full genre collection contains only 14 coins. How hard could it be?
US Coins have dominated collecting for a long time. There are numerous books and periodicals dedicated to the subject, tens of thousands of coin dealers worldwide, a large base of hobbyists and investors, and an active, well-tracked, open market. All US coins have the same overall “look and feel,” so US Coins make up a single genre.
World Coins, that is, collectible coins from every country except the United States, are growing in value and popularity as modern transportation and communication shrink the planet. World Coins fill the next big area of collecting, with sure growth potential expected for years to come. In the discussion which follows, we divide World Coins into six separate genres based on their overall “look and feel.” This is something new. Until now, World Coins have been specified only by their country (or empire) of origin. Now we add six easy-to-define genres to better organize World Coin collecting.
Lesser areas of coin collecting include Varieties & Errors and Exonumia. Variety & Error collectors specialize in subtle and not-so-subtle minting variations in normal coins. Exonumia concentrates on tokens and medals that look like coins but are not legal tender used in commerce.
Post-World War II (1948) Modern Coins are collected by many enthusiasts who enjoy their intrinsic beauty and value. Today's minting technology can create breathtaking artistry on coins, and many moderns come in gold, silver, palladium, and platinum bullion, making them precious collectibles and investment vehicles. As a caution, don’t buy Modern Coins thinking they will become wildly valuable in the future. More often than not, the value of modern coins never comes close to what your paid for them.
From a coin collecting point of view, time runs from the earliest known coins, dating about 600 BC, and proceeds through Greek, Roman, Byzantine, English, Islamic, European, Indian, and Chinese civilizations. Ancient Coins start with electrum, a naturally occurring alloy of gold and silver, and continue through the Fall of Rome. After that, Medieval Coins continue through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, to about 1600 AD, a point that most collectors draw the line between Medieval Coins and World Coins. Sometimes Medieval Coins are called “Early Coins.”
Summarizing so far, we have identified 8 of the 14 coin genres. United States coins all have similar “look and feel” and therefore encompass one coin genre. Ancient and Medieval coins naturally break into their two genres at 476 AD, the time of the Fall of the Western Roman Empire. Modern coins are one genre, and Varieties and Errors have, well, two genres: varieties and errors. Finally, Exonumia has two genres: tokens and medals.
GENRES OF WORLD COINS
For World Coins, we have separated them along civilization lines because there are marked differences in “look and feel” for each major civilization. Taking guidance from Samuel Huntington's Clash of Civilizations, world coins naturally separate into 6 genres by geographic regions, as shown in the map below.
Different colors identify different genres in the map. The large area of blue color represents the strong European influence in world history due to colonization policies of a few western European nations. Other countries in central Europe did not colonize as much as their western counterparts, so the red European area is significantly smaller than the blue area. Interestingly, the red countries produced far more types of coins than the blue countries, so in coin catalogs there are more pages of coins from red countries compared to blue countries.
GUIDE FOR BUILDING YOUR OWN GENRE COLLECTION
Below you will find illustrations of the 14 coin genres. Use these illustrations to guide your genre collection. Can you find one nice example in each genre?
To use the guide below, consider first the pictures of coins shown on this page. This will give you the “look and feel” for each genre.
Then, press the illustration to see hundreds of examples of individual coin types. You can choose one or more of these for tailoring your genre collecting objectives. When you choose one of the individual types, you will get historical background and approximate catalog value.
Happy collecting!
Genre 1: United States, including coins of early British colonies.
Genre 2: World Coins, Central Europe North and South, including Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Sweden, Hungary, Poland, Norway, Belgium and many more countries.
Genre 3: World Coins, European Colonizers and Their Colonies, including France, Mexico, Great Britain, Spain, Brazil, Netherlands, Australia, Peru, Colombia, Portugal, Denmark, Argentina and many more countries.
Genre 4: World Coins, Islamic, Hindu, Buddhist, representing countries tied to these great world religions, including India, Iran, Afghanistan, Turkey, Nepal, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Philippines, Thailand, Libya and many more countries.
Genre 5: World Coins, The Sinosphere, including China, Korea, Vietnam, Japan and a few more countries. Their characteristic “logograms” or “Chinese writing” is hard to miss.
Genre 6: World Coins, Orthodox and Slavic, including Russia, Transylvania, Greece, Georgia, Romania, Bulgaria, Finland, Albania, and several more countries. Cyrillic script appears on most of these coins.
Genre 7: World Coins, Core African (CA), including Ethiopia, Liberia, Congo, Gabon and Burundi.
Genre 8: Ancient, before about 476 AD, from Greek, Roman, and early Byzantine Empires, biblical coins, and similar.
Genre 9: Medieval, 476 AD to 1600 AD, including coins from the Crusades, England, France, Germany and other countries. Note that the term “medieval” implies Europe. European coins from this time period are usually classified by country, e.g., medieval Spain. Non-European coins from this time period are often classified with adjectives “early” or “ancient,” e.g., early China or ancient India.
Genre 10: Modern and Modern-only, after 1948 from all countries worldwide, including legal tender coins issued for business or bullion investment in gold, silver, palladium, and platinum. Many of countries have only recently started minting coinage. These are the “modern-only” countries.
Genre 11: Die Varieties, including doubled dies, re-punched mint marks, missing device features, VAMs, small and large lettering, and many more subtle variations from normal coins. You generally need a good magnifier to see the features of Die Varieties.
Genre12: Minting Errors, including broadstrikes, brockages, die caps, experimental strikes, hub and die trials, mules, off-center strikes, fragments, wrong planchet, and several additional variations. To be valuable, coins with Minting Errors must be produced at the mint. Variations that occur after coins leave the mint are called “post mint damage” and are worth zero or, if the coin is made of precious metal, the base value of the metal. You don’t need a magnifier to detect Error coins. They usually knock your socks off!
Genre 13: Tokens, coin-like objects used primarily in commerce, including tax tokens, game tokens, notgeld, jetons, and many other types.
Genre 14: Medals, including award medals, war medals, political medallions, art medals, and other types made of precious or non-precious metal.
We hope you find genre collecting of interest. We also hope that it opens your numismatic experience to something new, exciting and different. Here are a few related articles. Can you identify the specific genres?