Coins - Starting to collect

barneysplash

Hello all

I have recently started to collect coins.

I have to admit, it's great fun digging through piles of coins
in the George's Street Arcade in Dublin or at a car boot sale.

I am looking for some pointers:

Where to get coins in Dublin?

Good Websites?

How to identifity unknown coins?

Thanks

Blade

Coins are generally much cheaper on ebay than in shops with the exception of you finding a valuable one that a dealer isn't aware of. This is more likely to happen with foreign coins as the dealers here tend to specialise in Irish. However even Irish coins/tokens/medals have such a vast variety of types that each dealer will have certain areas that he's more knowledgeable on than others. So it's still possible to bag an Irish bargain from under their nose. But you really want to know your stuff.

While some coins sell on ebay for crazy money I still recommend you look there and start educating yourself to values, grades and identification. It's a very vast subject and not something you can get a short answer to here. If it's general world coins you want to identify you can get all the info you need from the Krause catalogs of world coins. If it's a specific country you'll want specialised books for that country. Even just for Irish coins, I have dozens of books and magazines, just so you can understand how vast these subjects can be. You can of course always try Google by entering as much of the writing you see on the coin to get more info. But this is difficult if the writing isn't in our alphabet

I would advise on sticking to a particular type of coin or country as I think it's more satisfying to get complete sets rather than having random coins from all over the world with no particular order. Personally I collect Irish, Roman and Euros and also full year sets of random countries when I find them cheap.

barneysplash

Thanks for the reply, Blade

To be honest, I seem to be happiest digging through a big pile of
random coins looking for unusual ones from anywhere, and then
learning about the story of the coin.

Complete sets are very cool indeed, but I like the treasure troving
of lucky dip

Does anyone know of any places in Dublin or the North-East around
Drogheda where there are dealers or heads with coins for sale or trade?

Blade

Theres a coin fair at the RDS in Feb, plenty of dealers with lucky dips there.

TITAN #1

I used to collect bits of every type of coin. I have a lot of pre-decimal coinage from UK and Ireland though a few years back I started collecting Silver Bullion coins which look pretty cool and are pretty cheap.
They generally come in 1oz rounds but can go up to 1kg.
I now tend to stick to buying US Silver Eagles which are really nice in the proof version.

Every country has now produced so many different comemeration coins that the market is awash with them and devalues everything else.

Most markets and car boot sales usually have some one with a big sweety tin of mixed coins. I have yet to find a coin worth more than its face value.

Blade

Well thats the thing about lucky dips, they are usually just full of junk. I know a Russian guy who goes through them for Russian coins and has made quite a bit of money selling them back home in his country. However the guy spends hours doing this at all the coin fairs but he knows what to look for. Not my cup of tea though, I only deal with quality coins. Dealers are generally expensive but sometimes they slip up on quality coins and you can grab yourself a bargain. I've a lot of 1oz silver proofs too, generally Irish or Irish related.

Slovakian Euros are available now but they are taking them from starter kits so they're a little expensive, but will be available in Jan for around 6 Euro. Also Ireland will have a new commemorative 2 euro along with all the other countries in the new year.

therewillbe

Hi, just browsing and came across your discussion. I have some German/nazi coins that I am trying to sell.They are in the adverts section and also am in the north east.There is a Latvian guy who sells in the Drogheda/balbriggan market and he has a lot of Eastern European pieces.His prices are ok.If I am not allowed to promote my wares please delete this.
TWB

Sysbase

I'd say Ebay is a good place to start but going to any local coin shows or estate sales are key. People that have passed away seem to have the best collections.

barneysplash

I went to the Drogheda market today.

I got 12 late 20th Century mainly european coins for €5
from the Jewellery man and woman on the corner of Bolton
Street and Fair Street outside the Corporation Offices.

The man said that the Latvian chap only came about 4 times
to the market, and that he does not come anymore because
he had to travel from Northern Ireland.

I have been surprised by the lack of former Eastern Bloc Coins
around, considering the many and diverse communities that
are here now.